When you hear or come across the word 'media', your mind starts bringing up images from movies, news, cartoons, camera crew, advertisement etc We do live in a media world, at least the ones who are able to type this and print it out do. The media is everywhere and people label the media as 'Entertainment'. But is the media more than that? Studies in social psychology and history itself has shown that the media itself is a weapon as well as a religion. In this chapter, we'll discuss Subliminal Messages - most importantly, imprinted ideas in the human brain.
To start with Subliminal Messages, these are messages you aren't conscious of - they are basically messages that jump into your unconscious without passing through any filters. The message is an idea and ideas are what the world is made of. These ideas could orient you to think about something and eventually do something. It is seen in advertising whereby hundreds of pictures are just being flashed at rapid rates and one of the picture has something to do with nudity, violence or food. If you're thinking, how was the person able to see that specific picture?! Well, the person didn't but the person's brain did. The human brain is powerful enough to easily skim through all those pictures and filter them so the person doesn't overload. Neuropsychological tests has proven that the brain can easily accomplish this task.
So why do subliminal messages work? Well, tests have shown that subliminal messages work mostly on the human needs rather than the human wants. That is to say, if you flash a Pepsi bottle as a subliminal message doesn't necessarily mean the person is going to break into a liquor store to drink Pepsi. Rather, the human brain lights up with its neurons when a 'need' is within its grasp. Do an fMRI scan of the human brain while orgasm and drinking Pepsi - you'll notice there's a big difference. So the human brain is naturally wired to accept its biological needs.
So how does the media play a role with subliminal messages? Power, control? They all work. A study showed that children eXposed to Disney Cartoons were more eager to engage in seXual activity than those that didn't watch Disney Cartoons. Conspiracy theories of how Disney Cartoons have subliminal messages that promote seXual activity in children just turned out to have a sparkle of truth. But then what do you think is wrong with the act overall? Well, you are influenced to lead a certain lifestyle and that alone can change your life drastically.
But what about the media as it is? Does it require subliminal messages to implant an idea? Certainly not. Sometimes the Medic can just display a billboard with the message right there and that can be enough to change someone's way of living. Some starving children in Africa were brought up in a world that they've never seen beyond what their eyes can see. But then although in poverty, you still see African children laughing hysterically just chasing a ball. Now how can the media influence the child? Well, the child has never seen a television before - doesn't know the life outside here or if there is life at that moment. So then if the child sees on TV that some kids are having an entire table of food that they just can't get enough and end up throwing half of the uneaten food to garbage, imagine what goes on in the poor child's mind. The child is now 'conscious' of his reality and his stomach hurts more than he previously ever felt. So you see a media image broadcasted from half way across the world can have powerful effects.
As a weapon, it is known as Propaganda. During the Soviet Communism Era, the allies used the same tactic as above to influence the people against their government. When there were people all waiting in line to get a pound of chicken, right besides them was a billboard that read
THE AMERICAN DREAM
An entire house for mom and dad, son has his brand new car, daughter is cooking three large turkeys.
The amygdala and the frontal lobe went on fire because it touched the human need - the unsatisfied taste to have everything. Propaganda is one of the reasons that Political Systems end up working or failing. In fact, it's beginning to backfire as a domino effect. In the United States, one state created a riot known as the Occupy Movement and as it was broadcasted on TV, other states watched and ended up doing the same and now pretty much the entire world is joining this movement.
What about the internet? The highest paid media industry is actually the Porno Industry. After all, it is a human need. So how does porno change a person's life? Well, besides getting addicted to porn and people developing SeXual Compulsive Disorders, there's always a more harsh eXample.
In Saudi Arabia, porn and everything that has to do with nudity is forbidden by law. You have a better chance of hacking into NASA rather than trying to break the firewall to porn in Saudi Arabia. So then think about it, human males start getting erections at the age of five and from that and beyond up even into adolescence, they never get to see a woman's ankle. The repression can eventually cause someone to be a rapist or a seXual compulsive. Now imagine a giant video billboard on the city streets advertising the latest Mercedes Benz or whatever. Imagine what would happen if you just uploaded a pornographic video even for a few seconds. Men, who've never seen an ankle before talk less of an entire naked female body in the state of intercourse, would go insane with all the neurons blasting in his brain. The same goes for females - that is, if they don't pull their eyes out. In my opinion, that's the best way to start a riot in Saudi Arabia.
[Will stop here for now, continue later -]
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