The Power Of Influence

All of the summer readings were very comparable and contrastable with one another. All three authors had different main focal points, but they appear to have a common topic link: influence.

In all three novels, the issue of influence, mostly in negative connotation, is something that over comes every society. In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the influential utopian ways are what everyone in the Ford society live by without question. It is quite obvious to the reader that everyone and everything is controlled and based on being alike with no individuality what so ever. Each person's actions are from what they are told to do and are influenced by events in their society such as how they act, dress, think, and speak. John is really the only one who sees and points out these actions while everyone else pays no attention because for them it is normal. In Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, television and media are without a doubt the biggest influences in our everyday life. Commercials, billboards, banners, and other forms of advertisement are a perfect example about how powerful influence is to the human brain. When a person who has a filthy carpet sees an ad for Stanley Steemer carpet cleaning business, they act and call them for services rather than getting the equipment and doing it themselves. Television programs and movies have much more power versus radio stations and speeches because they focus more on the entertaining aspect rather than the information itself. In Nicholas Carr's The Shallows, the author focuses on the Internet, particularly Google. He says that too many people are dependent on these two because of the convenience and amusement they get from being on them. The Internet is a huge factor influencing society each day. At this day and age, food chains like Subway and McDonald's are now on social networking sites to keep up with what is new. A lot of people style themselves off of a look they have seen online and many follow "Internet trends" such as hash tags, constant updating on their social networking sites, and type texting.

Influence is one of those things that people take for granted and do not realize how in the wrong hands, can lead to destruction in any form. Is influence as powerful as it appears? Or is it all hype?