How Much are we Influenced?

How much are we influenced?

If I was to ask you that question, you would pause for thought and then answer "I don't know, not a lot" or "I am my own man/woman" or "I am very easily influenced".

The best way to honestly answer this question is too look at the one most predominant area of influence...Media.

No mater how much we try to deny it, our world view is shaped by what the TV, newspapers and magazines tell us.

News and Current Events

The engine room of influence.

Public opinion is influenced by many stories and also gives the powers that be the excuse to "soften" us up to changes that they wish to make to further "close up" our ever shrinking world view. The best and darkest example of this has to be the two major "terrorist" attacks on US and UK soil... 9/11 and 7/7. Out of those came "the war on terror" and the fear of "terrorism" prepared us for what has now become a blatant violation of our civil liberties in the name of "national security". We are now told that everyone is a threat and that those that speak against the regime are potential "terrorists" or "traitors".

All of this was manufactured by the media. Another stupid example of just how the media influences is the 2005 European Champions League Final, Liverpool versus AC Milan. A classic match! However out of that match, only for a short while thankfully came the "Jerzy Dudek wobbly legs" craze, something that became a little phenomenon after it was publicised by the media. It is as simple as that. It only takes the media to "blow it up" and then everyone is at it.

A person is made and broken by the media. One minute he/she cannot do anything wrong, then next they are the devil's advocate. Everyone from pop stars to prime ministers have felt the force of this phenomenon

Television is a powerful medium in the art of control.

Soap operas, sit coms and reality TV dominate the screen and the amount of time that the general public spend watching and following these is frightening. It can be said that it is a person's right to watch these programmes, however, these people are being slowly slipped away from reality. Where the topic of conversation is not "What can we do to change the world that we live in?" but "Did you watch Big Brother last night...ooohh!". These people have been stopped from thinking what really matters. They have been I am afraid to say "influenced" and led astray.

The way that we relate to each other is also influenced by the media.

One example. Those that do not work for whatever reason are labelled as "scroungers" and we are encouraged to report these "scroungers" or "benefit thieves", yet our very own government have been caught doing the same thing with the expenses claims fiasco. There was uproar in the press and people expressed their anger at the matter, then silence. Was it another exercise in mass influence? Really if this was 40 years ago and we had heard about that we would be taking to the streets, but all that happens is that we are given something to re-focus our attention and that matter of the expenses is closed.

Those in control of the media know also that something that is "bad" and is "banned" also sells. They exploit that false rebellion in us to cream us of even more cash. For example a book gets banned, there is always a way to get hold of it...then the ban is lifted and everyone goes and buys it.

The list of the influences are endless...who to vote for (not that it makes any difference), what to and not to eat, what to wear, how to conduct yourself in public, how to behave in general, what is right and what is wrong.

The one prevailing force that the media use on us is fear.

"Terrorism", "Global Warming", "Swine flu", "E Coli", Mad cow disease", Rising Crime", "Recession/depression", the list goes on. We however buy into this and driven by fear we all, like sheep follow without question what we are told to do.

It may help to take yourself away from all this for a little while, give yourself time to adjust and then take a good look at the world you live in...it may shock you!

Fashion and Music

This, over the last 50 years has been a great social experiment.

We are told what is "in" and what is "out" and most of us follow accordingly. For those who don't, even the subcultures follow suit to some degree and unknowingly, what is seen to them as rebellion is just another form of uniformed conformity. For example all goths seem to wear black, emo's have long fringes, skull and crossbones motifs, and punk type attire. With rockers it was always leather or denim jackets, jeans or leather pants. Goth, emo, punk, rocker, skinhead, whatever...we just cant help getting into uniformity.

So, for years we have been told who to listen to and what to wear. we are told that political or protest songs are not "hip". No wonder as those in power do not want songs that question them or promote freedom of thought or expression.

I remember hearing a child taunted by his fellow classmates coming out of school one day, that he has a shopping bag from a discount supermarket. Kids are trained early to follow. They only want brand name clothing and footwear, they dont want to be bothered with the fact that the clothing was made out of the misery of others in far off, poorer lands.

We as adults are told that we have to have this and that and if we dont then...well we must be poor or something. So in order to have these things that we really cannot afford, we take out loans and get deeper and deeper into debt. Then comes a recession/depression and now we are at the mercy of banks. All thanks to the training by the media to have, have and have more. Then along come the sharks!

Being a musically minded person it has always troubled me why rarely do we see or hear real musical talent on the TV or radio?. You know the ones that can go the distance and makes songs that will stay with us for decades, in the mainstream? Why do we have to put up with the absolute garbage that we are subjected to? Most of the best musicians and singers I have heard are on our streets busking. Still we are told through advertising and bombardment that these plastic pop stars are "it" and like sheep we follow along and buy the product and allow it to anaesthetise us even more. Like I said before, we are steered away from any song or track that either promotes self thought or criticises the system. Once again we follow singing along to songs about bithces, bling, having more and more, sex, mushy love and more mushy love. Once it is advertised, publicised, thrown down your throat so much, you will buy it.

Imagine the pied piper playing away and leading us all into the mountain, never to be seen again, that is the power of this media machine!

What you should look like

Image is everything! Size does matter! To win is everything but to lose is nothing! Live life to the max! Have better sex! Better orgasms! Be the best! Have that new look! Try the new celebrity diet! Have your face clear of spots! This fragrance will seduce all!

Self image...now this is close to home!

The media tell you how you should look and we will go to amazing lengths to look that way. I remember watching a programme about a young woman who was going to all lengths to look like her pop idol. She went through all sorts of pain and a lot of cash to perfect this look but what I was thinking was that she was already stunning anyway...WHY???!!! In an interview she told the interviewer that she hated the look of herself in the mirror and loved her idol so much that she wanted to be like her.

Part of being self aware is being comfortable with the person you see in the mirror. Whether you are good looking or ugly, fat or thin, smooth or hairy...your look is the result of genetics. The media have been attacking you for years!

You are who you are. It took me years to work this out and slowly I am breaking free from this. An example from a male perspective...body hair. In the 1960's and 70's I remember it being "cool" for a man to be hairy, in fact I remember the adverts for after shave always had hairy men in them (and in some cases the women were hairy too LOL) but now a social trend has set in making men's bodily hair "uncool" and women even have discriminated against hairy men. I would say that years ago that prejudice did not exist, so where did it come from...the media! If men think it is bad then it must be hell for the woman. You have to have the look or else, you are a social misfit, thin is in. This has led to many young women and men to fall into anorexic conditions because of this pressure.

This is an attack on who we are and we allow it. As soon as we understand that we are who we are and not allow the media to make us so self-phobic, the better we wil be. It really doesn't matter but other have also been influenced by the media to be superficial. You find it in group dynamics where a girl or boy is excluded from a gang because they just "don't fit in".

The sooner we brake free from this media circus the better.

If the media don't get to you then religion will. It will influence you where it failed. It is one or the other as the media will keep you away from religion and religion will keep you away from the media, both claiming each other to be evil and both shaping your world view. I believe they are all part of the same "gene pool" designed to keep us away from the true reality of who we really are.

What is the difference between the media and religion? NOTHING!!!!!!

It deamnds your attention
It demands your time
It demands your money
It demands that you change according to its pattern
It demands that you obey its commands
It will not pick you up or offer solutions if you should fall

It has been said that we were designed to worhsip something. Well that could be possible as there is always something that demands our time and energy:

Religion
Politics
Television (favourite programmes)
Celebrities (favourite actor/actress/fashion model)
Football or sports team
Pop/Rock band/Singer/musician

They all demand our time, energy, money, devotion, worship.

Entertainment in small doses as a way of being part of your daily life is not a bad thing. We do need a little entertaining and something to go for, however, the pressure is always on us to "give more".

One aspect of being self aware is having the ability to see the world as it really is and not be influenced by the never ending onslaught of misinformation that is out there. Also being able to see yourself as you really are, not who you have been told you are. You are consciousness enclosed in a body, individual yet part of the one, capable of the most amazing things. Simple really. The media will not tell you that!

"I think, therefore I am" Rene Descartes

Love, Peace and Respect to you all :)