What Influences Us?

            So, I realize that I haven't posted anything in a little over a week and I'd like to apologize for my inactivity. I had a lot going on this week and so I wasn't able to post as diligently as I'd have liked. Now that that's done with, onward to the actual blog post.

I was born in Bangladesh on September 19, 1994. In 1997, a few months after my baby brother was born, my family and I moved to America. I was influenced by a plethora of cultures growing up. Due to the history, culture, and location of Bangladesh as well as my ancestry, I was influenced by Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, a few Middle Eastern countries such as Iran. I was also influence by the culture in America that I was immersed in growing up.

I essentially grew up in 2 worlds; one world would be my life outside of home in 'America' and the other world would be that inside the house or when I was out with others that originated from the same region as me (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Iran, etc). As a result of growing up in two worlds, the way I think and act was influenced by both worlds.

Despite how much I was influenced by both worlds, I was relatively naive in that I thought that the media was something that didn't affect me. Please don't make the assumption that I fancy myself a hipster, because I don't. Although, there's nothing wrong with them. A few of my friends would probably smack me upside the head for that comment, it's just that I thought that if I didn't focus on it, the media wouldn't affect me. Of course, at the time, I was happily oblivious to the fact that the media is everywhere, sort of like with Big Brother in 1984, and that the media influences us regardless of whether or not we want to be influenced. For example, let's take an example presented by Jean Kilbourne in Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel. In the 1999 Superbowl, there was a short clip presented by Victoria's Secret, advertising goods online. After which, hundreds of thousands of people went online to the Victoria's Secret's website during the Superbowl, the goddamn SUPERBOWL. People may say that they aren't affected by the media, but that's incorrect. They may think that they aren't affected, but they are. If people weren't affected by the media, why would different companies and organizations pay obscure amounts of money to have their ads aired during the Superbowl? They wouldn't. They know that a large audience watches the Superbowl and, as a result, they expect an increase in sales or at least an increase interest in regards to a particular product. Now, I was a little kid when the 1999 Superbowl was on and don't remember watching it. However, after reading the comment about the Victoria's Secret Commercial that took place during the Superbowl, I was shocked to hear that people actually left the game to go check out whatever it was that the ad was advertising and wanted to see what it was all about. The article I read, is a media outlet. It influenced me without me realizing that I was being influenced by it. It wasn't until after I saw that ad did I realize that the article sparked my desire to see what the ad was all about and in the end I "fell victim" to the clutches of the media.

Victoria Secrets 1999 Superbowl Commercial 

So, the thing to take from all that is that we are influence by just about everything around us from the day we are born. We are constantly being influenced by something regardless of whether it be the media or the weather or something totally different. It is incorrect and ultimately stupid/ignorant to assume that you aren't affected by the media or outer outlets. Whether you are being influenced consciously or unconsciously, you are being influenced by everything around you. Not only are we influenced by everything around us, the government/society takes advantage of our susceptibility and monitors/influences much of what we see through the media. What we see gives us a perspective of what we see to be acceptable, what we deem, well what society deems to be normal and we follow that. We reach for the illusion of normalcy that's projected onto us knowing that, for the most part, we will never attain it. It's like the 'American dream' that's exhibited in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald saw that the "American dream" was originally about discovery, individualism, and the pursuit of happiness. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald writes about how easy money and relaxed social values have corrupted this dream. Just as Americans have given America meaning through their dreams for their own lives, Gatsby instills Daisy with a kind of idealized perfection that she neither deserves nor possesses. If you think about it, Gatsby is society, and we, the people are Daisy. We are given this idealized perfected image that we are told to try to achieve, but it's something that most people search for but never find. It's like a treasure map; more often times then not, they turn our to be pointless searches. In the novel, Gatsby’s dream is ruined by its objects, just as the "American dream" is ruined by the unworthiness of its objects (money and pleasure). Just so, we are given this image of what is normal and told to pursue that image of normalcy. Simple enough concept/order, the discourse arises with the definition of normalcy. What is normal? What I consider to be normal is influenced by everything that influenced me and what you may think to be normal is influenced by everything that you were influenced by. Ultimately we could have similar definitions or entirely different definitions based on our experiences.