There's an old saying that goes "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." I'm pretty sure I first heard it used in the cult classic Kevin Spacey flick The Usual Suspects. It's hard to argue with this saying. It gets it's point across. However, if I was so inclined to disagree, and maybe I just am, I'd have to say the greatest trick the Devil ever played was Television and the false realities it provides the subconscious. The masses are suggestively induced into making certain perceptions about what is "normal" and in my opinion not for the better.
"That's ridiculous!"
Yes, it is ridiculous. It's ridiculous how much of our current "real" reality, our real existence, is subject to the plays and theatrics presented to us through a funnel that is made up of various media including radio, newspaper, but most importantly television, all owned by a few companies. Our understanding of what our society is comes from this little box in every home. It is our connection to the collective. Unfortunately this half century old technology has become an instrument of brainwashing, controlled by few and watched by many. Ideologies, opinions, emotions, biases, and notions of reality are fed to the hoards in a constant bombardment of what is and what isn't, of what's normal and what's not, of what's important and what is trivial, what is wrong and what is right.
Sure, it's obvious the shows we watch aren't real. YES, we know the news is looking for ratings just like everyone else. IF IT BLEEDS IT LEADS! Right? (Actually, I think the new saying is "if it's a bubblegum pop celeb it leads.") But this isn't the only factor. Your consent is much more the detriment. You can expect the toob to be littered with fiction and fairy tales, but if you do nothing to actively consider the suggestions, if you do nothing to counter the effects, if you willfully consent to the suggestion the television entrances you. You become an open slate ready to be shaped and fitted. Knowing that cigarettes can kill them doesn't stop smokers from smoking. They know. It's a choice.
Nearly everyone in my generation is brainwashed. I am brainwashed. I've watched television my whole life. Some are worse than others. My parents generation was also brainwashed, but the technology and the programming is only getting bigger and better.
We do have one saving grace though, the one vehicle of mass communication that can prevail through the fog of suggestion. We have a place that you can roam free, say as you wish and do as you please (almost). The internet. Here you are definitely threatened by suggestion, but you are an active participant and you can dissent, you can say otherwise. You are no longer the passive servant of suggestion. In this medium you can be as powerful as your own ideas. Here you can enter a marketplace of opinion and that's good for everyone. Let's not let them take that from us. Fight internet regulation.
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