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| Henry Whitehead (1825-1896) |
We tend to confuse the majority opinion with the truth. This is wrong, as
expressed by Henry Whitehead:
Never fear forming a minority of one;
majorities are usually wrong.
But sometimes the consequences drawn from public opinion are even more
misleading than the opinion itself. In an article entitled Are we xenophobic? published
in a Spanish high-diffusion newspaper on March 17, 2011, the author discussed
the result of an official survey:
...Citizens believe that immigrants
receive from the state...
lots more (30.8%) or just more
(38.7%) than they contribute.
And he drew from this result the following comment:
Any sociological diagnosis would understand these figures
as a breeding ground for a reactionary and xenophobic social culture.
Saying the opposite is tantamount to denying a consistent reality.
