Public Opinion and hindrances to its sound nature

Public opinion as a concept gained prominence after democracy. Today, opinions rather than force are used more frequently to guide government action. There are hundreds of hindrances imposed by the government to silence the voice around the world. By the way, elections, political parties, freedoms guaranteed by the constitution, and other channels for expressing one’s opinions were widely accessible, and the impact of public opinion on governmental action was more recognized. As a result, the notion of popular opinion is an antecedent of democracy as a system of government.

The government is very afraid of the criticism voiced in the press. This is why the government with absolute power, or in other words, the dictator, imposes many restrictions on the freedom of public opinion. They shelter some dummy intellectuals and create and spread propaganda or rumors in favor of them. Their paid intellectuals spread propaganda and rumors among the community in favor of the government. They do such things to tackle their rivalries and fool people in general. This is one of their main tactics to control the public and stay in power.

Public opinion is the protector of the fundamental rights of the people. In countries where the government controls public opinion or where there is no freedom of public opinion, the government becomes absolute. It creates fear among the people to hold public opinions, and they nurture it and establish such a culture as its way of authoritarian governance. Even in a so-called democratic country, they try to create an environment where public opinion is allowed, which is in its favor. Everyone is to set up and run authoritarian governments!

Read What is Public Opinion? Do we need it at all?

Hindrances to Sound Public Opinion

Along with this, there are a few more hindrances to sound public opinion. such as illiteracy, biased press or media, political unconsciousness, a defective education system, and poverty. These hindrances affect the culture of sound public opinion in a dangerous way. We can talk about these hindrances in brief.

Illiteracy

If we look at the first hindrance, illiteracy, we can imagine how far it can affect society and its impact. An illiterate society knows little about the impact of their voice. They refrain from expressing their views in public on issues in general. They think that no one cares about their opinion, and no one will listen to them. So, they take a back step and refrain from giving opinions on various important issues. Being illiterate, many times they were unaware of their rights and duties. Their illiteracy makes them suffocate without their right to freedom of expression and keeps them from holding opinions against the government.

The government takes it as a chance, they keep them illiterate, keep them unaware, and run the government with absolute power. They know, if the people get literacy and education, they will be aware of their rights, and duties, which will be devastating to a corrupt dictatorship.

Napoleon once said. “Give me an educated mother, and I shall promise you the birth of a civilized, educated nation.” The dictator knows this very well, this is why they keep the people in the darkness of illiteracy.

Biased Media

Regarding biased media, this is one of the main culprits that help the autocracy or dictator to stay in power by blindfolding the public. Its unbiased presence destroys the whole responsibility and transparency of the government. It’s because in the real-world politician are the owner of several media houses. If not, at least they have indirect ownership of the media house. These media will work for the owner’s interest for sure.

We can mention the NDTV from India. Recently India’s top billionaire Adani take over the prominent News Channel and its online version. Adani tried to purchase NDTV very early in this century. After several failures, they contacted the third agency hiding their identity and successfully entered anonymously. And this year, Adani take full ownership of NDTV kicking out the previous owner. But why this taking over is concerning? Because, Adani is very keen on Modi, and linked to the BJP government!

The government tends to hold absolute power by controlling the media. It imposes hundreds of rules and regulations to take control over the media. When it works for the government, the government grapples with power. But that does not mean that the media do such things on their own. Sometimes they are forced to do such things for the sake of their lives and security.

We are all aware of the story of the killing of Sagor and Runi, two prominent Bangladeshi journalists. On February 11, 2012, the bodies of Sagar Sarowar, news editor for Maasranga Television, and Meherun Runi, senior reporter for ATN Bangla, were discovered in their leased residence in Dhaka’s West Rajabazar neighborhood. They were killed by pro-government killers for their investigative journalism. And the harsh reality is that, for the 97th time since then, a Dhaka court postponed filing the inquiry report into the shocking deaths of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi.

We can remember the Journalists Jullian Assange and Edward Snowden who believe in freedom of expression, press, and media and worked in the people’s interest are forced to flee from their own country for their life. They have the death sentence on their head for publishing news and information against the government’s interest!  Basically, every government in the world is afraid of free media or press. They are in fear of losing power. This is why they control the media all over the world and keep a few media houses to spread propaganda and rumors in favor of their association.

But for the sake of democracy, for the sake of people’s right to information, and for freedom of opinion, the press should be unbiased, uninterrupted. Otherwise, the freedom of opinion of the people will be a washout, and the dictator will take control of the state, ruin democracy, and destroy the advancement of a sovereign state.

Political Unconsciousness

Political unconsciousness is another vital hindrance to the natural state of public opinion. It is the duty of people to talk about policy, politics, and laws of the land. They are the watchdog to the state of the policies and so on. If they are unconscious of political awareness, they would never be able to uninterruptedly exercise the freedom of opinion. No one is there to protect their rights if they are unconscious of their rights.  They need to hold their position and want to enjoy their right on their own.

People’s political unconsciousness, on the other hand, makes it easier for the government to silence their voices. We can mention a few political crises, whether in an international or national phase. A few years back, India revoked the special status of Kashmir by repealing Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The Kashmiris protested against the action but were unable to stand against the government’s crackdown.

The Kashmiris needed the support of their countrymen all over the country. But they did not get any support from the other part of India because the other part of India ignored that action. They were unaware of the people’s rights in Kashmir. If the rest of the country stands by the Kashmiris in exercising and enjoying their freedom of expression and political rights, the government cannot revoke their special status or crack down on them. They would have been too terrified to revoke their status.

We can also mention the Citizenship Amendment Act of India, which deprives thousands of Indians of their nationality, citizenship, and most human rights by denying their nationality. The BJP government initiated such enactments to rule out Muslims from their country in the name of the citizenship amendment procedure. They accused the Muslims that they were from Bangladesh or anywhere else and that they need to go back to their country back. They declared that they will welcome anyone from the neighboring countries but the Muslims. But the harsh reality is that they ruled out thousands of Hindus of the lower caste from citizenship! Now, in such a situation, if the people stay unaware of their political rights, and refrain from expressing their opinion, the hammer will thrash them again and again.

Defective Education System

A defective education system is another hindrance to sound public opinion. The education system needs to accommodate efficient activities and lessons of sound public opinion. It should provide the students with appropriate lessons, and practices to nurture an individual’s personality and political and civil rights. If it nurtures a student early in life in an appropriate manner, that student will be shaped into a great personality.

For the rest of his life, a person remembers the lessons he learned as a child. Therefore, if a youngster receives a subpar education while still young, his correct thinking will never mature. He will know when to talk, how to talk, and what issue he needs to talk about. This is important. This significantly impedes the development of positive public opinion.

Poverty and Backwardness

Another concerning hindrance to sound public opinion is Poverty and backwardness. A person in poverty is still preoccupied with his own financial issues, and his efforts are focused on finding solutions. He sells out his free will under the influence of the craving for money. As a result, he is still unable to make or take any decisions on his own, and it is impossible to develop a true public opinion. Poverty will force a person to refrain from expressing public opinion.

At the same time, poverty is a well-known weapon to control the public. If the powerholder keeps them in a state of desperation, you can make them hate one another rather than the liable. They benefit from poverty itself rather than just plundering common people to have more money for themselves. Even if it brought them nothing else, they would gain from keeping you in poverty.

It is no accident that the US, the most important country in the oligarchic empire, has the highest rate of this particular form of weaponized poverty. Because so much power depends on what happens in America, the powerful go to great lengths to maintain control over the populace.

To ensure that the government or the powerholder continues to hold power, the wealthy work to influence how the populace feels, behaves, and votes. The most famous voices are frequently the most irrational because they pay special attention to who the most powerful figures in our society are. If someone doesn’t agree with the common worldview advocated by the oligarchic empire, filters are in place to prevent them from advancing to influential positions, and if they do, they are deliberately herded into echo chambers that favor that vision.

In today’s globally interconnected society, public opinion is extremely important. Political psychologist Steven Kull stated in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations that “if policy practitioners want to promote international cooperation, they can pretty much see public opinion as a kind of ally in this process—of course, this is not always the case, but this is a tendency on that side.” In plainer terms, another reason why it’s crucial to comprehend global public opinion is that it enables us to see things and ourselves differently.