Each one with their own personality, views, ideals, wants, and a particular way of presenting themselves, creating their own ‘Branding‘ as it were. Family structure, branding, a bigger set of people to manage, each person being audience and participant during their life. And that structure can be said of both an individual person and of corporations. A carefully managed image, and in some cases, facade, to appear to be a certain way to elicit a response, reaction and following from a desired group.

And as the years have gone on, people have been pivotal in the influencing of society and ideals, starting with Early News, where the town crier would walk around shouting the news. To the crazy set up we have these days where it’s become that The News Is The News, with famous faces and names to keep you hooked and interested. Listening to the next thing they want to hear, want you to be aware of, want you to be thinking about. And until recently, these seemed like mostly like suggestions to tempt you into their world and mindset. Not anymore. If you don’t agree or think how they would like, you are accused of being disrespectful, violent or that you are attacking them. A difference of opinion is now viewed as a horrific afront on their very soul.

But today, more than ever, it seems certain people want you to be their audience. Some crave it, covet it, or yearn for it, seemingly in need of that attention to be able to function, perhaps feeling as though they ‘don’t exist’ unless someone is watching them. And that’s what we might call ‘ordinary’ people, and given how that now appears, it also gives a bit more insight into how ‘celebrities’ or people well to the public possibly function. When the ego is massive, yet incredibly fragile and prone to a lack of perspective. It seems to be able to happen across the board, in institutions as well entertainment and the general population.

People are now props too, and have been for some time. As you would expect in a set design, or background items needed for effect. But instead of a object for marketing or a set, or a scene being used, it is people. Crisis actors, presenters, influencers and many others across the whole ‘Entertainment’ industry as mentioned in Are You Not Entertained?. Where they become useful as a tool for purpose, but because they get to ‘live the dream’, they seem quite happy to be there shaking their money maker with tassels and sequins. Props for propaganda.

They say when it comes to our own lives, we have four important roles to ‘play’. Each of us is the main actor, the director and the writer of our own story, often then playing a supporting role as well as an extra to other people’s, just as they are to ours. Interwoven into each other’s existence and experience, making it up as we go along as there is no script to follow, or time to do any reshoots. It happens as it happens. But if you take one or more of those roles out of play, either by choice or by circumstance, it changes it. Someone else wants to be the director now, and if you have ever had an overcontrolling person in your life, then you know how that feels. And someone else now wants to be the writer, telling you how you should act and think, no longer allowing for any natural thought or flair. And in fact, they have decided you are even good enough to be the starring role in your own life, and have minimised your part to be only that of an extra. In the background until needed, when the others that now decide your role, move you up front for purpose and micromanaging you the entire time. A rather intimate overreach into everything you do, or at least that’s what they would like.

But the people who appear to be wanting that, seem to be props as well. A mouthpiece for an ideal, no individualism, no creativity and no inspiration. Just a large media machine in overdrive, trying to grab your attention, for something, for anything. War, plague, food shortages, cyber-attacks, weather, violence and anything else they can think of to capture your thoughts. It’s become extremely tiresome for many, and others are perhaps so caught up in it, they don’t take a moment to step back and really look at the bigger picture. Of how they fit into it, how many people are part of that media machine, feeding the fears and helping to whip people into a frenzy. Any frenzy will do it seems, as long as it stresses people out, emotionally drains them and keeps them waiting for the next storyline, so they can go round in circles of doom. As discussed in Ready for Doom and Prepped For Disaster, Or Clever Programming?. Now though, many have doom fatigue as it’s been relentless if you watch the news or pay attention to what apparently is going by way of their headlines and what gets trotted out via social media. Now with AI generated clips to muddy the waters of what is real and what isn’t, showing we have been vulnerable to having our senses exploited for quite some time. We are no longer in a time where Seeing is Believing when it comes viewing things on a screen, what is fact and what is fiction is not such an easy task to discern anymore, if it ever was. These are indeed some strange times and we do well to remember, all is not as it seems…

(c) MKW Publishing

A reading of my article – What Separates Us?

(c) MKW Publishing