Indoctrination, by definition, is the instruction of a doctrine or ideology in a dogmatic manner. In today's society, it is safe to refer to our magazines, our radio stations, our advertisements, our movies, our entertainment, our social media outlets, our newspapers, our television news outlets and our media in general as the dictators of our society's political and cultural paradigms. It is safe to say we are indoctrinated by media.
As a part of the millennial generation I can admit that from the time I was a child I have been wholeheartedly exposed to and deluded by mass media. They have implemented the same basic narratives in my head culturally and politically with minor evolvement regarding the events or trends transpiring at the time. They have implemented these narratives into the heads of society collectively.
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Culturally, they have always been the driving force behind things such as our values, our self image, our implicit biases, the people we idolize, the people we scrutinize and profile perhaps unfairly, those we want to look and behave like, achievements we feel we should strive for, what we consider significant, and possessions that determine our success. They have always set any and all bars in regards to where we stand in society.
Politically, they deceive us, they are our main source of information and education and they use this to their greatest advantage. Throughout the years mergers have allowed our flow of information to come under the control of only six corporations. General Electric, News-Corp, Disney, Viacom, CBS and Time Warner pull virtually every puppet string attached to media outlets. They tell us who or what to trust and not to trust, what to believe and what to deem as a lie, who is the hero and who is the villain, they hide truth in the shadows and broadcast narratives and sound bites of utter lies. Modern day mass media exists to sway our opinions, influence and control our behavior and destroy our critical thinking skills.
They are the sole influence on our society, every generation included. Whether eighty years old, thirty years old or ten years old, they have culturally conditioned and left the majority of us in a state of hypnosis. We are subjected to deceptive information which we consciously accept as truth and images or sounds which we subconsciously allow to dictate our perception of ourselves and others. Everything we see, hear or read -- whether a news story, a fictional television series or an advertisement -- permeates our minds and distorts our perception or judgment which in turn affects our behavior. We are the nuts and bolts of a robotic society that was and is being built to completely and utterly conform. We are being constructed to operate under the control of the six corporate entities that "educate and inform" us and any and all of their colleagues.
As a society of the free world we are obligated to not only revolutionize education but to collectively enter a state of consciousness. We must place our education into our own hands and begin to think critically again. We cannot continually perpetuate a war on our freedom and our perception that is being covered up so well by mass media. If we cut the cord now we can save our values, our perceptions and expectations of ourselves, our negative paradigms of others based upon race or social class; we can save our freedom and not fall into the trenches of conformity. We will take a giant leap forward towards the goal of operating "by the people and for the people" once again.
