He wants to be a saint, he wants to save souls by the billions, and do good everywhere. The man should have a life-sized marble statue of himself, six feet tall, with arctic blue eyes, in a black suit, looking down with gently parted hands on the faithful, who pray, as they touch his feet. Behind the facade of his rather chill reserve, Ryan Phillippe worries about the manifest failure of many people to understand his movies and research; however, if he does so, his concerns remain hidden. Even the most moderate assaults by the critics—especially several American critics who derided him with a kind of malicious glee—did not break his spirit, but appeared only to strengthen him. The dominant impressions he wishes to get on with his work in his own way, and that nothing will stop him. The critical thinking characteristic of academia is especially useful in evaluating the mass media, because of their profound impact on virtually every aspect of social life. By mass media, we mean forms of communication that transmit standardized messages to widespread audiences, including newspapers, magazines, books, radio, televisions, television news, and motion pictures.  These are known as “Old media,” and combined with the new technomedia they constitute one of the most powerful social influences in the World. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 5

No other group phenomena is better qualified to demonstrate the thesis that lack of attention does not in itself suffice to explain faulty acts as the forgetting of intentions. An intention is an impulse for an action which has already found approbation, but whose execution is postponed for a suitable occasion. Now, in this interval thus created, sufficient change may take place in the motive to prevent intention from coming to execution. It is not, however, forgotten, it is simply revised and omitted. We naturally are not in the habit of explaining the forgetting of intentions which we daily experience in every possible situation as being due to a recent change in the adjustment of motives. We generally leave it unexplained, or we seek a psychological explanation in the assumption that at the time of execution, the required attention for the action, which was an indispensable condition for the occurrence of the intention, and was then at the same disposal of the same action, no longer exists. Observation of our normal behavior towards intentions urges us to reject this tentative explanation as arbitrary. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 5

If I resolve in the morning to carry out a certain intention in the evening, I may be reminded of several times in the course of the day, but it is not at all necessary that it should become conscious throughout the day. As the time for its execution approaches, it suddenly occurs to me and induces me to make the necessary preparation for the intended action. If I go walking and take a letter with me to be posted, it is not at all necessary that I, as a normal, not nervous individual, should carry it in my hand and continually look for a letter-box. As a matter of fact, I am accustomed to put it in my pocket and give my thoughts free rein on my way, feeling confident that the first letter-box will attract my attention and cause me to put my hand in my pocket and draw out the letter. This normal behavior in a formed intention corresponds perfectly with the experimentally produced conduct of persons who are under so-called post-hypnotic suggestion to perform something after a certain time. We are accustomed to describe the phenomenon in the following manner: the suggested intention slumbers in the person concerned until the time for its execution approaches. Then it awakes and excites the action. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 5

Analyzing assumptions and challenging person experiences can be quite unsettling. Those who enjoy the search for elusive answers to the riddles of life understand that the media not only reflect our society, but also play an important role in shaping and defining it. Now, more than ever, we require the critical thinking skills to analyze the lies, distortions, and calculated fantasies that have become part of the normal content of mass communication. Studies reveal that children spend as many as 40 hours per week viewing television. Adults are also ardent television viewers; it is estimated that they spend between 25 to 33 percent of their lives in from of a television set, and it is estimated that combined television viewing time of all people in the World is an astounding 3.5 billion hours, not annually, but each day. The urge to manipulate people must be strong, since may businesses have tried subliminal advertising over the years. However, do subliminal messages and sales pitches actually work? Let us see. In a famous early attempt at subliminal advertising, a New Jersey theater flashed the words: Eat popcorn and Drink Coca-Cola on the screen. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 5

The words Eat popcorn and Drink Coca-Cola appeared for 1/3000 seconds every 5 seconds during movies. At that speed, they were below the normal threshold for awareness. During the six weeks the messages ran, the firm claimed an increase of 57.8 percent popcorn sales and an 18.1 percent increase in Coca-Cola sales. Thus was demonstrated the awesome power of subliminal advertising to coerce unwary buyers into making purchases that would not have otherwise considered. However, some dispute those claims, you know that advertising and subliminal messages do work and this is why corporations spent $540 billion globally on advertising in 2015.  Moreover, when people have to experience an event or product for themselves, they usually rely on advertisements and media reports as their first draft of reality. Take Pokemon Go, for instance, within seven days of launching the program, it has more than 7.2 million downloads and was being reported on every news station. Prior to news reports and launch of the application, many have never heard of Pokemon, and now Nintendo’s made billions on the Pokemon craze. Therefore, advertising and television may in fact be the most powerful social force in the World. (www.thedeedle.com) #RyanPhillippe 5 of 5