An article I wrote entitled "How Popular Political and Social Opinions are Formed" was included in the November 2008 issue of Viewpoint. In it I stated that most people's political views are shaped or influenced by the media and by their peers. Michael Parenti in his book, The Culture Struggle, takes a somewhat different approach on the subject ¹. He writes that most columnists believe that "even when they do voice a personal opinion, they feel it is anchored in the facts. In short, they believe in their objectivity."

Parenti believes that objectivity does not exist. He writes, "The minute one sits down to write the opening line of a story, one is making judgment calls, selecting and omitting things. We are not just passive receptors sponging up a flow of images and information. Perception involves organizing stimuli and data into comprehensive units. In a word, perception is itself an act of selective editing."

What shapes our personal perceptions? Parenti believes a variety of things outside ourselves shape our personal perception, such as the prevailing culture, the dominant ideology, ethical beliefs, social values and biases of our society. One's position in the social structure of society would usually have an extremely important impact on one's personal social and political beliefs. Our material interests have an important impact on our perceptions. Parenti quotes Upton Sinclair. "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

"The notions and perceptions that fit the prevailing climate of opinion", Parenti writes, "are more likely to be accepted as objective, while those that clash with it are usually seen as beyond the pale and lacking in credibility. So, more often than we realize, we accept or decline an idea, depending on its acceptability within the dominant culture".