Harry Veeder <hlvee...@yahoo.com> wrote: Governments and Corporations don't have to over rule public opinion, as > long as they can shape public opinion to suit their own interests. (Noam > Chomosky's concept of manufactured consent). >
No one denies that powerful institutions and people with money have great influence on society, and they can often shape public opinion. That is obvious. But this power has limits. When it becomes common knowledge that cold fusion can save every middle class person thousand of dollars a year, and that it will eliminate the threat of global warming and put OPEC out of business, I expect the public will demand it. Even if Fox News on the right or the Democratic Party on the left opposes the technology, they will not have enough political power to stop it. As Lincoln supposedly said, you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. > Also public opinion is often based on prejudice and ignorance and can take > decades to change. > Often, but not always. Sometimes public opinion is more enlightened than expert opinion in powerful institutions. The Japanese public reaction to the Fukushima disaster is a good example. The Japanese public was ahead of government and industry during the 1950s and 60s, during the horrendous pollution at Minamata, Yokkaichi and elsewhere. The public forced powerful institutions to change course then, and it will quickly bring to a close the era of uranium fission now. The Tokyo Electric Power Company was one of the largest and most powerful corporations on earth before Fukushima. It could shape public opinion seemingly any way it liked, and install as many reactors as needed. It may soon be bankrupt, and its influence on public opinion is nonexistent. The power companies cannot even mount a fake grassroots public-hearing letter writing campaign without being exposed on national TV these days. In any case, public opinion when shaped by the prospect of making thousand of dollars a year is perhaps the most powerful force on earth. That is not something that Madison Avenue, Wall Street, Exxon or Robert Park can manipulate or turn on and off. - Jed
