Indoctrinated

I spent this evening hanging out with dear friends at a pub. It was a really casual, relaxing and fantastic evening spent with people whom I both love and respect. We laughed, we discussed, we threw popcorn at each other. I.e.: the perfect evening.

So I was driving home and was approaching my neighborhood. My hood can be a bit rough sometimes (though my block is awesome). It is what it is and you learn to work with it.

On my way into my neighborhood a car cut me off. It’s an older car, kind of beat up. It has this big decal on the back window. I parse the decal…

“It’s OK if he cut me off. This is an Autobot. He’s a good guy.”

OMG. Did I really think that? Did I really believe that because a car bears an Autobot symbol it must be good?

Yes, yes I did. I wholeheartedly admit right now that my entire opinion of the car and the person who was driving it was radically altered by the symbol emblazoned across it’s rear windshield. My years of TV-induced training had taught me to believe that anything bearing that symbol is a good guy and I’ll be darned if my gut reaction wasn’t going to follow that training.

Autobots. Decepticons. These are fictional constructs formed in the mind of a writer or marketer. They aren’t real. But for at least a moment I was ready to provide any sort of allowance for a vehicle bearing the symbol of one of these constructs, simply because early in my life I had been indoctrinated to believe that the symbol represents the forces of good.

There are powerful forces at work out there and they are being manipulated by a number of different parties. Whether those parties have a greater good at heart is entirely unknown to the receiver of the messages. The receiver who therefore is not properly equipped to judge efficiently what is best.

This, my dear friends, is a disturbing thought.

Thankfully I’m home now and don’t need to worry about those wretched Decepticons. Or do I…?