Lemmings of the Media

The status of being a human being is characterized by the ability to seek and gain knowledge. As individual humans we are constantly learning new ideas and theories; better stated by one Robert E. Lee, "The education of a man is never completed until he dies." When we acquire new knowledge, and interpret it within our minds, we begin to develop our own ideals and our own opinions. When we begin to put together each individual's ideals and opinions together in relation to politics we arrive to the concept of public opinion. Public opinion is people's evaluations and understanding of politics in general and their views on specific political issues of the day. Being able to develop our own ideas and obtain our knowledge freely is a major part of what drives our society, and allows us to make educated decisions and take the right actions. There are several different theories that each explains as to how we have gained the knowledge of issues and policies pertaining to our government today which has helped us to formulate the ideas and opinions that we hold. Of these theories are: pluralist, democratic, and elitist. Each theory holds beliefs as to how public opinion is formed, and in what ways the government may manipulate the public and the media in order to sway opinions.

A firm believer of pluralist theory will tell you that the government is made up of several different groups or parties that are all fighting for the ideals that their particular group stands for. Sometimes one group will win in an election, sometimes another, but no one completely dominates the political "playing field." A believer of pluralist ideals would voice his/her opinion through the political party that they associate with. Through these political par...

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...viduals that can formulate our own ideas and opinions, or rather, a large population of lemmings, all following each other blindly towards an unknown evil.

Works Cited:

1. Robert A. Heineman, Steven A. Peterson, and Thomas H. Rasmussen. American Government. Second Edition, San Francisco: McGraw-Hill, Inc, 1995, p. 64

2. Refer to source 1. p. 85

3. Noam Chomsky, Ed Herman. Filtering the News.

4. Noam Chomsky, Ed Herman. Manufacturing Consent. Pantheon Books, 1988. Excerpted from http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Herman%20/Manufac_Consent_Prop_Model.html.

5. Robert W. McChesney, John Nichols. It's The Media, Stupid. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2000.

6. Michael Parenti. Methods of Media Manipulation. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media/MediaManip_Parenti.html

Other Minor Sources: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com