Influence 5

I wonder about the influence of addiction in our society. I just barked out a rebuke onto the voicemail of the local CBC morning program, the Early Edition. The host is an admitted fan of craft beer, and possibly other imbibings, and doesn't appear shy about promoting beer culture, using our publicly funded broadcaster as his platform, and this is problematic. Recently this eponymous broadcaster has also interviewed various persons expressing well-founded concerns about the problems with alcohol addiction in our communities, and that the media's promoting of alcohol does plenty to aggravate the problem. So, after nodding his assent, this radio journalist goes ahead and continues to report over the public airwaves about our local beer culture. I mentioned on my phone message that I am the adult child of an alcoholic, there are many like me, and we and many others have suffered tremendously from the fallout from our parents' addictions. And the radio host makes agreeable sounding noises, then continues to endorse this culture of alcoholism. This leads me to wonder about just how strongly we are influenced by the powers of corporate advertising, and especially when it's about an intoxicating substance, a highly addictive intoxicating substance that is really not much better, perhaps even worse, than heroin and other opiates. This also influences me, as an assertive listener, to reach for my phone and give those clowns a good and well-deserved blast. As well as being influenced we are also influencers. And we need to empower ourselves as vectors of influence if we don't want to wallow in the misery of chronic victimhood. We are bombarded from all sides with advertising, endorsements, and all kinds of blatant and subtle appeals to our sense of dignity, our sense of identity, all in the name of purchasing product and allowing those hyenas to tattoo our souls with their brand. This all starts in childhood, of course. Children are a particularly vulnerable audience to advertisers. And they have absolutely no shame. The rest takes place in peer groups and the school yard, as the dominant kids declare what is cool and everyone has to follow them. This isn't always destructive, especially given how much the crisis of climate change has also swept through our younger populations, and the way they are taking the lead in alerting their elders to the crisis is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Influence is inevitable. And we have to also channel our power as influencers as well as negotiate the many forces and voices and multiple images and cacophony that is always competing to hold us in their thrall. But not everyone is empowered, nor is everyone ready for empowerment, when you see how destroyed and broken many lives are from those very influences that simply are not going to stop. Influence shapes and forms our lives. Influence crushes and destroys us. Influence dehumanizes us. But...Influence also empowers and inspires us. And influence transforms us into influencers, or vectors of influence. A lot of noise has been made about the power of multinational corporations, and their incredible capacity for enslaving us with their mass marketing and products, smartphone technology and addiction being a particularly egregious example. But they cannot enslave us without our consent, and this is my call to all of you, my Gentle Reader. Start taking authority, and power and responsibility over the forces that influence you. Acquire an ethical and moral compass. Acquire or reclaim you souls. Costly, yes, but you are not powerless. Lazy, maybe, but you are not as vulnerable as you think you are.