Subconscious Imitation

People are the products of their environments. Sometimes this environment is a chosen one. Other times, it is something unavoidable.

In a chosen environment (environment being defined as all influential devices surrounding an individual) people many times feel that since they have chosen it, they are in control of it. And this control allows for whatever influence to have an effect as great or as little as the individual decides.

When one is deliberate, it is possible for this to be successful, such as working in an environment where everybody is, by default, very unfriendly and do not engage with one another on any sort of meaningful level. An individual entering this environment can either make an effort to interact with others or to simply "go with the flow" and this person who is otherwise engaging can be transformed. Alternatively, if an individual who hasn't either consciously decided to go one way or the other can be subconsciously changed into fitting in to the environment without realizing it.

There are many influences in life, and one of them is the television. Sometimes, you can learn more about a person simply based upon what their favorite, or rather, most watched TV shows are. This brings me to the point of today's rant.

Have you ever noticed that people who seem to be the drama kings and queens of the world are those who watch "The Real World" on MTV? Even the smallest thing to a normal person turns into a huge event by these members of drama royalty. There is always a heated exchange between two (or more) individuals, and the word "feelings" is mentioned, not only by the females, but even guys as well.

This is not to say that everyone who watches "The Real World" is a member of drama royalty. But I will say, if you know of somebody aged 16 to 30 who you would classify as either a drama king or queen, odds are that they are faithful watchers of "The Real World."

Some could argue that the inverse is true, that individuals are already drama-prone and only gravitate towards shows like that. But I believe that I have seen otherwise normal individuals utterly transformed simply by viewing this show. Do they deliberately decide, "Oh, I really want to be as dramatic as those people are!"? No, not at all. It is much more along the lines of by their constant viewing of this so called "real world," their perception of what actually is the real world, and how normal, sane individuals behave in certain situations is forever warped. They become these characters they watch on a weekly basis. It is subconscious imitation.