The Story Behind TheThinkProject2018
This is how TheThinkProject2018 (a project that produces mainly inspirational, motivational and grassroots message designs on merchandise) was born.
I created this project as a result of the hijacking of the media and internet by powerful groups pushing agendas and negative values - in order to raise awareness of what I consider to be important issues in the world.
The world did not get into it's current state of: perpetual war and perpetual propaganda; untrustworthy politicians; agenda driven, Fake News epidemic; anti-sovereign, anti-regulatory, resource raiding, open borders demanding globalist trade pacts; red herrings to keep the spotlight off industrial pollution; injustice; corruption; political patronage; and intrusive and oppressive, dystopic, anti-democratic, 1984 Big Brother style thought control condition by accident.
By 2013, I was so dismayed at the influence of elected and unelected, unethical powerful figures on world affairs - I started blogging about issues related to: truth v lies; honesty v deception; transparency and accountability v secrecy and coverups; privacy v government and corporate spying; ruthless dishonest Machiavellian politics; peace v war; democracy and liberty v totalitarianism; justice v pretend justice; genuine news v agenda driven "stories"; and free thought and free speech v censorship and propaganda.
(Unfortunately after a few years, and over 1 million views, my blog went down Google's history black hole, when I couldn't remember the logon to renew my domain.)
Since then - if anything, values, ethics, honesty, kindness, justice, humaneness, free thought, free speech, liberty, democracy and Peace etc seem to have become more severely undermined.
What has become increasingly apparent is that the internet browsers and social media platforms have incredible Big Brother like powers to control what information people are allowed to see and what people are allowed to say.
In my opinion, this power is being increasingly abused in a way that violates privacy, liberty, free speech and free thought; and undermines democracy - while pushing the agenda of favored special interest groups (political and non-political).
Liberty cannot exist without Privacy. Neither can personal or national security. Yet, our privacy is constantly being violated, and our personal information exploited by governments and corporations. Our elected politicians, who have the power to change this, have largely ignored this and other important matters, (or have actually expanded totalitarian, Big Brother/Police State type power). In the meantime, TV shows and movies touting spies as heroes, abound. In real life, governments hire hackers and spies - but the public is not supposed to question or object to any of this totalitarian Big Brother/Police State activity.
Apathy towards, and/or acceptance of amorality, lack of ethics, violence, war, bad character, lack of integrity and a wide range of wrongful behaviour are learned. The opposite can also be learned.
Traditional entertainment media, and social media have become highly influential over what the public (especially those who don't think critically) are being persuaded to think is "normal" and "acceptable" behaviour.
The media has been influential enough to spread the notion that neither parents nor teachers should criticise or discipline children for bad behaviour. Between this and changes in society (in particular the embedding of the internet and mobiles in the lives of many people, from a very young age) the internet has come to have enormous influence on the information people are exposed to and what they view as normal.
It is well known that the entertainment industry (TV, movies, games) have a huge influence over moulding what the public thinks. Italy's totalitarian fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini recognized the power of the entertainment industry for propaganda, and built the famous 99 acre Cinecittá Studios in Rome.
Reportedly part of the US film industry give the CIA and the US military editing power over scripts. Obviously not all TV shows or movies are propaganda oriented, but the power to subtly influence opinion and behaviour (positively or negatively or both) exists.
Today, both parents (if there are two) tend to work to keep a roof over the family's head. Tired at the end of the working day, many parents give in to the demands of children (who typically are addicted to TV and the internet) to reduce harrassment by them - rather than set boundaries on what is acceptable behaviour.
From a very young age, children become addicted to TV and internet connected devices - which have become de facto baby sitters - and in part have become a replacement for physical socialization. Traditionally - physical social interaction at home, school, work and socially have been important in establishing boundaries, expectations and norms. But nowadays, everyone has their eyes and ears focused on TV and the internet a large part of the time, even when they are physically together.
Today, what children (and even their parents), are effectively being brain washed into thinking is "normal" behavior - is likely primarily influenced by the entertainment industry, corporate media, and social media - industries that are profit focused. These industries have a tendency to focus on and exploit narcissism, violence, exploitation and sensationalism; and to hype or whitewash nasty character traits and vices - because that kind of thing attracts viewers and is profitable.
Yes, conflict within a book or a movie or TV show is important for an engaging plot. But when the public is repeatedly exposed to such negative tropes, don't you think this is as effective at brain washing attitudes towards certain negative behaviours (or dumbing down public reaction to them) as any planned propaganda campaign?
Truth and virtue appear to be too boring to be profitable. Instead, part of the entertainment industry (and some social media platforms) appeal to our darker instincts and focus on the vices, which are so profitable for the media. Is it any wonder that violence, perpetual war, imperialism, dishonesty, lying, cheating, stealing, murder and assassination, and a wide range of negative character traits are increasingly taken for granted as "normal" by the brain washed public.
Many plots not only have stars who have very negative and outright villainous traits - these villains are promoted and marketed on merchandise. There is even a Netflix series that features the devil as a hero (with father issues of course.)
Due to repeated exposure to negative tropes, many children are likely growing up exposed to twisted notions about values, truth, honesty, kindness, ethics, justice, humaneness, violence, war, tolerance, self-control and human relationships etc from TV, movies and the internet. Because many adults are also addicted to TV and the internet, the potential influence on values is not limited to young malleable minds.
Information is power. Books are going out of style. The Internet is the de facto source of information. Those who control what information the public sees have enormous potential power over what the public thinks.
Internet platforms have become Big Brother type entities that launder information their advertisors, patrons and favoured groups don't want seen; and push information that they want to capture public interest or be assumed by the public to be true. Its like something out of Winston's Diary in Chapter 1 of Orwell's 1984.
Though the Internet should be a stellar source of information - it is increasingly being corrupted by agenda driven search results. Finding independent verifiable facts is almost impossible, due to the flooding of search results with paid for, (and often blatantly partisan) results. I don't think the resultant biased (and sometimes outright misinformation or propaganda) search results are accidental. In my opinion it is likely that the power over information is being used by some Internet platform providers to shape what the public thinks and does (like any totalitarian state) by manipulating the information we initially are exposed to.
Besides the intrinsic ability of Internet providers to push or suppress information the public may access, the Internet is also being exploited by powerful interests (government entities, corporate, political and others). They have the money and power to infiltrate the internet with fronts, sock puppets and trolls - in order to overtly and covertly push their interests, and attack or censor critics. There is a growing profit industry in Persona Management (the generation of fake internet personas and bots etc to influence public opinion and behaviour).
The scandals that have arisen over this, in terms of corporate and political entities attempting to influence public opinion during elections and Brexit etc - have been dealt with by the media, as if it is naughty, but "normal" for the profiteering PR (especially Dirty PR) and Persona Management Industries to brain wash people on the Internet. Push polling (which is uethical and illegal) is nothing compared with this kind of highly manipulative, undemocratic power and profit driven carry on.
Anyone who thinks informed or free thought can exist in this highly manipulated information milieu is, in my opinion, naive.
The military industrial surveillance complex and big corporations have more than enough money, and influence - through advertising, media and lobbying - to insure that, like in Orwell's 1984; there is perpetual war, pervasive exploitative spying on the public, and oppression of opinions that don't fit the Big Brother browsers preferred narratives.
Vast numbers of people (who don't understand the importance of critical thinking, or how to go about it) - are glued to their mobiles, and accept most of what they read without questioning it. They are especially vulnerable to agenda driven brain-washing; and the pervasive psychological effects of media that exploit the vices for profit.
A lot of society has been socially engineered (a fancy term for psychologically brainwashed) to consider, lies, dishonesty, deception, exploitative surveillance by the state and corporations, police brutality, mass murders, imperialism, colonialism, genocidal wars and a host of other bad/evil, bizarre or antisocial behavior as "normal" - or view these matters through the eyes of apathy (which is the same as condoning them).
There is such a problem with partisan, agenda-driven censorship and propaganda online, and so much profiteering from exploitation of human weaknesses and vices - that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the voices of "Good" to be heard.
What's any of that got to do with a blog selling Designer clothes and other items you might ask?
I woke up in the middle of the night in October 2018 with an inspiration to create a project to try to get around the hijacking of the Internet and the relative lack of exposure of people (especially the young) to positive values and character traits.
Why not design illustrated grassroots messages about: positive values, integrity, truth, honesty, ethics, justice, courage, tolerance, relationships, kindness, compassion, hope, free speech, free thought, liberty, democracy and Peace etc? Why not put these themes on wall art that people can hang at home or in places of work, or schools? Why not put them on clothing and other items people publicly use like shoulder bags and mobile covers etc - so that we, the people, the grassroots public, whose voices are being drowned out online - can publicly show what we do not accept, and what we do expect, in terms of behavior.
There's lots of consumer goods that effectively advertise bad behavior as if it is an acceptable norm. Why not counter that?
TheThinkProject2018 is more than another Designer's services and consumer goods project. It is an attempt to help turn a global tide towards positive, ethical thinking from the grass roots - individuals and families - outwards amongst ourselves, and upwards.
The objective of TheThinkProject2018 is to inspire, motivate, and provoke people - young and old - to start really thinking about what is going on in the world; to stimulate conversations about important subjects; and, where possible, change things for the better.
One person cannot change the world. But each of us has the power to send a message - at home, work, school, or in public, based on what we wear or carry - that we want positive change. And together, we can change the world for the better.
Thank you for your visit.
DE Sheridan, creator of TheThinkProject2018 (Auckland, New Zealand)
Please support TheThinkProject2018 and consider buying one of my designs on a product:
https://www.redbubble.com/people/Think2018
https://www.zazzle.com/store/thethinkproject2018
If you would like to commission a TheThinkProject2018 design for you or your project; or if you have a suggestion for a theme - please contact me through the contact form at the bottom of the Blog or by email - TheThinkProject2018@gmail.com