Insert Snappy Title Here:

Dear Self,

So, the world is unfair, but you knew that already. After learning, listening, and observing oppression of all kinds (various kinds anyway) for a semester I do not know exactly how to react. I feel passionate, but I feel very small. I want to speak out, protest, and criticize, but I am not sure how. Maybe, like Andrea Ayvazian and bell hooks, I will have to stay small scale. I know it sounds cheesy but maybe I have to love.

Love will play a significant part in my future role. Love and acceptance open the door for discussion, change, and setting a positive example. I realize how idealistic this sounds, but all I know how to do is live my life, trying to make the little differences I can, staying aware of my role in cycles of oppression, and making a conscious effort to disrupt these cycles.

These seemingly small steps are all that seem practical to me at this point. Anything large scale, for me, is too daunting and soul draining. I appreciate those who are dedicated and organized on large scales, but I do not feel capable of dedicating my life in occupational forms to something like that. I care too much to throw myself into activism in that way. Like changing school systems, or becoming involved in environmental issues, I cannot overly invest myself. Maybe that is a cop out. I feel like half of the classes I have taken in college are asking me to invest my life in an idea… and these ideas are often in conflict. The conclusion I have come to is that small, slow, and steady is how I will proceed; otherwise, I will lose all hope.

PS. Check this out!

Public Opinion: The Break Down

In his work Public Opinion, Walter Lippmann criticizes public opinion and democracy. Lippmann feels that public opinion is too unstable. With each individual filtering a message through his or her personal experiences, the public was too unreliable, as well as too impressionable. Lippmann feels the solution to the problem of a fickle public is to have an elite group of decision makers. Lippmann writes,

And where so much is uncertain, where so many actions have to be carried out on guesses, the demand upon the reserves of mere decency is enormous, and it is necessary to live as if good will would work. We cannot prove in every instance that it will (224)

The above quotation illustrates Lippmann’s hesitation to trust the public. If one must depend on the good of people to secure a future for the world, it requires a lot of faith. This faith becomes all the more difficult (for Lippmann) because of the unstable nature of the general populace. There is no telling what a person will choose, how he or she will interpret, or whether a final and important decision will be made honestly and with integrity if not with intelligence.

A few theories support Lippmann’s pessimistic perspective. Considering Selective Exposure theory, people are likely to choose to expose themselves to ideas and issues they already agree with. In this way, a person is always pursuing and choosing what already fits with his or her ideas. Looking at Uses and Gratification theory, people choose forms of media that best fill their needs or fit their moods, again illustrating the fickle quality of the public. With these two theories, the emphasis is on individual choices. There is no guarantee that what a person chooses will prove beneficial to the world at large. This is why Lippmann feels that an educated elite is needed, because the larger population is uninformed, bumbling, and too busy to be practical in decision making.

While he does make some good points, I feel that Lippmann’s idea of an all-informed elite is terrifying. Although the present system may have issues, and there is no sure way of depending on people, I feel it is much more dangerous to trust such power to such a small group. It seems to me like a more concentrated form of the problems we have already. I prefer bumbling public to dangerous propaganda and brainwashing any day.