Matteo Sabene

Professor Kervina

Eng 112

Brain-Cleaner

“Ever feel tired of making your own decisions and practicing your free will? Do you ever wonder how to get all the gunk and personality out from between the folds of your brain? Well, then look no further! Bräno is the brain-cleaner for you!”

   The human mind is susceptible to all kinds of conditioning and molding from external factors. We like to think of ourselves as free thinkers, but the truth is that we are little more than animals, acting on instinct and impulses most of the time. Our society has evolved past the bare need to survive, making this less obvious, but our priorities merely shifted more towards comfort and social acceptance. This means that our likes and dislikes are influenced by what we perceive others to think is appropriate as opposed to, say, nutritional value (in food) like we are (were) evolutionarily predisposed to.

  This is a simple part of human’s social nature and is in large part the reason why we have reached this complexity of life. One’s desire to be better, smarter, richer is the driving force behind all progress made so far, and this is only a problem when the direction of this force is dictated by someone who can benefit from it.

   The media has been doing this for years now. What started off as a means of mass communication, has evolved into the dictator of public opinion. Self-proclaimed guru Brad Paul explains how easily we go along with anything that comes out of a TV screen or a newspaper, and how companies are making billions off of this susceptibility; [The public doesn’t need expensive machinery, equipment, or even gym memberships to obtain the results, and this goes for many products, in any industry].

   Sure, careless spending is also what drives this economy forward and may be even the dividing factor between 1^st and 3^rd world countries. The stock-market functions solely thanks to the “immediate” nature of media, and even small businesses are able to flourish thanks to social media, creating exposure and easy marketing, but at what cost?

You are too often being manipulated into buying things you don’t need, to keep up an image or impress someone. These are human tendencies regardless but now they are being exploited and you are being fooled into giving up your dignity. People are not thinking with their own heads and are following leads from unthinking masses or to keep up with the Joneses.

The industries are so busy finding ways to get people to covet and yearn for the newest model (phone, car, shoes, etc.) Some of the best paying jobs and thus some of the best minds have ended up being used to think up ways to have people click or browse on one add or another to continue with this cycle. People need to wake up from the fogged up brains, think clearly and make good choices for themselves.

If we really want to advance as a society we have to stop trying to just make money to have more of what we don’t need and start thinking about the real needs of others and our planet. Big pharmaceutical companies are more preoccupied about the money they can make than they are about developing medicine that gives results, investing more in marketing than in research and development. Any time there is a buck to be made there are people willing to go for it no matter the victims.

It is imperative that we rise above the misinformation and disinformation, the lies, deceit and propaganda by educating ourselves about issues so we cannot be controlled by forces looking to make profit for their own selfish reasons.