“Our reality is never our own but is influenced by others.”

FLAPC: In this expository essay, I aim to discuss how our reality can be our own although it’s often influenced by others. Our reality can be influenced by several external sources; the media, government, values, beliefs and perceptions. I’m aiming to connect to my audience of VCE students as they will have a better understanding of ‘Whose Reality?’ and the context, ‘Wag the Dog’ (a 1997 film directed by Barry Levinson). I aim to get my readers to recognise the large role that media play in influencing our realities along with how dangerous the collaboration of the media and the government truly is. In order to put forth my opinion I’ll write in a cynical tone to portray that the motives of particular people are bad, I’ll use factual (gun crimes in the US) and fictional (‘Wag the Dog’ and ‘Leaky Boat’) evidence and I’ll use proper terminology to add sophistication and credit to my piece. In this piece, I draw on examples from ‘Wag the Dog’ (1997 film directed by Barry Levinson), ‘Leaky Boat’ (2011 ABC documentary) and gun crimes in the US in order to illustrate the idea that people are easily influenced by external sources, especially when they have authority.

ESSAY: Stephan Lewandowsky’s study shows that “weighing the plausibility of a message is cognitively more difficult than simply accepting that the message is true – it requires additional motivational and cognitive resources.” This shows why peoples realities are heavily influenced by others, this is due to the difficulty of weighing the plausibility and the foundation of the reported truth or version of reality. People’s reality can be influenced by the media, government, values, beliefs and perceptions. This is apparent in ‘Wag the Dog’ (1997 film directed by Barry Levinson), ‘Leaky Boat’ (2011 ABC documentary) and gun crimes in the United States. ‘Wag the Dog’ is an example of how easily people are influenced when they’re made to fear something or someone, ‘Leaky Boat’ exhibits how the government hold more power than the media and gun crimes in the US display how people fall for media propaganda. People’s reality tend to rely on influences from others if they haven’t been created by themselves.

People’s realities are easily influenced when they’re afraid. In ‘Wag the Dog,’ Conrad Brean and his public relations team create conflict with Albania, an appearance of a war and rumours of a B-3 bomber. This is to divert the attention of the public away from the Presidential sex scandal that shocked the nation. Brean obfuscates the public with the element of fear, they know that they’re afraid but they don’t entirely understand what they’re fearing. The public are so easily influenced due to their fear of the unknown, they perceive Brean’s created reality to be true due to the trust they possess within the media. They don’t create their own reality due to the bombardment of Brean’s creations – war and B-3 bomber – because they’re thrust upon with another reality. This fear was seen as beneficial for the President, especially regarding the upcoming election. Brean used the whole story to campaign for the election, when the President is in China, America believe that he’s trying to deploy the B-3 bomber, when in fact he’s trying to avoid the media. This gave Brean the chance to create the needs for multiple press conferences which draws the media away from the other candidate, therefore allowing him to make the President look like a hero. The government hold the power to select what information they provide to the media, the media then can choose whether they share it to the public as is, whether they manipulate it to make people see one side, or whether they exaggerate it because it’s too mild. When people are afraid, their realities are easily influenced by higher powers.

The government hold more power than the media. In ‘Leaky Boat’ (2011 ABC documentary) the public’s realities are influenced by the media’s portrayal of asylum seekers on the boats, even though information was selectively given to the media by the government. The public’s reality was then uninformed, assertive and cynical due to the misconceptions of the media as a result of the lack of truth behind the government’s reports, they claimed that children were being thrown overboard. The Australian government described the asylum seekers as “national security threats” and “links to terrorism,” these phrases demonise humans which are just trying to seek safety and refuge in Australia. John Howard, the Prime Minister at the time, highlighted the fear of the public, used it to influence the reality of fellow Australians and assert government power by portraying asylum seekers as threats. As a result, the public wanted tough actions taken against these people as they didn’t want their country to be threatened. Similar to ‘Wag the Dog,’ the public relied on politicians and the media to inform them of the truth, that the asylum seekers were harmless and only wanting safety in our country, not to harm it. The public’s opinion on wanting tough action was provoked by the influence of media. The election was based on war (Khaki election) and as a result the public leader’ image was changed. Lastly, spin doctors and public relations staff were used to select ideas. People’s realities which are influenced by others can be full of misconceptions and lies.

People fall for media propaganda. In Philip Hodges 2013 article “New study shows most people believe media over reality,” he draws on the example of gun crimes in the US to illustrate how people believe media over reality. A Pew Research Centre poll shows that the majority of the public fall for media propaganda. In the US, gun crimes are a big issue. In reality, they've halved in the past 20 years. The media have so much power, that only 12% of Americans believe gun crime rates have decreased, 26% believe they haven't changed and 56% believe that they've dramatically increased. People are so easily influenced because they watch too much TV and believe every word of it, with this knowledge the media sensationalise bad news to appeal to fear, the portrayal of bad reports and versions of reality aim to change the perception of the public. People are left with the impression that there isn't any good news and that our world is full of murders, attacks, rapes, kidnappings etc. this leads to the perception that crime rates are increasing. The media also aim to influence people's reality because it boosts their ratings, crime stories are made into “moneymaking drama productions,” this turns shocking news into entertainment, a TV show, something to boost ratings. Similar to 'Wag the Dog,' the news was turned into a drama production to boost ratings and to draw people into the story and influence their reality. They also knew that fear heavily influences people perceptions, as a result they only reveal terrifying news so they agree and accept the provided reality. The reality people believe to be their own, is usually heavily influenced by others.

Our reality can often be our own, but its often influenced by others. Provided realities usually consist of manipulated truths, misconceptions and exaggerated truths. In 'Wag the Dog' (1997 film directed by Barry Levinson), 'Leaky Boat' (2011 ABC documentary) and gun crimes in the US people's realities are influenced by the media and the government. Allowing others to influence your reality is a result of trust and the belief of what they're hearing is to be true.