Whose Thought Is That Anyway?

And Do We Really Care?

No, i'm not reffering to some kind of strange cult-like conspiracy with people's thoughts being transplanted into their minds by some kind of super-intelligent race from another planet. Although, in a sense, i suppose the force that is messing with our thoughts could be considered alien, though i dont's quite see it as super-intelligent...

In a world where media runs circles around society, how can you tell your thoughts from those that are quietly inserted into our minds by the constraints of the world around us? These days, when i think something to myself, i immediately second guess myself and wonder if that's what i really think or if it's merely what society wants me to think or what i've been pursuaded to think by others.

Example? Well, of course it's hard to tell, because distinguishing other people's thoughts from your own is never something easy. Let's say, for example, racism. How many people, if they met someone from a different background for the first time, away from all other humans, would they really treat them any differently? Probably not. But, due to the world around us, so many people automatically think of them differently and often negatively. Which is ridiculous, but true. If it weren't for all of the reports and media attention on prejudice, would it be such an issue? The awareness is raised and, while it's generally in an attempt to stop it, it still makes you aware of it. Maybe this is what makes it a problem in the first place. If nobody mentioned it, it could quite possibly be just the opinion of a few individuals who could be ignored by everyone else. On the other hand, maybe not. I guess we'll never know.

More examples? Maybe it's the same kind of deal with homophobia? It seems like a pretty similar situation. And even with things as close-to-home as which movie stars people like. Brad Pitt can't possibly be everyone's type, yet everyone seems to adore him. Why? People don't have the same taste anywhere else, why should Brad be something different? What about sickness. Depression - how can you tell whether you are actually depressed or whether you're just a little bit sad. Because we hear so much about the alarming rise in teenage depression we are constantly aware of it and on the look out for it. If we didn't hear so much about it, would we actually think that we were depressed? Or would we just think that we were having an off day? Who knows. Same with anorexia and the like. How about just crushes on guys? People always like people, but how much of it is based on the status of the other person in the eyes of society? And the popular girls at school. Are they popular because they're nice? Or are they just what society likes to consider perfect?

Everything seems to me that it's influenced by what other people think. So much so that i have trouble picking out my own, true, real, thoughts, separate from everythings else in the world around me; it's standards, it's ideals, it's image of perfection, it's definition of reality. And because the world is the way that it is, it's impossible to pick my thoughts clean from the rest of the world, leaving just raw brain waves, straight from my mind. Or is it that thoughts aren't meant to belong only to us? Are they meant to be our own ideas interwoven with the thoughts of everyone else on earth? Is there no such thing as an individual thought anymore? Was there ever? So many questions, but really there's no answer. I guess i'll never know what i truly think. Which makes it so difficult to know what i truly want. But i guess those are the breaks.

The next thing we must ask ourselves is whether or not we care. Does it bother us that we are filled with ideas that aren't are own? Or are we happy to let someone else control us? That brings us to the twenty-four million dollar question folks; how do we change it? Is is possible to change our thoughts from their current society-influenced state and into something more real? Or will we merely arrive at a state of mind that is similarly affected?

With so many questions, i haven't got the foggiest idea on how to answer then all. Which leaves me pretty much no better off. But that's where you all come in - hopefully more bloggers and their brains are better than one. So, if anyone figures out this mystery, comment and we'll all be better off :P

Annie

(who hopes her thoughts are her own!)