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December 23, 2014 8:47 AM

Jon Keller is WBZ-TV News' Political Analyst, and his "Keller A...

BOSTON (CBS) Looking for a New Years resolution thats realistic and might save your job one day?

Heres an idea, with apologies to Archie Bunker: stifle yourself.

Regular listeners here know I tend to support free speech, and decry the censorship instincts of the PC police. I think its OK to wish someone a Merry Christmas, even on public property.

But self-censorship is not just a good thing, its vital to the functioning of a civil society, and, according to new academic research, to the productive functioning of a mixed-gender business meeting.

Researchers found that creativity in mixed-sex groups is enhanced by imposinga norm that sets clear expectations for how men and women should interact with one another.

You know like a middle-school dance party.

That same principle should be broadly applied to use of the internet, an arena where the ease of access and the illusion of anonymity seems to spur people to say offensive things theyd never put their name to. And in the last few years the internet has emerged as our primary theater of self-destruction.

Remember Justine Sacco, the p-r person who got herself fired a year ago for tweeting as she boarded an overseas flight: Going to Africa. Hope I dont get AIDS. Just kidding. Im White!

Read this article:
Keller @ Large: Try Self-Censorship In 2015