At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation, and prejudice.
Interpretation
Public opinion is often not based on facts, but rather on false beliefs and biases.
Gore Vidal's quote highlights the complex and often disorderly nature of public opinion, suggesting that it is shaped less by truth and more by a confusing mix of superstitions, incorrect information, and deep-seated prejudices. This serves as a caution not to rely solely on popular consensus, as it can be misleading and not representative of reality.
In practice
During a debate about social media's impact on society, one could use this quote to emphasize the misleading nature of online narratives.
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
American writers want to be not good but great; and so are neither.
Writing fiction has become a priestly business in countries that have lost their faith.
The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
For the average American, freedom of speech is simply the freedom to repeat what everyone else is saying and no more.
Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.
Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality.
The liberty of the individual is no gift of civilization. It was greatest before there was any civilization.
Whether our forebears were strangers who crossed the Atlantic or the Pacific or the Rio Grande, we are here only because this country welcomed them in and taught them that to be an American is about something more than what we look like, or what our last names are, or how we worship.
For me, disability is a physical experience, but it's also a cultural experience and a social experience, and for me, the word 'crip' is the one that best encapsulated all of that.
All things are inconstant except the faith in the soul, which changes all things and fills their inconstancy with light.
The Art of War is self-explanatory
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