Concerning the Importance of Public Opinion

Introduction

Our identity as well as justification for a lot of our actions come from other people’s perceptions of us. Adam Smith articulated this very well in his 1759 piece “The Impartial Spectator” from the book The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In this piece, Smith argues that a large part of our identity – how we consider our actions as being right or wrong – come from other people’s perceptions of us. The way we think about ourselves has a lot to do with the way others think of us. [1] Molly Jaffe points out in her post “Were Mirrors Less Shiny in 1759?” the interesting implications of this way of thinking in today’s world of social media. [2] But more relevant to this class is how this way of thinking – of placing so much importance in defining oneself and ones position in society based on other people’s opinions – influenced many aspects of society in the eighteenth century. The careful maintenance of a public image may not have been as visible in the eighteenth century because the internet hadn’t been invented yet, but it was nevertheless very important both in terms of societal expectations and behaviors, and in the way that authors like Benjamin Franklin and Olaudah Equiano communicated ideas in their writing.

Societal Expectations and Behaviors

Two of Franklin’s works – “Advice to a Young Tradesman, Written by an Old One” and “Rules to be Observed in Trade” – show one way that public perception was important to society: credit. In these pieces, Franklin discusses the fairly new (at the time) concept of credit and explains some good methods to use credit without negative financial consequences. Of course, there is a lot of practical financial advice contained in these two articles, written in Franklin’s classic witty and memorable style: “Remember that CREDIT is money,” is one of the more memorable quotes towards the beginning of “Advice to a Young Tradesman”. [3] But Franklin goes on to describe something that he sees as even more important than the business side of credit. Scott singer sums it up very well in his post “Credit of Two Sorts”: “having good financial credit and having good credit as a man are inextricably linked.” [4] In addition to all the obvious advice relating to the technical workings of credit, Franklin advises that a good reputation is just as important as actually paying back your creditors. “Strive to maintain a fair character in the world: That will be the best means for advancing your credit.” [5] If your creditors think that you are lazy, they will be more likely to try to collect their payments before you are able to pay them, whereas if you keep up the appearance of an industrious worker your creditors will be more likely to give you more time because they will be confident that you will be able to pay them back eventually. This is a very important application of the necessity of constructing one’s public image carefully in order to function within the credit-driven society of the eighteenth century.

It was also very important for women to watch closely what other people thought of them in the eighteenth century, due to now-archaic gender roles which were common at the time. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a staunch advocate of these traditional roles, and describes an aspect of these roles that almost seems to place a woman’s reputation above her actual actions. In “Duties of Women,” Rousseau states: Worth alone will not suffice, a woman must be thought worthy; nor beauty, she must be admired; nor virtue, she must be respected. A woman’s honor does not depend on her conduct alone, but on her reputation, and no woman who permits herself to be considered vile is really virtuous.” [6] A man, on the other hand, “has no one but himself to consider, and so long as he does right he may defy public opinion.” [6] Vann Bentley touches on the double standards inherent in these gender standards as he discusses the flaws in Rousseau’s logic in his post “Rousseau’s Unenlightened Thought Process”. The reality of the eighteenth century for women, though, required them to be very careful in their public conduct so that their reputations stayed clean.

Benjamin Franklin

In addition to being important in social and economic interactions, the idea of a carefully constructed public reputation greatly influenced the writing styles of Benjamin Franklin, Olaudah Equiano, and probably many others.

Franklin clearly thought a lot about the face he showed to the world when he was writing, so much so that he often created personas to make his arguments more powerful. For example, the very first works that he ever published, the Silence Dogood letters, were published under the pseudonym of Silence Dogood. It is very significant that Franklin used this name rather than his own because he was only a teenager at the time, and his opinions would not be taken seriously if he were to publish the letters under his own name. Ben recognized that his own public image was insufficient because of his age and created a new public image for himself for the sake of the letters.

Franklin fleshed out his persona to be a middle-aged widow writing to The New England Courant about various social issues of the day. He went to great pains to give this made-up woman an entire life story: she was orphaned at a young age and raised by a “pious good-natured” country minister who made sure she was “instructed in all that Knowledge and Learning which is necessary for our Sex.” [8] With this description, Franklin is constructing a public image of Silence as a traditional woman (thus she is not threatening to any male readers) who is nevertheless well-educated (thus her opinions can be taken seriously).

The female persona Franklin constructed for himself worked especially well in Silence Dogood, No. 5, where he wrote about women’s rights. BF’sMainSqueeze discussed this letter in her post “Silence Dogood – Defender of the Fair Sex”. In this letter, Franklin/Dogood “valiantly defends women” [9] by pointing out that men have the same flaws as women (and often to a greater degree). He also talks about women’s education and blames men for any ignorance that women have: “I have … often thought of it as one of the most barbarous Customs in the World, considering us a civiliz’d and Christian Country, that we deny the Advantages of Learning to Women,” he writes. [10] Coming from a teenage boy, this letter would have been ridiculed, but coming from a well-educated middle-aged widow the piece is taken seriously and works very well as a social commentary. Thus Franklin created another public image for himself when his own wouldn’t do, and it was very successful.

In a less extreme way, Franklin also manipulated his public image in his autobiography. He did not create an entirely new persona for himself in this book; rather his manipulation lies in what he chose to write about his life. He could have shown all of the dirty details of his life, every flaw and every mistake he had ever made. Instead, Franklin portrayed himself as an industrious, honest, hard-working individual who pulled himself out of the lower class through perseverance and self-education. Rarely does Franklin let us see any weaknesses; instead the book is full of stories of how hard work pays off and how frugality can help advance the situation of anyone willing to make a few sacrifices.

This characterization of himself – this manipulation of the reader’s perception of him – is very deliberate, and the reason for the construction of his public character in the way that he did can be found in one of the letters included in this edition of the autobiography. Abel James is writing to Franklin telling him his thoughts on the manuscript for the first part of the autobiography, and says the following: I know of no Character living nor many of them put together, who has so much in his Power as Thyself to promote a greater Spirit of Industry and early Attention to Business, Frugality and Temperance with the American Youth.” [11] Franklin constructed this outward representation of himself in order to create an image that would be useful in teaching future generations to live virtuously and successfully.

Equiano

Olaudah Equiano similarly manipulates the public opinion of himself in his own autobiography, but for very different reasons and for a much different effect. In Equiano’s Interesting Narrative, he goes to great pains to develop an image for himself as like a European. One way that he does this is through his portrayal of his religion. As Molly Jaffe discusses in her post “Saint Equiano”, Equiano does not describe himself as ever being angry at his white masters, going so far as to blame himself when his master unfairly sells him instead of giving him his freedom, claiming that this turn of events was God punishing him for some insignificant wring he had done. “He seems to be building up the persona of a “noble savage” and only occasionally addresses the anger felt by the slaves towards the tyranny they are subjected to… His novel is not written to inflame his white readership with accusations, but rather to ignite feelings of sympathy and shame within their hearts.” [12] The image that Equiano crafts for himself throughout the narrative is carefully calculated to give his European readers an impression of him as a God-fearing, Europe-loving, peaceful man, because he wants his them to listen to his arguments against slavery as coming from a rational and non-threatening person.

Conclusion

Consciousness of public opinion was very important in the eighteenth century as it shaped aspects of society including gender roles and credit etiquette, and skillful manipulation of the public image was used as a successful writing technique by Franklin and Equiano.

Works Cited

[1] Smith, Adam. "The Impartial Spectator." The Portable Enlightenment Reader. Ed. Isaac Kramnick. New York: Penguin Group, 1995. 280-287. Print.

[2] Jaffe, Molly. "Were Mirrors Less Shiny in 1759?" English 274: Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment. Vanderbilt University, 7 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011.

[3] Franklin, Benjamin. “Advice to a Young Tradesman, Written by an Old One.” Philadelphia: 1748. PDF file.

[4] Singer, Scott. "Credit of Two Sorts" English 274: Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment. Vanderbilt University, 22 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011.

[5] Franklin, Benjamin. "Rules Proper to be Observed in Trade." Pennsylvania Gazette (Feb. 1749/50): PDF file.

[6] Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. “Duties of Women.” The Portable Enlightenment Reader. Ed. Isaac Kramnick. New York: Penguin Group, 1995. 568-579. Print. 575

[7] Bentley, Vann. "Rousseau’s Unenlightened Thought Process" English 274: Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment. Vanderbilt University, 14 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011.

[8] Franklin, Benjamin. "Silence Dogood, No. 1." The New England Courant (May 1722): PDF file.

[9] BF’sMainSqueeze. "Silence Dogood – Defender of the Fair Sex" English 274: Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment. Vanderbilt University, 12 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011.

[10] Franklin, Benjamin. "Silence Dogood, No. 5." The New England Courant (May 1722): PDF file.

[11] Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin 2^nd ed. Edited by Edmund S Morgan. New Haven, Connecticut:, Yale University Press. New Haven Connecticut, 1964. 134

[12] Jaffe, Molly. "Saint Equiano." English 274: Benjamin Franklin and the Age of Enlightenment. Vanderbilt University, 1 Dec. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2011.

[13]Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings. 1789. New York: Penguin, 2003. Print.

Adam Smith, Social Scientist

Adam Smith contends, in his The Impartial Spectator, that the only way to examine his own conduct in society is to remove himself entirely and "divide myself, as it were, into two persons, that I, the examiner and judge, represent a different character from that other I, the person whose conduct is examined into and judged of" (281). He claims that the only method to understand our appearance and actions is through the perceptions of others and that a certain anxiety arises in want of knowing. Furthermore that reason, "the inhabitant of the breast, the man within," (286) is the ultimate governance of actions but that this governance can advance only through interaction with others. "The conversation of a friend brings us to a better, that of a stranger to a still better temper" (287). Crafting this belief and formally explicating it seem to be bold and noble deeds Adam Smith accomplishes for his society. He speaks the unspoken rules of society and writes the unwritten law -- material that seems accessible if not somewhat obvious to a modern reader. Do you have to agree with everything he says? No; but you should, at the least, appreciate the unabashed honesty with which Smith presents his claims.

For example, on the topic of our personal beauty and deformity, specifically its self-perception, Smith says: A man who is tolerably handsome will allow you to laugh at any little irregularity in his person; but all such jokes are commonly unsupportable to one who is really deformed (282). At the risk of sounding crude, Smith provides a tangible everyday example to his theories. This allows and encourages application of his social theories. Additionally, it is good to hear an intellectual perspective on the social conventions of the time period. Often my perception of the culture of the time period is skewed because my perspective is limited to the scope of scholarly writings; however, this piece provides wonderful insight (especially in the examples and anecdotes) from an intellectual position. Smith has created inlet to the metaphysical exploration of social relationships.

In this essay, popular economic theorist Adam Smith takes great care to measure the implications of social interaction and perception in his The Impartial Spectator, as he would trade in a treatise on free market economy. He approaches the wholly different subject with the same scrutiny and explores the depths of these social phenomena. At the risk of sounding grandiose, I think that this is one of the most interesting and wonderful effects of the enlightenment. That intellectuals like Smith and Franklin desire so much to understand themselves and their place in the world, they create not only scholarly texts still held in regard today, but also inject an academic insight into the world they inhabited.

Adam Smith and Internet Comment Sections

In Adam Smith’s “The Impartial Spectator,” Smith sets up a system for judging one’s own morality in which individuals must “suppose [them]selves the spectators of [their] own behavior and endeavor to imagine what effect it would, in this light produce upon [them].” In other words, to determine whether your actions are acceptable, imagine someone else is watching you. Smith believed that this concern for the judgments of other people is what gives all of us incentive to be moral in the first place, asking, “What so great misery as to be hated and to know that we deserve to be hated?”

The system of moral reasoning that Smith imagines seems to make anonymity the enemy of moral behavior. If we can be truly anonymous, then we could escape the kind of peer judgment that Smith describes, and thus, be free of the need to behave morally.

This got me thinking about one of my favorite, yet most frustrating, pasttimes: reading Internet comments sections. If you want to quickly lose faith in the decency of humanity, find an article about a controversial issue in society and scroll down to the comments sections. Racism, hatred, and libel abound on these message boards in a way that no other medium can touch. This phenomenon led author Mike Godwin to come up with “Godwin’s Law,” which asserted that as an online discussion grows longer, the probability that a comparison would be made to Hitler or Nazis approaches 100%.

These message boards support Adam Smith’s view of morality. While there were few media in Adam Smith’s day that allowed people to be 100% anonymous, the Internet has done just that, and therefore, no one seems to have an incentive to speak with any sense of moral responsibility. A Facebook official recently came under fire for saying that many of the Internet’s problems would be solved once it was no longer anonymous. I tend to agree.