Public opinion, in its raw state, gushes out in the immemorial form of the mob's fear. It is piped into central factories, and there it is flavoured and colored and put into cans.
Interpretation
This quote critiques how public opinion is formed and manipulated, likening it to a processed product.
H. L. Mencken comments on the nature of public opinion, suggesting that it often arises from irrational fears and is subsequently refined and altered by societal forces, much like a factory processes raw materials into consumer goods. He implies that the authentic voice of the public is overshadowed by this manipulation, raising questions about the validity and authenticity of what is perceived as 'public opinion.'
In practice
In a speech about media influence, one might say, 'As H. L. Mencken pointed out, public opinion can often be manipulated rather than genuinely formed.'
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
It is by all odds the loftiest of cities. It even managed to reach the highest point in the sky at the lowest moment of the depression.
I'm quite disappointed that I'm still the last man on the moon.
Healthcare should be a human right and not a commodity for sale.
Animals are sentient, intelligent, perceptive, funny and entertaining. We owe them a duty of care as we do to children.
We all become well-disguised mirror image of anything that we fight too long or too directly. That which we oppose determines the energy and frames the questions after a while. Most frontal attacks on evil just produce another kind of evil in yourself, along with a very inflated self-image to boot.
Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves. Free choice among a wide variety of goods and services does not signify freedom if these goods and services sustain social controls over a life of toil and fear – that is, if they sustain alienation. And the spontaneous reproduction of superimposed needs by the individual does not establish autonomy; it only testifies to the efficacy of the controls.
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