I don’t want to add to the fear that already fills our screens. What troubles me is how much of our attention we give to the messages coming through them—and how rarely we stop to ask what those messages are doing to our thinking. A commercial stays in our heads. A familiar opinion starts to feel like our own. I find myself wondering where information ends and influence begins.
That question connects what might otherwise seem like scattered thoughts: the news we watch, the technology we rely on, and the everyday advertising we barely notice. I’m not suggesting that every message hides a sinister intention. I am asking whether we pay enough attention to what we let into our minds, and whether we recognize when it begins to shape how we see the world.
Being in California we are the 3rd largest economy in the world on account to tech, I sit in the hornet’s nest of where it all began to what I feel are many problems today with the division we have in our country as billions are on social media, getting a different narrative to the facts based on their individual app algorithm. Like some who is Gen X, a time when we didn’t have social media, Smart phones or even computers and seeing today how society is so wrapped up in exposure, having a digital footprint. This country has fundamentally changed for the worse, and although I would love to be optimistic that our country will recover, we are passed the point of no return as we have allowed the elite, big tech, government, the super-rich to rule over everyone. What is infuriating now is that media continues to adjust the news to fit their agenda, if a new president is going to elected, then it will be Fox news that will be the first to tell the country, before the votes have finished counting, as they are now the authority in our elections. Some reading this will say that is not true, our elections are secure, I do believe that, as in 2024 we had the most secure elections to date. In just mere days way and in 2028, there will be election deniers, those who say Democrats cheated and Republicans played by the rules.
Should we rock the vote, we should, it’s our constitutional right, it’s the true way we don’t slip into communism despite what the news and media states that Dumbo-crats are the true cheats, they are the ones pushing the country into communism and they the epitome of evil.
A Fictional Mirror
These concerns also bring a movie to mind. It is an extreme fictional comparison, not evidence of what is happening around us. What connects it to my thoughts is the familiar message that stays in someone’s head long after the television is turned off.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch comes to mind—a film I consider one of the most underrated entries in the series. Its corporation, Silver Shamrock Novelties, promotes Halloween masks through television commercials featuring an unforgettable jingle. Behind that familiar advertising is Conal Cochran’s plan to use the masks in a deadly Halloween ritual. Their electronic tags contain fragments of a stolen Stonehenge stone, and the Halloween-night broadcast activates them through a combination of technology and supernatural power. Cochran connects his scheme to the festival of Samhain and ancient sacrifice. To me, the corporation’s respectable appearance and sinister purpose make the film a disturbing reflection on consumerism and the corruption of tradition. That is my reading of the story, rather than an explicitly stated profit motive. The jingle is not subliminal: we hear it plainly and repeatedly. Its role is to make the brand familiar and draw viewers to the broadcast—a distinction that matters to my comparison with everyday advertising.
What troubles me about that comparison is not the movie’s literal horror, but the familiarity of its message. A tune remembered long after a commercial ends brings me back to the question of what we allow into our minds—and whether we notice its influence.
Isn’t this what we do today in different forms, corporations, big tech, even government work to control its people, especially big tech as people rely on it each day. Yes, I get mass murder is not taking place, but we are in a sense murdering our minds and corrupting them of goodness. Like the catchy Jingle played on our televisions, subliminal messages are sent to us to remember, to react.
The Messages That Stay With Us
An ordinary moment brought that question closer to home. A remembered commercial is not proof of hidden intentions, but it gives me a personal starting point for thinking about repetition and attention.
One example that stayed with me was hearing a young boy singing the Chick Fil-a chicken and waffles commercial as he stood in line. I am not saying Chick Fil-a is sending subliminal messages. We have all had a jingle get stuck in our heads. What struck me was how easily a message could follow someone beyond the screen. That observation does not establish a connection between advertising and desensitization, but it prompted me to think about the other messages we encounter. With social media, I worry about children and younger people growing up seeing division, hate, and anger online. I also think about my own childhood in the 80s and 90s, watching violence on television and playing violent video games. I worry that repeated exposure can leave us less sensitive to death and suffering. To me, today’s exposure feels much greater than what I remember growing up.
When Familiarity Becomes Influence
Remembering a message is one thing; recognizing how it might affect my thinking is another. That is where my concern shifts from what catches our attention to what we come to accept without questioning.
I worry about how open we are to manipulation, especially when a message comes with the reassurance, “We mean you no harm. We are merely giving you the information you want, no more, no less.” What stays with me is the possibility that our minds are being shaped in ways we do not yet recognize. I do not know where that leads, and that uncertainty is part of what troubles me.
As we go into the elections next week , well its already here, remember our choices have consequences, who and what we vote for and what we allow into our homes, our minds and on our devices, its not all coincidence, its by design to control you and I, don’t allow it.
I know I sound conspiratorial, but its because I believe something is happening under our noses that will cause our country to truly fall and there are bad actors in place waiting.
Just look at the example of Silver Shamrock Novelties, they were simply selling Halloween masks and novelties , from the outside, they meant no harm, but underneath truly sinister, that is in my opinion the world and people today, they appear innocent with good intentions but anything but.
Returning to the Question
I keep coming back to the question I started with: where does information end and influence begin? I may not always recognize the difference, but I want to keep asking. What stays in my head after the screen goes dark matters. So does taking a moment to ask why it stayed there.
