In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from. Many things influence today’s kids. Propaganda and media play a big part. But kids are also pressured by expectations given by adults and peers. Freedom or not, there is always - and will always - be a pressure to conform.

The year is 1933. Anti -Semitism runs through Europe. Hitler ‘comes’ into power. Many people were influenced into believing the Jews were bad. Many films were made. These portrayed Jews as ‘evil’ and ‘money hungry.’ They had names like ‘The Eternal Jew’ and ‘Jud Süß.’ “The Eternal Jew’ was reviewed as a masterpiece and told that it portrayed the Jewish figure perfectly. Many people believed what it was saying, swaying their opinions. Many other people were influenced by cartoons put out by nazis. They told that Jews were poison, and ignorant. These of course were false, but wouldn’t someone be easily fooled if surrounded by these types of things? These cartoons were made with characters that much rivaled the Disney characters, even kids read these and took what these strips said literally. Groups like the Jungvolk were in Germany at the time, influencing kids to join the Nazi party. This group was comparable to the boy scouts.... boy scouts who “Seig Heil” at the sight of pictures of their führer. Many young boys were influenced into joining this group because it was a social activity to them, not an anti-Semitism activity. It looked very appealing. They marched around towns, went on field trips, held signs, and did many things together. This sounds very appealing if you just take away the Nazism. Many of this propaganda was running with the communist era too, but not anti-Semitism propaganda. Communism gave people a false sense of community. Many people wanted to join since neighbors and relatives were. People felt a sense of security, being the same and getting the same as everyone else. What could be better than being the same as everyone else? I say being different. This is a prime example of conformity through social beliefs.

A major influence on kids today is the media. Major corporations have the uncanny ability, whether they know it ( or admit it ) or not. Cigarettes are a excellent example of this. Brands like KOOL and Camel try to lure consumers in. KOOL takes young looking adults for their ads and what could be more desirable or help you be ‘cool’ than smoking cigarettes with the name ‘KOOL’ and with young advertisers on the packages? Camel had a cool looking character advertise for them. Joe Camel was a camel who was cool. I thought he was cool, though he would never trick me into killing myself with poisons in cigarettes, he was appealing. But they killed him off because they realized what they were doing to people, making a cool looking character to influence people into taking their cigarettes. There are also the people targeting the medias influence. Ad campaigns like ‘Truth’, though anti-smoking, are still doing the same thing, they are targeting the young and influenced, trying to sway their opinions on cigarettes. This is not a bad thing in their case, but it certainly isn’t giving you your freedom to do whatever you want is it? Trying to pressure you either TO or NOT TO smoke cigarettes, it should be your choice no matter what. Teen magazines produce “how-to” articles, aimed at young consumers. These articles name a “class” and tell you how to transform yourself to fit this persona (your image). The first one I saw was “how to be Emo.” This article was published in a Seventeen magazine issue. This told how to be this certain “class” of social being in a certain number of steps. These told you what to do, like go out, buy certain band cloths, get thick rimmed glasses, pick up tight t-shirts etc. This is also a classic example of pressure to conform. If there was no pressure, and diversity was accepted, why would you need a guide on how to be certain personas? Companies like MTV constantly stress the latest fashions. As the quote in my intro says, even though we have all this freedom, there is so little to chose from when companies and people stress a certain way to look and behave. Models give people the belief that they have to look ‘thin.’ Half of the styles modeled by them look exactly the same. Yet people still spend mass amounts of money to wear the latest trend, and the same cloths, just with a different tag. Ads also help you be pressured to conform by making things appealing subliminally. As I said with the cigarettes, you associate certain things with fun and partying. Those commercials do thins by putting their product in an exciting environment. The average person sees 400-600 ads a day. With all of these advertising the same types of products, cloths, and other things, what chance do we have to stand out with all the media telling us to act one certain way?

Have your parents ever told you to be your own person yet they won’t let you buy different styles? This is a common thing. Kids are told to be different and unique, yet it is not widely accepted at all. In our school alone anything out of a certain dress code is forbidden. Even things not in the dress code are sometimes forbidden. I was yelled at for having a haircut that was “distracting.” Nobody was distracted by it . Maybe for the first five minutes, but then it was over. I was told I had to have my hair down. This is a classic example of being forced to conform. If you’re going to tell people to be different, you should support this, not go back on it. Students do this to their peers too. Everyone wants to be different yet I can bet that almost all of you are wearing the same brand or brands. This is not bad, but it gets a little boring. Parents try to force their children to participate in activities and school based programs - whether the kids want to or not. Parents want their kids to fit a certain expectation of how to be. Many want them to be like them when they were their age. This again puts pressure on the kid to act like how other people want them to be and not for themselves. There are cases all the time of kids going home crying because of other students making fun of the way they dress or act. This should not be tolerated. Throughout our school there are signs posted telling you that what kids say isn’t true and to ignore it and other things to help you be self motivated. But how can you go against what everyone else is saying? This is a hard thing to do when even the school faculty won’t let you be different. Difference shouldn’t have regulations. You shouldn’t be told to ‘be different within certain regulations.’ Difference has no boundaries; I can see some dress codes and the reasons for them. But forcing kids to be the same with rules like ‘no dying hair, no crazy hairstyles’ are just not acceptable if we are trying to let kids be different. One of the dress regulations is ‘Any article of clothing (including jackets, shoes, hats, and bandannas), jewelry, or other item which is identifiable as a known symbol of gang membership or affiliation.’ Think of all the clothing people wear that is the same. It’s kind of being in a little cult of your own. Picture it, “the Abercrombie cult, keeping millions of kids wearing the same styles since 1800 something.” I’m not trying to say anything against that company, that was just the first that came to my mind. I don’t know how to stress enough that there is not enough difference supported by people in general no matter how much we say we do. Kids will be “shunned” and put down for acting differently. Because diversity is widely accepted, isn’t it?

Throughout the world, all across time, people have been influenced into doing certain things. Propaganda plays on the community feeling of people, as does the media. These influence people to do things they may not want to do, or be. Parents and peers pressure people to be certain expectations and things also, this can cause lots of stress to conform and fit in.