I am an author and artist. That is my trade. And my trade makes it necessary for me to do marketing. In all honesty, I don't do that well. Why? I know how, I could do it, but I really choose not to for the most part. Why? I refuse to manipulate.
To market efficiently there is an understanding of the human psyche needed. I have a certain amount of that understanding too. I walk into a store and I understand the placements of certain products and how it all manipulates customers to encourage impulse buying.
I refuse to manipulate. Oh, it can be said that writing is manipulative, and I do concede to that. The author's views and opinions undoubtedly leak into their story. But when I write, I don't wish to do anything more than tell a good story, and, truth be told, some of my characters have views and beliefs that really do differ from my own. There's so much manipulation already, and I don't wish to add to it other than to share a good, entertaining story.
If you doubt that we are manipulated, turn on the television, walk into a store. We are manipulated every moment we watch TV, even manipulated to ask our doctors (or even tell them) about a medication we think we need or want. We are bombarded with it daily.
A powerful tool of manipulation is fear. A good dose of it hit Boston and the nation recently. I knew about it. I spent time in quiet meditation, felt sorrow for those who suffered as a result of the violence. And that's as far as I allowed it to enter my home or my mind. I heard a saying once, not to let fester things I could not influence or better.
Emotions are easily manipulated - anger and fear are prominent these days. Anger about guns, anger about people who do harm. Where is the understanding, tolerance, or love? We can't fix it all, no matter how angry we get.
For every argument there are two sides. For everything there is a good and a bad. I keep to myself mostly because people are so quick to lump someone into a category - place them on sides, and I don't consider myself on any side. I understand all sides, but I also believe certain things are not the business of government or others of authority to tell people what to do. Nothing is as black and white as people like to think it is. What will fix things more than any regulations or bans, or anything is a belief that we need to respect each other, help each other, look out for each other, depend on ourselves and each other, not some entity of authority that too often has no idea how anything they create will work in a real world atmosphere.
I've watched respect for each other slip. I've watched hate and fear grow. The two seem to go hand in hand. I even fell victim to the two ugly emotions at points. I see it breeding now, fueled by media, by people in power who see that they can manipulate emotions and pit people against each other to reach their motives.
My challenge to myself and to everyone - don't fall for the manipulation or the fear, accept that we don't and can't know all. It's not our responsibility to know or fix everything because we can rarely fix anything without risking harm in unforeseeable ways. What we need to do is learn and teach respect, love, and be prepared to stand strong in the face of adversity, work hard for what we need. It is not okay to harm another who is not acting to do harm. It is not okay to act on hate, and sad to act in fear. Maybe, if more of us keep that in mind, we can turn the darkness hanging over so many into light.
