Take Your Power Back

Many individuals in a position of power of influence, use manipulation on the things around them for their own gain. The best example of people in a influencing position are the media. They can, and do, twist the “truth” around to shape the way we see the world. If we continue to allow the media to manipulate our views, we will always be bias towards each other.

In the “Ways of Seeing” Video, John Berger shows many examples of how society uses bias against itself. Both speaking on the topic and showing us real examples, he expresses his point on the issue. “... the publicity image steals her love of herself as she is, and offers it back to her for the price of the product.” Lots of the bias in todays society are influence from the media. Weather its about a women’s self worth, race issues, or political arguments, the media has an opinion. Everyone has bias’ and theres no way around it. We need to accept our bias’ for what they are if we plan on truly trying to be objective. Certain times throughout the video, Berger goes full circle back to how the media shows women in the world. How they change peoples views on the others around them, and themselves, and pick up the ones they see around them.

There are people that are using their bias to make others aware. There are people that take the bias they get from their magazine, TV and computer screen and taking it as the right thing. “The media are desperately afraid of being accused of bias. And that's partly because there's a whole machine out there, an organized attempt to accuse them of bias whenever they say anything that the Right doesn't like. So rather than really try to report things objectively, they settle for being even-handed, which is not the same thing.” [Paul Krugman] What does it mean to be right? Is being right supposed to be whatever your thoughts and opinions are? The media has a hard time telling the difference between what is right and what we want to think is right. They have the ability to slowly change what we see around us, controlling how we think. Aware or not the media has an impact on the public no matter what it does. If it doesn’t report a certain story, their own for attack and ignorance and if they do their open to attack on how bias they are. “To remain innocent may also be to remain ignorant.” To sit back and allow people to manipulate our choices is not the innocent way. Ignorance is no longer bliss when you wake up and realize you’ve been a puppet for some time now.

The easiest and most effective way to manipulate a society is through their insecurities. If you exploit what they hate most, you can begin to mold them into what you want think. Thats what the media has been doing to women especially. “To be naked is to be one self. To be nude is to be seen naked by other and yet not recognised for oneself.” They strip women down until they are where they want them to be, them build them back up with their same bais views. “Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display. The nude is condemned to never being naked. Nudity is a form of dress.” We believe we are naked, when we are really just nude. We are not being ourselves. We are putting on an act to trick others into believing we are stripped down because thats what the media is telling us to do. Were being told to be who we truly are. Act the way we want to. Embrace our uniqueness. Show ourselves in the simplest way. Meaning, be who you truly are if you are what we want you to be. Be unique if its what were advertising. Act the way we want you to. Show yourself in the simplest form if you naturally look the way we want you to. Be who we want you to be.

If we continue to allow the media to manipulate our views, we will always be bias towards each other. Some people are okay with letting others control their actions, thoughts and opinions. But they know someone is controlling them. The media hides their true games in hopes to manipulate society into submission. Weather we care to admit it, we are not naked until we let go of the medias control on us. Until then we are just nude, a fake form of our naked self.