Chapter 24: The Spiral of Silence

Fleet Street,

Manchester Guardian office, editor's office.

"What did you say!? They're all sold out!? All twenty thousand copies sold out!?"

Scott's face was incredulous.

From his expression, it was clear that Dale wasn't the only one astonished by the sales of The Scottish People.

Cooper raised his hand.

"Calm down, old chap."

Although Cooper seemed composed now,

Last night, when he received the sales figures, he was even more excited than Scott, even smashing an exquisite porcelain cup.

With the serialization of "The Hound of the Baskervilles," The Scottish People gradually increased its circulation in the London area, from eight thousand to fifteen thousand, and then to twenty thousand.

They had thought yesterday was going to be a disaster, but the reality was quite the opposite.

How could they not be excited?

Scott sat back in his chair, his face in his hands,

According to the plan, the Manchester Guardian's review would give significant coverage to "The Hound of the Baskervilles," but now it seemed they would have to change their plans.

Scott muttered, "Damn it! Another overtime..."

Though he said that, his face was beaming.

Lu, who was nearby, took the opportunity to ask, "Um, Mr. Scott, about withdrawing the article, can you give me a definite answer?"

Scott suddenly remembered Lu's purpose in coming to him, and looked at Lu with a strange expression, as if studying an alien species.

Lu felt uncomfortable under Scott's gaze,

"Mr. Scott?"

"Sigh..."

Scott sighed and said, "Mr. Lu, withdrawing articles is rare. Of course, given our relationship, it's not a problem to withdraw the editorial that hasn't been published yet, but could you at least give me a reason?"

The reason, of course, was Queen Victoria's gaze.

Though Lu wanted to have leverage on the table, directly offending the Queen was something he wanted to avoid if possible.

But he couldn't say that outright.

Lu fell silent.

Scott said with a hint of apology, "Well, I'm sorry to say this, but as an editor-in-chief, I have to consider the interests of the newspaper."

With that, Scott raised The Scottish People in his hand.

The implication was clear,

Under multiple pressures, Lu still had the ability to confront Sherlock Holmes head-on. As long as the editor-in-chief was a normal person, he couldn't let go of this cash cow and traffic password.

Even if Scott agreed, Satchi wouldn't, and "Guns, Germs, and Steel" would still be seen by Queen Victoria.

So there was no point in insisting.

In fact, there wasn't anything politically sensitive in that book anyway. It probably wouldn't anger the Queen. The only possibility was being invited to serve as an aide.

That wouldn't be bad. He would gain fame and fortune, and also find a place to settle in Britain.

Lu said goodbye, "Then I'll take my leave."

He turned to grasp the doorknob.

But Scott stopped him, "Wait a minute, dear Lu!"

The term "dear" was extremely cheesy, sending shivers down Lu's spine and making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, like a startled wild cat.

He warned, "Mr. Scott, let's have a proper conversation."

Scott, embarrassed, said, "Mr. Lu, what do you think about the sales of The Scottish People yesterday?"

Yesterday, both he and Cooper thought the sales wouldn't look good,

But reality had slapped them hard in the face.

Cooper smiled wryly, "Ah, even I, the editor, had little hope, but who would have thought... After all, yesterday, everyone on the streets was discussing Holmes, as if 'The Final Problem' had never existed."

The two editors were puzzled.

Lu pondered, "It's probably because of the spiral of silence."

He casually picked up a newspaper and wrote a large Arabic numeral on it—

20,000.

"This is the spiral of silence."

It was a bit hard to understand.

Cooper scratched his head, not quite getting what he meant.

Lu said, "It's simple. The silent majority is the sales of 'The Scottish People.' It's 'the majority' because it directly determines the life and death of the newspaper; it's 'silent' because it's just a cold string of numbers, merely stating the facts."

Cooper and Scott exchanged glances.

Subtly, they felt that what Lu was saying was very important, but it was hard to quantify its significance.

Two editors, one with 21 years of experience, the other with 29 years,

at that moment, they suddenly felt their level was far from sufficient.

Lu continued, "Mr. Cooper, outside of these numbers, what's the significance of a few people cursing, crying, or making a fuss about Sherlock Holmes?"

Enlightening!

It suddenly became clear!

Cooper stared at that "20,000" and nodded, "You're right. We don't need to worry about certain individuals. It's this string of numbers, if it were to decrease by three or five thousand, then it would be a real problem."

Scott also understood, and with a sly smile, he said, "If I were walking down the street and suddenly a passerby shouted, 'I want to eat shit,' I would definitely ignore it instead of trying to dissuade him and debating whether he should eat shit."

Cooper paused for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Wait! You should immediately drop your pants and shit on the street for him to eat!"

"Get lost!"

Scott punched Cooper's shoulder.

Lu couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

These two guys are really tough; they actually compared 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' to shit...

(The character's viewpoint in the book has no relation to the author.)

Indeed, 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' is an outlier in the entire Sherlock Holmes series, but it's not that bad.

Lu interrupted their banter, "You two, be careful not to be stabbed to death by fanatical readers."

This joke brought Cooper and Scott back to work mode.

Cooper asked, "So what do we do? Although the sales of 'The Scottish People' are rising, I still feel uneasy."

Of course, it's unsettling!

If Sherlock Holmes is allowed to dominate public opinion, 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' will sooner or later be affected.

Lu smiled and asked, "Mr. Cooper, if more than ninety-nine percent of the citizens in the UK are conservatives, would you still dare to loudly advocate liberalism?"

Cooper nodded,

"Yes."

But Lu shook his head,

"Editor Cooper would do so, but commoner Cooper wouldn't."

Just this sentence was enough to awaken Cooper and Scott.

Every person has a sense of self-preservation.

If someone holds an opinion opposite to the mainstream, they are likely to remain silent for fear of rejection,

and the result is that in the silence of the non-mainstream and the loud advocacy of the mainstream, the mainstream expands and strengthens in a spiral, eventually becoming a kind of public opinion that covers the entire society.

'The Hound of the Baskervilles' and 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' are such a relationship.

Scott asked seriously, "What should we do?"

Lu first thought of opinion polls,

Opinion polls can let the minority know that they are not so much in the minority, and they are very marketable in countries with a voting system,

However, Gallup, Pew Research Center, and public opinion are all established in the 21st century. Before that, most media organizations had to rely on their own polling departments to be self-sufficient, or rely on universities and other research institutions to release polling results.

Lu looked at Scott and then at Cooper,

There is no doubt that neither 'The Manchester Guardian' nor 'The Scottish People' have the concept of opinion polls,

to be precise, no organization has the concept of opinion polls.

Lu contemplated, feeling that this might be a good business. If he could find authoritative endorsement, it would be a sure profit.

Seeing Lu's silence, Scott became a bit anxious,

"Mr. Lu?"

Lu came to his senses and replied, "Actually, it's not difficult. You just need to let the silent ones know that they are not alone. Can't 'The Manchester Guardian' do that?"