Re: Response to Jose Perez on opinion polls

["Eli Stephens" <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jose wrote: "public opinion polls don't "measure" something: they *create*
it."

While this is typical exaggeration  by Jose, it still is clearly true that
there is a major "Heisenberg effect" here - the measurement of something
affecting the very value one is attempting to measure. A prime example was
the recent election in California, where low standings in the polls caused
well-funded candidates like Simon and Ueberroth to drop out and raise
Schwarzenegger's totals. What would happen to Green Party totals is there
were no polls at all allowed to be published saying where the candidates
stood before the election? Who knows?

Aside from elections, there is always "safety in numbers" for a lot of
people. That's why it is so important for progressive people to speak out.
If you're sitting around a lunch table at work, and the only people speaking
up are pro-war, then the more neutral or apolitical people who might have
started thinking that the war was a bad idea will gravitate towards a
pro-war position. Polls have the same effect, of course; neutral people
reading a poll saying "everybody's  for war" will naturally start leaning in
that direction. Only by speaking up so those people know they are "not
alone" can you help to firm up their anti-war leanings.

One of the reasons I bring this up is that you all know I've become addicted
(yes, I'm admitting an addiction here, one which I have to break before too
long before it consumes me) to reading blogs as well as writing my own.
There are all sorts of progressive/liberal blogs out there, some with
thousands of readers, and the "comment threads" on them can involve hundreds
of politically active people. As with my blog itself, I frequently find
myself the most left-wing of anyone participating in those discussions.
Within the last week I've been in threads defending Mumia and Cuba, for
example, more or less alone. So the point is - having arguments and
discussions with fellow Marxmail subscribers to refine points of Marxist
theory is all well and good, but no one should forget the importance of ALSO
engaging people who do not already agree with you on the questions of the
day. Whether it be in blog discussions, or around the lunch table at work,
or elsewhere, of course depends on your circumstances and your nature.

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