Michael Allan wrote:
Juho Laatu wrote:
If private and public opinions differ, then which is the
manipulated one?
If they deviate it is hard to imagine
that the private opinion would not be
the sincere one.
That's because you are thinking of individual opinion. Consider:
* private opinion informed by mass media, and likewise measured by
mass elections with a secret ballot
* public opinion formed in mutual discussion, and likewise measured
by peer-to-peer voting with a public ballot
It makes a difference when people act socially (inter-subjectively)
amongst themselves, rather than alone. When they act alone, they are
apt to be systematically manipulated as objects. Alone they have
subjective truth (personal sincerity), but together they have
communicative reason (mutual understanding or consensus).
Could not these domains work together? To my knowledge, that's what
happens now. People discuss politics and find out what they're going to
vote. Any sort of improvement on the availability of discussion, as well
as of information of representatives' actions will help that domain.
Then, when the voters actually decide to vote, they have privacy. Their
opinions may change based on what they hear or discuss, but at the end,
it's a private decision who they'll give their vote to.
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