The silent majority

The silent majority need a media voice of their own

Why is the media so dominated by the views of specific minority interest groups?

Protests make news, agreement does not; these are the facts of life for the media in all its forms, but the sensation seeking does distort perceptions. Some one visiting from another planet, who looked at the media headlines for a week, would form the opinion that every western democratic government was hated by their own violently oppressed people.

In terms of numbers; the people grabbing the headlines, are a very tiny portion of the total population. The causes they claim to represent are not backed by the majority, since if they were, then the previous election would have made it main stream policy. It is impossible to say what the majority think should be done about any particular situation, until there is a general election result. Trying to win any argument by shouting so loud the opposition can not heard, does not change opinions. We, in Britain, live in a democracy, and as the Momentum group found out at the last general election, ( this being written in 2020) all the noise and threats, all the street protest and violence, mean nothing when the votes are counted. All the “reclaim the streets” activists achieve nothing if the population as a collective whole, does not accept that this particular group have a right to control things.

Activists will shout in rage at these comments, they will claim the people are ignorant, they do not know what is going on. Which suggests that 6 or 7 BILLION people, in Britain, are ignorant and only a few hundred activists, who are probably getting information from biased and one sided sources, know what is true. In the U.S.A. The figures would suggest even greater numbers form the silent majority and an even smaller percentage keep grabbing the headlines. The election of President Trump was due to huge numbers or ordinary people giving support to someone who had policies they wanted. No amout of political correct, environmental anguish can change that. This is the situation all round the world. Activists and protesters rule the media but not the ballot box.

The biggest danger to democratic governance is that the very fact that small numbers of activists, gain so much publicity. This means that manipulation is possible. Inflame your activists with doubtful data,word your rhetoric as rebellious to the status quo; claim you wish to give power to the people and you can get a group of say 1000 activists taking a path that suits you material ambitions. The environmental lobby is trying to rush everyone to Lithium Ion battery powered cars, all sorts of claims from saving the planet, to carefully selected data on carbon foot prints. Publish data on carbon emission per mile and keep the carbon footprint of manufacturing the car and getting the Lithium to make the batteries, out of the public awareness. Never mention that these batteries have a very limited life compared to an internal combustion engine, keep you activists focused on what you want the media to publicise for you. So simple. The left of centre are more skilled at this manipulation than the centrist parties. The more extreme the socialist beliefs the greater skill they seem to have at this type of activist generated publicity. The fascist extreme right also use small groups to generate violent protest in order to maximise media attention to their cause.

It does seem a paradox that when violence erupts, or is manufactured, the level of publicity increases, the activist claim ever greater success, but the silent majority react against the violence and so against the cause that is involved. One way to loose general support among the majority, is to go around killing people in the name of that cause. Yet it appears to gain support among the tiny minority who are involved.

The danger to democracy is that attempting to suppress violence, whether spontaneous or manufactured, leads to restrictions on civil liberties. Those orchestrating the protesters use this to generate media headlines about repression, police states, curtailment of every bodies rights. They use a situation they have generated; to try and bring the silent majority into believing that the elected government is actually a repressive regime. Yet if the government do not act to curb the violence; the media gets into full cry about giving in to anarchists, then start claiming that governments are abandoning their duties to protect the public.

The silent majority are not as daft or as naïve, as the manipulators wish. This may be because the silent majority are probably in the 30 to 80 age group and most will have their lives filled with human experiences that have developed their stability. Most do not have deeply held political convictions, they have loyalty to family and nation, they wish for stability and peace. They may not agree with younger people being so ardent about causes that may be centuries old, but they are tolerant of the right to peacefully protest. Once that protest becomes violent or the demands become unreasonable, then the majority will turn away and reject the cause. As people age they gain experience and they gain responsibilities. These responsibilities are for the future wellbeing of themselves and others. It may be work related or emotional, it may be family of professional; but it is a responsibility for the future. The philosophy develops of; what is done is done. Life is as it is. We have to play the cards we have in hand and can not go back and change history. Protesting about attitudes and behaviour of people 50 or 100 years ago achieve nothing. The majority know events that have happened, can not be made to disappear just because modern views object to it. So when protests about historical events or attitudes erupt into violence the silent majority know that the protest is futile, it can achieve nothing and so they begin to suspect the mentality and real purposes of those involved. When it comes to secret honest voting in elections, they remember these suspicions and this helps decide who they vote for. This is the “media voice of their own.” This is the voice that matters and it is the voice of the silent majority.