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Post by kj on Aug 8, 2020 8:55:36 GMT
A topic that's been on my brain lately is that of "public opinion".
What does it mean exactly, and how does one gauge it?
Clearly no journalist can go out into society and gauge the mood of over 50% of a country's population. (I think the only time in my life when I was sure of "public opinion" was during Italia 90 when it was clear the country was in a state of ecstasy over the fortune of the national football team.)
It strikes me as being ever more clear that in 99% of cases what today is called public opinion is only ever used as a euphemism for the agenda being pushed by the ideology of newspaper editors. "Public opinion" is the approval or disapproval of a newspaper's braintrust as expressed in editorials to whatever the government does or what they may fear the public is really thinking.
In so far as one can try and see what the actual public thinks it is very difficult. To use Ireland as an example, the only counterpoint to the "Liberal Ireland utopia" so eagerly peddled by the powers-that-be is on Facebook, where I often note many people objecting to such propaganda.
It may be that modern western countries are now run by a consensus between media and government, with the latter living in fear of the former far more than they care for what the actual public thinks. In my own lifetime Peter Mandelson and New Labour in 1997 were the first to really prioritise this with the concept of "Spin" and were fearless about declaring it - hence the importance of Alistair Campbell.
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Post by cato on Aug 8, 2020 15:10:36 GMT
A huge topic! A few thoughts more or less at random.
If politics reflect the public mood we are very divided as a nation . Sinn Fein the most popular party in terms of the popular vote got a little over a quarter of the electorate. Many claimed this as a mandate. Fianna Fail in its heyday was able on occasion to achieve double this and get overall majorities using PR which is a very difficult achievement . The monolithic party blocs of the past have broken down but haven't been replaced by a similar monolithic left bloc despite of what you might read on Twitter.
We are now broadly speaking more liberal less religious and more middle class in outlook. There are very few issues we feel passionately about or are prepared to fight for and defend .As KJ points out a crusading media moulds what is or is not acceptable opinion. There is a non too subtle censorship of alternative opinion. Until recently there was no permitted discussion on mainstream media of foreign immigration. Trans activists have boasted they achieved radical legal reform by not engaging with the public but by directly lobbying sympathetic politicians. There was no great demand or support these measures but then again there probably wasn't public support for decriminalising homosexual behaviour in the 1990s or ending capital punishment.
Ideological diversity perhaps the most important kind of diversity is frowned on and makes our intelligentsia uncomfortable. Some of us might recall the liberal plea in the 1980s to create a Pluralist Ireland tolerant of all voices. That word and concept seems to have vanished.
Social conservatism has failed for several reasons so far to organise as a coherent political force but it arguably is the biggest but unloved uncool minority in modern Ireland.It represents more people than any single party but no major party even pays lip service to represent them. Conservatives are the unclean, deplorable lepers of Irish public life.
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