THINKING AT RANDOM

Some ten years ago, when I started this blog, I quoted from a speech by William Gladstone, given on the 27^th June 1888 during a debate on the proposed construction of a channel tunnel.

 

…society is always ready for the enjoyment of the luxury of a good panic. There is nothing more enjoyable than a good panic, when that panic is based on a latent conviction that the thing which it contemplates is not in the least degree likely to happen. These speculative panics - these panics in the air - have an attraction for certain classes of minds that is in describable; and these classes of minds, I am bound to say, are very largely to be found among the educated portion of society. The subject of this panic never touched the mind of the nation. These things are not accessible to the mind of the nation. They are accessible to what is called the public opinion of the day - that is to say public opinion manufactured in London by great editors, and clubs, who are at all times formidable, and a great power for the purposes of the moment, but who are a greater power and become an overwhelming power when they are backed by the threefold forces of the military and literary authorities and the social circles of London.

 

The panic Gladstone was referring to, was the public reaction to the idea that the construction of a tunnel opened the possibility that hordes of Frenchmen might come through it to invade the United Kingdom.

 

There were a number of international problems in the year 1888, including the Convention of Constantinople which was written in French and drafted on the 2^nd March 1888. It was signed on the 29^th October 1888 by the United Kingdom, Russian Empire, French Republic, German Empire, Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, Kingdom of the Netherlands and Kingdom of Spain. This was a multilateral trade treaty guaranteeing free right of passage of all ships through the Suez Canal during war and peace. It did not however take effect until some 16 years later on the 8^th April 1904. The depositary of the treaty was with the Ottoman Empire. The powers that be at the time, were four Empires, three Kingdoms and a Republic.

 

In the United States during the year 1888 at the Republican National Convention held in Chicago between June 19 and June 25, there were 19 nominees for candidate for President of the United States, among whom was Frederick Douglass, the very first African American (and former slave) to be nominated for President. He received one vote on the fourth ballot. After eight ballots Benjamin Harrison was elected and went on the become the 23^rd President of the United States.

 

On the 25^th March of that year, the Congress For Women’s Rights opened in Washington DC organised by Susan B. Anthony, which led to the formation of the International Council of Women. The first actual president of the Council was Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon from 1893-1899.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was also in that same year of 1888, that Jack the Ripper terrorised the citizens of London, and in Arles, France, after a quarrel with Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh cut off a piece of his left ear taking it to a brothel.

 

All in all, 1888 was a year crowded in incident; however, getting back to the matter of manufactured public opinion as expressed by Gladstone. He states that “the subject…never touched the mind of the nation.” He goes on “These things are not accessible to the mind of the nation. They are accessible to what is called the public opinion of the day – that is to say public opinion manufactured in London by great editors, and clubs…”

 

Indeed he expresses a view that many hold today, that public opinion is defined by media moguls, politicians, editors, commentators, pundits and certain privileged citizens who seek to have influence on how an administration should function.  They 'pray in aid' public opinion, a public opinion they have created, thereby overriding the mind of the nation, which has probably never given the subject a thought, in order to ensure a particular course of action. They also claim that what is being opined is in the public interest, again overriding the mind of the nation. Yet, there is a great deal of difference between what is public opinion and what is in the public interest.

 

I refer to the barrage of media reports – particularly in the United States - promoting the opinions of anti-maskers, anti-vaccines, anti-testers etc. in the light of a pandemic that is running at nearly 200000 people a week, despite the current vaccination effort, which actually is in the public interest. That is not an opinion, it is a singular fact.

 

The idea that one person’s perceived hardship in wearing a mask or getting a vaccination, should override their duty of care towards others is bewildering. The creed of self being defined as upholding democratic freedom is odious and carrying mendacity to an entirely new level, particularly when the seeds planted 133 years ago are perhaps beginning to find a foothold, that is to say the idea that an African-American ex-slave could be nominated for President of the United States and that women had equal rights as well. Is that now public opinion in the public interest ?