Can I Manipulate Myself?

When I was thinking about manipulative forces in my life, I at first thought of all the obvious ones, or the ones that most people are already aware of. Advertising, peers, our school, magazines, books all came to mind. But since the point of this course is to become aware of more forces, I then tried to dig deeper, seek out manipulation where I had not seen it before. If we think of manipulation as a form of influence, then really everyone in my life manipulates me. What I thought about, and am still thinking about, was whether I every am “guilty” of manipulating myself. At first this seemed dumb, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that really most of the beliefs, most of the times I’ve been judged have really been by myself. Usually society plants the idea in your head, but it is in fact our own choice whether to accept it.  Most clothing brands cater to the idea that you can become “more or less beautiful” based on what you wear.  But what I am suggesting is that we could take them manipulation and turn it right back around. When you wear a shirt you don’t really like, or don’t feel comfortable in, you seem less confident. Maybe you look around more at how people are reacting to you, wary of any strange glances. But suppose you took the ugliest outfit you could think of and walked as if you looked the best you had even looked. It could be contagious, you could start to manipulate other people right away. Kind of like fake it till you make it. If you think you look great, you probably consciously or unconsciously act in a way that inspires greatness. What if we turned right back around to clothes designers and said, but yeah, it’s not what you wear but how you wear it? There would be no comeback. Many times someone plants an idea in your head: you have to write this essay; this book is the best book ever written; you have to be more athletic to play hockey than to play baseball. But then we obsess over it, taking them one comment and turning it from a subjective idea to a force of manipulation. We manipulate ourselves when we make every message society sends out ten times more dramatic. So yes, the media will keep trying to enforce their values on us, but we can take it or leave it.