Advertising is about narrowing the focus, allowing people to know what to buy and embedding commands as to why it is the ONLY thing to buy and that NOTHING else reflects the specific thing that this IS! The symbolism of it may be multi-fold but the message is clear and strong. The visuals, if done successfully, reflect the clearest message. Buy this product. Only this product or brand. Advertising is just a tool for disseminating selected information. And providing information is a good thing isn’t it? If you wear hip sitting jeans this year you will ‘fit in’. If you wear waist hugging jeans you’re ‘out’. Or is that visa versa now?
Cognitively we all succumb to advertising. We like being told what the meaning of our Culture is so that we can simply follow it. We are given a benchmark that provides us with the information to know our own Identity based on the identities institutionalised in our Cultures and Sub-Cultures. There is a great deal of evidence that shows that being part of a group is necessary to our health. Physically, we need to know that there are some Facts in life that we can rely on. We Biologically need some Security so we don’t go ‘nuts’. Our Culture provides this. Those we look up to provide this, whether they are a leader of fashion or a leader of politics. But as we know all Cultures are not the same. Right or Wrong, Dictatorial or Democratic they all share the task of providing us with parameters within which to Identify Ourselves. This was always a problem historically whenever one Culture conquered another Culture. Today it is widespread because today we share Nationalities with several cultures all living side by side. Clearly the old ways of dealing, or not dealing, with the subject of Individual Identity are not working.
We all need benchmarks to develop and grow and know our own Identity, in order to feel secure.
Feeling isolated and ashamed are some of the feelings associated with a dislocated person who doesn’t see themselves as living up to the Identities that ‘fit’ in their culture. Maybe they don’t quite know what that Culture demands of them. In some ways then, dictatorial nations are more in control of securing individual identities from isolation and shame than democratic ones are, but the price is Life itself. The difference is that Democratic Nations allow Individuals Freedom to evolve and contribute to the Culture to make it better, freer, for themselves and for others. Democracy seeks to empower people, while Dictatorial Politics and Religions take so much control over individuals that these humans become something less than human, as their capacity to create and evolve is destroyed.
The World is in a sad dangerous place right now but it is also in a Great Place for most of us who have enjoyed years of Freedom. But with Freedom comes Responsibility. Plato’s Analogy of The Cave is poignant of the state of affairs of our human evolution right now. Excuse my crude retelling in my own words.
There were three men who had been living in a cave underground since birth. In front of them was just a wall. Behind them a fire, constantly burning, to provide them with warmth. The constant semi glow allowed them to find something to pass their time – they would make shadows on the wall in front of them. The making of shadows was something they would enjoy and make a sport of, competing against each other for applause. Then one day one of the men was taken from the group. The other two were fearful for the man. What was going to happen to him?
The man was first of all raised and turned towards the light of the fire behind him. His eyes were harmed by facing this light and he was afraid by the ferocity of the fire itself. Then he was led up and out into the natural light. He was immediately blinded and closed his eyes to find dark solace. Eventually he was able to open his eyes and began to notice all the wonderful things that Life lived in Freedom held for him. The flowers, the sunshine, the green grass, the brown earth, the birds, everything! He met other people and learned from them. Eventually his life was changed for the better inconceivably!
One day, a Leader told him that he should now go back into the cave and teach the other two men what is waiting for them. The man did not want to go back but he did. Plato’s analogies were about creating Statesmen who would lead the Greeks. He wrote that those who learned had a responsibility to Teach and lead, not simply enjoy their own spoils.
When the man went back he was blinded by the darkness. He was uncomfortable sitting in the position again. And his ability to create shadows on the wall in front was not good and he was not interested in doing so. The other two thought that he had been taken and harmed in some inconceivable manner and they thought him mad when he suggested they go up into the light too.
This story is relevant today for all of us trying to understand what makes us safe and good at something and when it is time to move towards something we fear in order to grow.
I have a major problem with the wearing of the veil in our country. I have a problem with any Culture that seeks to dictate rather than emancipate. I feel that those women who do not believe it to be an issue are like Plato’s two men still in the cave, clinging to the only thing they know, afraid to be Free. Being Free is facing challenges and finding people to share those challenges with. Being Free is about Growing Up! Having studied some Anthropology I was interested in finding out whether my horror of this garment was justified, so a number of years ago when the French Universities first outlawed the wearing of this, or any specific Religious garb into these places of Education I wrote to Al Jazeers on-line where they were debating the French decision. I mentioned that I understood how hard it would be for women who were used to this kind of subservience to their Culture to stop wearing this strong symbol of voicelessness, a symbol that was also wound into their Identities and very Security but was there a way they could be assisted off these veils in a safe way? However, a Professor living in Freedom himself and working in an American University told me in no uncertain terms (to my greater horror) that it was necessary for women to dress in this manner so that men didn’t get excited and rape them at every opportunity. What does this say about learning your Identity as a Man or a Woman in that Culture?
Freedom is about having a Voice. We don’t have to have the right Voice, or even a Voice that ‘fits’ in with the dominant Culture we find ourselves in. If we have come from another Culture it will be probable that our Voice will not fit. When there is enough ‘not fitting’ we learn to communicate and work it out – together. We don’t fall back on the need to destroy those who don’t agree because our Identity and Security will not be seen to be attacked when we each understand our Identities are not bound by the caves we find ourselves in at any time. And the Value of You and Me is inherent in our Humanity, not in the Order of any particular Culture. Of course this core attitude will give birth to changes in education, work, social activities, everything! This seems to me to reflect healthy Global Culture, where we share the best of our Cultures to create a mega Culture where Individuals Live and Flourish because we are all able to know that our Identities are that of people who find and utilise their gifts and perceptions towards the Global Group.
Many people don’t have a Voice. In our own Free Nation there are challenges to our own Voices about the directions we want for our own Culture. Some politics even here are dictatorial in their secrecy and preference for ignoring individuals so they can make the decisions themselves behind closed doors, and then advertising their outcomes when caught out. The ‘Female Identity’ here in Australia was abused publicly when Pauline Hansen was held accountable for a photograph of implied promiscuity, (a photograph in a bathing suit?). Why was Pauline forced to defend this? Perhaps they would have preferred Pauline to wear a veil when standing for elections! Of course it was a Patriarchal way of closing her mouth and the voices of those who agreed with her need to change our Culture a little.
Learning more about our Identities in our Cultures is emancipating in itself. This is a large part of those ‘desperate times’ in our Lives. Our very biology is entwined in the need to feel Secure, whether this Security is based on lies, incarceration in a cave, or even cruelty. A wealth of studies have been done on Cognitive Dissonance and Obedience to Authorities.
In my book “Start Where You Are” I explore our creative capacity to be in charge of our own Identity creation. Once this is understood we reach a point where we can maintain our Growing Healthy Identities even when our very biology (usually hormonal) tells us to give up and make shadow people in our cave.
If I could share something of my experiences with other women it would be the following:
1. When you feel like hiding, or topping yourself, know that you can’t trust your biology at these times. This will pass!!! If it persists see your Doctor. Being low in Iron can depress you enormously.
2. Every time you walk outside your Cave something wonderful you never dreamed of is possible.
3. If the problem is with your Culture, not your Identity, then do something to change the Culture.
Mena Baines 2009
