Public Opinion — Chapter IX Codes and Their Enemies

1. 1. The way we see things is a combination of what is there and of what we expected to find.
2. 2. Expertness in any subject is a multiplication of the number of aspects we are prepared to discover, plus the habit of discounting our expectations.
3. 3. In public opinion, few can be expert on many topics, so stereotypes are used to simplify complex reality.
4. 4. The older economists constructed a simplified diagram of capitalism that became the economic mythology of the day.
5. 5. When a system of stereotypes is well fixed, attention is called to facts that support it and diverted from those that contradict.
6. 6. Stereotypes are loaded with preference, suffused with affection or dislike, attached to fears, lusts, strong wishes, pride, hope.
7. 7. At the core of every moral code there is a picture of human nature, a map of the universe, and a version of history.
8. 8. The distinguishing mark of a myth is that truth and error, fact and fable, report and fantasy, are all on the same plane of credibility.
9. 9. The same person can exhibit different versions of human nature under different codes, such as a loving father being a sour boss.
10. 10. Public opinion is primarily a moralized and codified version of the facts, not a moral judgment on a group of facts.
11. 11. When two factions see different aspects of the same reality, they rarely admit the other sees a different set of facts, instead explaining opposition as perverse or dishonest.
12. 12. Out of opposition we make villains and conspiracies, seeing all manner of events as sub-plots under some grandiose plot.