People do not hold the views promoted by the media and online venues to the extent we are being led to believe.
The media and shills in online venues often strive to create a perception that the views they want people to have are already well-established. In those cases, they give the illusion of consensus or at the very least greatly magnify those viewpoints in ways that appear to be coming from an organic public discussion.
Going back to your example, imagine a Hong Kong where 80% of people believe something but state-run media makes it appear that the 20% are actually an extreme fringe of less than 1% of people.
I see what you are saying.
Let me revise my statement:
The media and shills in online venues often strive to create a perception that the views they want people to have are already well-established. In those cases, they give the illusion of consensus or at the very least greatly magnify those viewpoints in ways that appear to be coming from an organic public discussion.
Going back to your example, imagine a Hong Kong where 80% of people believe something but state-run media makes it appear that the 20% are actually an extreme fringe of less than 1% of people.