Edelman, Murray. The Politics of Misinformation. Cambridge University Press 2001. Omat lihavoinnit.

Political actions, talk, and media reporting focus largely on elections, legislation, and the publicized promises of officials, candidates, and interest groups. All of these institutions emphasize their support for needed change and the reality of change, but none of them makes much difference. By contrast, the activities that do make a substantial difference are largely unpublicized, or redefined as something different from what they are. The actions that matter, as already suggested, take place in administrative determinations and in the policies of private corporations, both of which have a strong incentive to maintain the status quo so far as established inequalities are concerned. Administrators win and keep their positions of authority by reflecting the interests of those who already hold power, and significant institutional change would pose a serious threat to the profits and even the existence of corporations. But the former actions are largely unknown except to interest groups directly concerned with them, and the latter are not seen as governmental in character even though it is government that authorizes the corporations and grants them the powers they wield.

The strong interest of powerful groups in maintaining the status quo so far as inequalities are concerned also evokes a set of beliefs and ideologies that justify the established order. These beliefs and ideologies hold that it yields benefits for a wide set of beneficiaries, and they cite its alleged rationality, its morality, and its promise of future benefits for the society as a whole. Elites need rationalizations for their privileges, especially in view of the threat posed by contrary doctrines, notably Marxism, that try to demonstrate that their privileges come at the expense of everyone else, especially the poor and the lower middle class. But the rationalizations also impress many people who are themselves lower middle class, poor, or otherwise disadvantaged because they seem to be authoritative and because the disadvantaged are exposed to few analyses that refute them. (…)

Supplementary forces for maintaining existing inequalities are also present, including: inculcation of respect for the successful, and suspicion, disdain, or contempt for the unsuccessful and the less successful and diversion of attention from unfair value allocations to a focus on leaders and other personal stories or to competitions that are media events and make little difference in value allocations or to sensational news constrictions, all of which are irrelevant.

The diversion of attention from politics to sports, literature, cooking, and other pleasant pastimes is arguably a sign of mental health, but it is also a major reason that the failures of politicians and regimes to address the needs and wants of much of the population go unnoticed, and a crucial reason as well that people typically do not express their needs and wants in ways that might encourage helpful policies. Several chapters explore other influences of everyday life on political directions. Although these various topics are usually treated as distinct from each other, they are parts of the same transaction. They reinforce each other and in considerable measure create each other, as the final chapter makes clear. This stance is due in part to defeatism respecting the likelihood or the possibility of social change, but it springs primarily from the greater appeal of these other activities and the evident possibility of creating them constantly in new and absorbing forms.

Typically, such other interests directly support the status quo besides acting as a diversion from political concerns. Some of them, such as the armed forces and to some extent sports, are traditionally supportive of conservative political positions. A great deal of reading material, especially in the most widely distributed newspapers, journals, and popular books also directly support the status quo or assume that it is the only viable state of affairs. In social engagements with others it is usually not regarded as good form to favor radical change in economic or political institutions. Even the social gatherings of people who agree on the desirability of radical change are likely to serve more strongly as an escape valve for discontents than as a mobilizer of sentiment for serious societal or economic change. The set of established institutions, political, governmental, and nonpolitical, in short, acts as a highly effective barrier to political action to reduce substantial inequalities.

­