One of the most important human needs in the 21st century is the right to mental independence, since every day our brain is subjected to more and more intensive and frequent manipulations in interests that are alien to our individuality.
Deafening advertisements and obsessive propaganda represent the most blatant and shameless aggression against the human mind, which was previously the sacred refuge of the human "I", and now has turned into a showroom, chaotically filled with political debates, carbonated and alcoholic products, cigarettes, cars, clothes of famous companies, cosmetics, gorgeous beaches, gorgeous women, advice on investing money, pornography - that is, entertainment and consumerism.
Television not only breaks into our brains, but also disrupts the peace of our home, aggressively bombarding us with pictures of sex, violence, sadism, perversion, vulgarity and vulgar tearfulness, and only rare films and cultural programs are free from this.
On the other hand, our mental capacity is negatively affected by high levels of acoustic and environmental pollution, which fragments and weakens our brain, opening it up to external influences. Our minds are cleverly manipulated to buy certain goods or to opt for certain political leaders, popular singers, TV programs, gossip magazines or ways of investing money.
The creation of artificial needs is an encroachment on the right of free choice, carried out with the help of advertising, which invisibly penetrates into our brain at an unconscious level and forces us to do what we never really wanted. This is done only for the purpose of making a profit.
The gross manipulation of people's behavior through the media to force them to accept something that they would probably refuse in their right mind is a serious violation of ethics. In democratic countries, citizens are not obliged to submissively accept what is imposed on them by authoritarian and unethical methods, to humbly endure lack of publicity in the adoption of judicial decisions, to passively bear the burden of excessive taxes that go nowhere. Nevertheless, the whole world is subject to direct or indirect mental manipulations, the purpose of which is to subordinate citizens to someone's dark interests.
People are convinced by acting on their subconscious:
Promotional video:
- Take out loans at extortionate interest rates and feel happy from having the "privilege" to increase the capital of creditors from month to month.
- To hate the rich and despise the poor.
- Discriminate women.
- Imitate the absurd patterns of behavior promoted by television and movies.
- Commit crimes like movie heroes, reaching sadomasochism.
- Dive into rampant consumerism.
- Blindly imitate famous artists, musicians, soap opera characters, vulgar and vulgar.
- Worship false values.
- Follow imposed bad taste and crude farce.
- Follow herd behavior and become an obedient consumer.
- It is thoughtless to accept any norms under the pressure of authority, no matter how contradictory or unfair they may be.
- It is superstitious to worship false gods.
- Passively accept everything that is approved in the media.
You can endlessly give examples of the manipulation of people's minds, since we meet with this all the time.
The principle of democracy - government for the people - turns out to be perverted and trampled, because people's minds do not belong to them, but to the media and their owners. The freedom of mental choice is fundamentally violated. Here is a quote from the philosopher Karl Popper about the danger of television:
What does the eminent philosopher mean by the abuse of power by television?
It is the legal (nevertheless, immoral) intrusion into the minds of people, directing them to violence, vulgarity, consumerism, acceptance of negative values and real grotesque. Media abuse is a form of ideological terrorism against humanity. They should have been subject to tight scrutiny from the ethics council that Popper is proposing.
Television pounces on a person like a night robber on a victim, invading the minds of children and adults with incredible force and turning the freedom of choice of ideas into a romantic relic of the past.
Controlling the minds of people has become a wonderful business today. Anyone with a sufficient amount of money can launch an advertising campaign and influence consumer behavior, which according to the prevailing economic system is considered highly desirable, as it allows you to increase sales and generate profits.
However, a dilemma remains: how moral such actions are, since we are inclined to consume not only goods, but also values and ideas. People are constantly being brainwashed to channel their behavior in ways that benefit certain groups.
Even in ancient times, ambitious individuals discovered that controlling someone else's will can become an inexhaustible source of power. Unfortunately, so far there is no other way to protect yourself from this kind of capture, except for strict control over your own mind.
The contradiction lies in the fact that people submit to the false and changeable opinion of “her majesty of the crowd”, which is not formed by a bright mind, but comes, as a rule, from a group of ambitious individuals who use the crowd as an unconscious tool. Due to their authority, popularity or oratory ability, they exert undivided influence on the crowd, not knowing the true motives of such leaders.
Based on the book by Dario Salas Sommer "Moral of the XXI century"
