Clearly our society has some influence on our world views, just today I was sitting in class discussing the "free the nipple" movement and mental influence was quite clear. Most of my fellow students hold strong to the idea that this movement is a welcome change in the world. Now I know what you're thinking, "but Ericha, that shows that society has a minimal influence on people if any influence at all!?" However, these same students also added that either they had only recently changed their world view or they were simply on bored for sexualisation purposes. AKA to see breasts in public. So I invite you to entertain this idea, what if the media's recent 180 into being pro "Free the nipple" is what is changing the mentality of our population?
I mean think about it. When the media's energy was focused on convincing everyone that seeing women's breasts was indecent and, frankly, disgusting the majority of the population agreed. Women who were bare-chested in public were met with uncomfortable looks, judgement and ridicule. Per contra, the media has started to advertise the movement as a morally and ethically right mind set and with that the populations reactions have shifted. Young people, in particular, have begun to adopt a particular sense of admiration for the women they now deem "confident" and "daring".
So the question is, when did "indecent" and "disgusting" become "confident" and "daring"? Moreover, what provoked this major change in people's mentalities? The common element here is the media. When the diverse media branches decide that they wish to back a state of mind, their influence is awe-inspiring. Therefore, when these entities were against the movement so was the majority of the population and when they were for the movement again the population followed suit.
Isn't that a scary thought? On a subject so entirely controversial, that plays into religion, upbringing, culture and personal mindset, the media was able to make us believe both sides of this story. We were influenced, nay conditioned, to think that the notion was both unfathomable and indisputably right. This shows a level of control that is exerted by the media on a regular basis. To draw a parallel to Brave New World written by Aldus Huxley, they sometimes use a system of catchy slogans repeated several times during the program to subconsciously influence you to do a specific thing. These include buying specific items, watching specific programs and yes, even adopting certain behavioral and mental mannerisms. The major problem is that the spectrum of control is quite broad: Herbal essences will pay us 1 million dollars to run their commercials, we'll run them 5 times in a 30 minute slot and their sales will increase 3 fold... That kind of power is fairly unnerving.
Do you believe our present day society is brainwashed? Do you believe us to be free-thinkers? My answer is yes, a deep and resounding yes to both questions. To some extent, we are all brainwashed. Peer pressure and metacommunication are used on a regular basis the world of media. However, these methods of brainwashing are entirely avoidable. Simply avoid the media. Stay away from (especially) tv and radio and you avoid the entire problem.
So have we free-will? You decide.
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