Category of Exerting Influence

I am surprised at how much people are influenced by the world around them. Studies have shown that little things that are experienced by people in their day-to-day lives (things they see or hear) can actually change their mood, or way of thinking for a short time. The whole "nature vs. nurture" argument is kind of based off of this, and frankly I think our society has, as a by-product of our education system, bred this facet into human nature. People are trying to take in the world around them, and this is the source of all knowledge, at least, in a subconscious way. People react to the world around them in order to function, but this sometimes has a more lasting impression.

If you were to see a goat running full out towards you, you would see this and get out of the way (hopefully). This is how we function. Action, reaction. However, from that point on, you may have a view of goats that is less favorable. In fact, your day may be less positive having narrowly escaped death (it was a very big goat). The point is, things around us mess with our mind, and sometimes our mind doesn't know when to turn off this "action, reaction" function, and not apply it to everything. I think this is where some people get fears of things that haven't actually affected them for years.

Now this concept of being influenced has always fascinated me, and much of my early writing contains attempts to play around with this. I have always felt that the author of a piece of writing exerted a sort of power or control over the reader, who will read anything the author has written. Now some people say the reader can stop whenever they want, but the power comes from keeping the person reading, and in a way, making them not want to stop. For example, in one poem, I tell the reader straight out that there is no way they will stop reading, because they can see from the overall size of the poem that it is almost the end, and they will figure they may as well not skip the last bit. Whatever the author puts in those last few sentences is going to be read, no matter what they say.

You can't always make someone accept what you write, so the power isn't incredible. What it does accomplish is the concept behind marketing; it puts it into your brain, and it gets processed. It will go through the "action, reaction" system, and a conclusion will be reached. The power an author has is in their ability to activate this brain function when it otherwise would not have activated. I wish I could sound more profound, but what I'm talking about here is pretty basic stuff, and actually of little consequence. It's just something that has fascinated me. You see something scary, you may have nightmares. You hear a wonderful story, and you may have a positive outlook for the day. How can anyone be sure that what they think is actually their own true constructed thoughts? Isn't everything you ever think just some sort of comprehension of the external world? What is truly our own??

Some people think you need to be "authentic" or "your own person". I say that it is best to try and understand yourself, find out how you process with your "action, reaction" system, and control that function. Don't get caught up in bad feelings about not being your own entity; that's not what life is about, in my opinion. You can't be separate from something you're a part of. Accept it, and move on. Influence is inevitable, and not necessarily the worst thing ever.

Zombies; that's pretty much the worst thing ever.