The Project Gutenberg EBook of Public Opinion, by Walter LippmannCopyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.Please read the “legal small print,“ and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts****eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971*******These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****Title: Public OpinionAuthor: Walter LippmannRelease Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6456] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 15, 2002]Edition: 10Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ASCII (with a few ISO-8859-1 characters)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUBLIC OPINION ***Produced by David Phillips, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.PUBLIC OPINIONBYWALTER LIPPMANNTO FAYE LIPPMANNWading River, Long Island. 1921._“Behold! human beings living in a sort of underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all across the den; they have been here from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them; for the chains are arranged in such a manner as to prevent them from turning round their heads. At a distance above and behind them the light of a fire is blazing, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have before them, over which they show the puppets.I see, he said.And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying vessels, which appear over the wall; also figures of men and animals, made of wood and stone and various materials; and some of the prisoners, as you would expect, are talking, and some of them are silent?This is a strange image, he said, and they are strange prisoners.Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on theopposite wall of the cave?True, he said: how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would see only the shadows?Yes, he said.And if they were able to talk with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?“_ --The Republic of Plato, Book Seven. (Jowett Translation.)CONTENTSPART I. INTRODUCTIONI. The World Outside and the Pictures in Our HeadsPART II. APPROACHES TO THE WORLD OUTSIDEII. Censorship and PrivacyIII. Contact and OpportunityIV. Time and AttentionV. Speed, Words, and ClearnessPART III. STEREOTYPESVI. StereotypesVII. Stereotypes as DefenseVIII. Blind Spots and Their ValueIX. Codes and Their EnemiesX. The Detection of StereotypesPART IV. INTERESTSXI. The Enlisting of InterestXII. Self-Interest ReconsideredPART V. THE MAKING OF A COMMON WILLXIII. The Transfer of InterestXIV. Yes or NoXV. Leaders and the Rank and FilePART VI. THE IMAGE OF DEMOCRACYXVI. The Self-Centered ManXVII. The Self-Contained CommunityXVIII. The Role of Force, Patronage, and PrivilegeXIX. The Old Image in a New Form: Guild SocialismXX. A New ImagePART VII. NEWSPAPERSXXI. The Buying PublicXXII. The Constant ReaderXXIII. The Nature of NewsXXIV. News, Truth, and a ConclusionPART VIII. ORGANIZED INTELLIGENCEXXV. The Entering WedgeXXVI. Intelligence WorkXXVII. The Appeal to the PublicXXVIII. The Appeal to ReasonPART IINTRODUCTIONCHAPTER ITHE WORLD OUTSIDE AND THE PICTURES IN OUR HEADSCHAPTER I. INTRODUCTIONTHE WORLD OUTSIDE AND THE PICTURES IN OUR HEADSThere is an island in the ocean where in 1914 a few Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Germans lived. No cable reaches that island, and the British mail steamer comes but once in sixty days. In September it had not yet come, and the islanders were still talking about the latest newspaper which told about the approaching trial of Madame Caillaux for the shooting of Gaston Calmette. It was, therefore, with more than usual eagerness that the whole colony assembled at the quay on a day in mid-September to hear from the captain what the verdict had been. They learned that for over six weeks now those of them who were English and those of them who were French had been fighting in behalf of the sanctity of treaties against those of them who were Germans. For six strange weeks they had acted as if they were friends, when in fact they were 。