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.