Lippmann I: Public Opinion and its Problems

Before concluding our discussion of Cherny and beginning Walter Lippmann's Public Opinion, it will be useful (I hope) to talk/vent/process a bit about the writing process and what (if anything) you learned from preparing this essay. As this is the first college essay that some of you have written, and as papers are too rarely talked about after they have been completed, this kind of reflection might be interesting and therapeutic; at the very least it might help some people think about formulating a topic for the next essay.

Introduction II: Conclusions from Cherny

We didn't quite finish discussing The Next Deal last time, and one set of questions we should probably raise, in preparation for both Lippmann and Sunstein, concerns the role, power and consequences of technology (which includes the mass media) in the politics of any given (modern) age.

Today's New York Times carries an op-ed by David Brooks, the newest regular columnist at the Times and a senior editor at the Weekly Standard. In the second paragraph of his column, "Rescuing the Democrats" he writes:

In Franklin Roosevelt's administration, 49 percent of voters said they were Democrats. But that number has been dropping ever since, and now roughly 32 percent of voters say they are. As Mark Penn, a former Clinton pollster, has observed, "In terms of the percentage of voters who identify themselves as Democrats, the Democratic Party is currently in its weakest position since the dawn of the New Deal."

• Is there anything in the Brooks piece that makes you think of something you read in the first four parts of Lippmann's Public Opinion?
• How does Brooks' (implied) characterization of "American values" compare with Cherny's, and which characterization seems most accurate to you? most appealing to you?
• How might Lippmann's idea of the "pseudo-environment" (raised in chapter 1 of Public Opinion) lead to different reactions to the arguments in The Next Deal and "Rescuing the Democrats," and do these different reactions reflect a different idea of democracy than those we've discussed thus far?
• Brooks' conclusion implies that "Middle American values" can be "felt in the gut". What do you think he means by "Middle American values"? Would Cherny agree with his conclusion? Do you agree? How do the sections of Public Opinion you've read so far challenge Brooks' and Cherny's outlooks?

Public Opinion, Parts 1-4

In Walter Lippmann's Public Opinion, written in 1922, we find a provocative challenge to our attitudes about what we can and should expect from popular judgement in the realm of politics, and thus to our expectations for democracy. As with our reading of the passages from de Toqueville, we can ask with nearly every page of Lippmann:

• In what sense does the situation he describes still obtain today?
• In cases where the analysis seems dated or otherwise inadequate, to what extent is the cause a matter of changes in technology?
• To what extent do his arguments depend on a characterization of humanity with which Moravec, Arendt, or Hayles might take issue?

We'll go Part by Part through Public Opinion, with presentations and discussions lead by members of the Seminar. As a further introduction, however, and because the reading assignment was rather long, let's start by listing some of the idea/concepts/phrases you thought especially important in parts 1-4. Lippmann's idea of the "pseudo-environment" is one example; did you find others?

For Next Time:: Read parts 5 and 6 of Public Opinion.

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