Are We Brainwashed to the Point that we don't live our own lives?

cherryghost · 11-02-2013 05:54AM #1

A thought occurred tonight as I was watching the fairly unfunny Big Bang Theory bloopers. I ended up zoning out of the scenes and started listening to the laughter track, listening to it loop over and over with minor differences in each track. The laugh tracks are there to tell us when to laugh. They manipulate us, and in some ways they make us laugh at situations that aren't even funny.

For the past 150 years we have been living our lives, walking down streets, reading newspapers, browsing the internet, looking at ads. Whether some of you choose to believe it or not, they force us down a road with little or no choice. Even back in the dark ages, religious oppression and prophets gave us 2 options; follow your orders or die in a ditch.

I guess at the end of the day, we're just brainwashed zombies in a corrupt system and it will always be the case.

Thoughts?

Richard Dower · 11-02-2013 05:56AM

yes, I am a slave.

Where To · 11-02-2013 05:57AM

Whatever you say Cherry.

Hank Scorpio · 11-02-2013 05:59AM

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a ****ing big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of ****ing fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the **** you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing ****ing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, ****ed up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

AngryHippie · 11-02-2013 06:02AM

Lots of people are utterly brain-dead rather than brain washed.
I like to think that I am more or less independently minded:eek:

NIMAN · 11-02-2013 06:03AM

Watching The Big Bang Theory was your problem.

If there was no canned laughter in it, no-one would ever laugh at anything in it.

Richard Dower · 11-02-2013 06:08AM

NIMAN wrote: »

Watching The Big Bang Theory was your problem.

If there was no canned laughter in it, no-one would ever laugh at anything in it.

:rolleyes: - you've clearly never watched it....its the best sitcom in the last 20 years!

cherryghost · 11-02-2013 06:08AM

AngryHippie wrote: »

I like to think that I am more or less independently minded:eek:

Are you sure?

1ZRed · 11-02-2013 06:14AM

I don't know about you but I have not been browsing the internet for 150 years, as bad as I am with it.

Czarcasm · 11-02-2013 06:15AM

You're not forced to do anything really, you just have to be prepared to live with the consequences of your actions.

Every human being is born with free will. Brainwashing by third parties though is easier achieved with feeble minded people who choose not to exercise that free will, instead taking whatever is given to them as the easier option.

Czarcasm · 11-02-2013 06:22AM

Richard Dower wrote: »

:rolleyes: - you've clearly never watched it....its the best sitcom in the last 20 years!

A bit subjective there Richard. Everyone can name their favorite sitcom and say it was the best sitcom in the last 20 years.

Sitcoms and canned laughter aren't my thing personally though.

HTML5! · 11-02-2013 06:26AM

Richard Dower wrote: »

:rolleyes: - you've clearly never watched it....its the best sitcom in the last 20 years!

Oh my God! Someone has a different opinion than yours!

Saying it's the best sitcom in the last 20 years doesn't make it so.

I've given it a chance and it's utter sh!te.

Back on topic.

I think most people are coniditioned to live a certain way

Most of us including myself probably will fall into the 'regular' way of living (married, kids etc), but there's lots you can do to make this life your own so you're not just living the rat race.

Besides, how else can you live? It would be great to take off to an island somewhere and live somewhat independantly, but what are you going to achieve there?

Despite its fault, many of us are living in a world where we've many opportunities and avenues in which we can grow academically and spiritually.

So we can build the life we want for ourselves, but are we building the life we think we want? That's the question! Wait was that Cherryghost's question?! F*ck it, I haven't slept a wink all night, that's my excuse!

Chuck Stone · 11-02-2013 06:28AM

cherryghost wrote: »

Whether some of you choose to believe it or not, they force us down a road with little or no choice.

Who be they?

NIMAN · 11-02-2013 07:20AM

Richard Dower wrote: »

:rolleyes: - you've clearly never watched it....its the best sitcom in the last 20 years!

I have, and its sh1t.

minidazzler · 11-02-2013 07:21AM

If you feel you are being forced down a path then stop and say No. If nothing happens then it's all in your head and stop complaining.

If someone tries to force you further stab his ass.... *note: This is not legal advice*

kneemos · 11-02-2013 07:27AM

I don't think we're that manipulated,if we don't like something we steer clear of it as with the big bang,the choice is boggling these days.Advertising does I believe guide us by the hand though and people should be made more aware of advertising techniques and the psychology involved.

yermanoffthetv · 11-02-2013 07:54AM

Richard Dower wrote: »

:rolleyes: - you've clearly never watched it....its the best sitcom in the last 20 years!

You clearly dont watch much comedy then. Arrested development, its always sunny in Philly' Black books, Spaced...thats just for starters

Sinfonia · 11-02-2013 08:00AM

yermanoffthetv wrote: »

You clearly dont watch much comedy then. Arrested development, its always sunny in Philly' Black books, Spaced...thats just for starters

Honestly, don't waste your time.

Time to go mobile · 11-02-2013 08:07AM

AngryHippie wrote: »

Lots of people are utterly brain-dead rather than brain washed.
I like to think that I am more or less independently minded:eek:

Have you ever met someone who says they are dependently minded?

IceFjoem · 11-02-2013 08:20AM

Richard Dower wrote: »

:rolleyes: - you've clearly never watched it....its the best sitcom in the last 20 years!

Hardly, try watching it without the laugh-track:

Still funny?

BrensBenz · 11-02-2013 08:24AM

Where do you draw the line between conforming to peer pressure / societal expectations and being brain-washed?

I feel I'm being manipulated by devious marketeers every time I go to Tesco but then I see (carefully selected and edited) footage from North Korea and think "isn't it great to be free". Later, I brush my teeth with the latest breath-freshening tooth paste, put on a "suitable" tie, drive my Eurobox to the office and engage in conformance-related activities for the expected duration. Weekends are occupied by a selection of those activities deemed acceptable by my tribe.

Our neighbours to the East seem to be brain-washed to slightly different rails, similar to above but include an acceptance of "their place" on the ladder, with Betty and Philo Windsor at the top and whoever the media tell them is bottom this week. Their “eccentric” wears odd socks while, in Ireland, he’s just a slack b@$t@rd.

11-02-2013 08:30AM

We're not individuals!
We're workers!
We're consumers!
Our purpose in life is the move money from one pocket to another so that the 0.1% can take a bit of it and stay incredibly wealthy.

kiffer · 11-02-2013 08:33AM

They live, We sleep.

hawkwind23 · 11-02-2013 08:47AM

I voted yes. I've given this so much thought over here years.
An alogy I have is that if you walk into Tesco to buy dinner for an occasion, at what point are you exercising free will?
What thought processes will have been manipulated? What thought processes are being massaged as you walk around?
You may feel you are acting with choice and independent thought but you are not.
Start to pan out now......
Why did you opt for tescos over aldi etc?
Why are you shopping for this occasion?
How did you get to this point?
And on and on
START TO DECONSRUCT

Czarcasm · 11-02-2013 09:09AM

dolanbaker wrote: »

We're not individuals!
We're workers!
We're consumers!
Our purpose in life is the move money from one pocket to another so that the 0.1% can take a bit of it and stay incredibly wealthy.

Speak for yourself thanks. You make the choice to work and you make the choice to consume. Our purpose in life is to make the most of it while we can, not to covet what everyone else has.

You can choose to live your life as an individual, or you can choose to regurgitate snappy soundbites.

Sinfonia · 11-02-2013 09:46AM

Czarcasm wrote: »

You can choose to live your life as an individual, or you can choose to regurgitate snappy soundbites.

By announcing the former, you've chosen the latter :P

checkyabadself · 11-02-2013 10:37AM

bazinga.

Mr Simpson · 11-02-2013 10:40AM

*Gets popcorn and waits for Run_to_da_hills*

Czarcasm · 11-02-2013 10:52AM

Sinfonia wrote: »

By announcing the former, you've chosen the latter :P

Gaaaah! :mad:

Too early now in the morning for that craic Sinfornia! :pac:

Crooked Jack · 11-02-2013 11:08AM

I'm a bit hesitant about buying wholesale into the "we're all mindless drones" (usually followed by, "except me") thing but at times I do genuinely feel like I'm being bombarded with advertising and am being cattled and corralled about. This happens mostly in supermarkets/shopping centres or when waiting in line for something touristy.
The thing i find hardest is knowing the difference between when you're genuinely being herded around as a faceless consumer and when I'm just being narcissistic and self-indulgent, looking around with derision at all these other people greedily grabbing at the things they are told they want when I'm just as bad, if not worse.

11-02-2013 11:31AM

Jim Corr has made some very challenging observations on this topic, curiously I can't recall any of them.
I must be 'brainwashed'.

Are We Brainwashed to the Point that we don't live our own lives?

Are We Brainwashed to the Point that we don't live our own lives? Post a Poll 129 votes

Comments