All influence is Immoral - immoral from the scientific point of view

Have you ever seen and infant, when they learn to move their heads and start looking around, observing things? The wonder in their eyes, the surprise and shock of seeing something new, the determination to take it all in and the confusion to understand it all… all at the same time? It’s so amazing to see them slowly start to understand how things work. No matter how much you tell them, or point it out to them that something is wrong (especially when they put their hands into their mouths), they just give you their very cute, toothless smile and your heart melts.

Basically, what I am trying to say is, no matter what you can’t deter them from their goal. Of course, they don’t understand it at that time, but all kids, as we all know, are a little rebellious. They make mistakes, they brood and cry, and they make their own opinions while their brain develops. That’s why we all act the way we do in certain situations when we grow up, isn’t it?

But then we grow up and we come at an age which is feared by all parents – the teenage years.

Teenage years are years when we all have said yes to anything because our friends like it. Maybe because we are afraid of sharing our true feelings or likes/dislikes in hopes of getting liked better by our peers. A very natural approach to surviving in a community and maintaining a social status, getting liked by your peers and to “fit in”. We all have experienced a phase like it where expressing our opinion would have meant being on the other side of the line, which none of us want. The best examples are the Young Adult movies or the popularly known Chick-flicks. Those movies are filled with the examples of how the ‘It’ group influences the decisions of all those around them, even if the people getting influenced are not happy with what is happening.

Hence, this particular quote from one of the most popular and debated works of literature struck me too hard.

All influence is immoral – immoral from the scientific point of view

Even before most of us were born, Oscar Wilde got it absolutely right. When you come to think of it, influence is immoral. In the recent times, influence normally has a positive connotation. Like ‘He/She is a good influence’ or ‘He/She is an influential person’. While they are used as such, before I move forward with my thoughts on it, let us look at the meaning of the word. If you search for a definition or meaning of ‘Influence’ on Google (Definition by Oxford Languages), this is what you get – ‘to have an effect on or power over somebody/something so that he/she/it changes’ – Power being the keyword here.

Looking at this definition, I wonder if the examples that I gave above should be deemed positive or not. Once you put the meaning of the word instead of the word, the meaning of the sentences automatically turns negative. But this is just not enough, at least for me. Let’s go back to the keyword that I mentioned above. Power.

Just ask yourself a simple question – Would you like it if someone had any kind of power over you?

I would not. I would hate it. Absolutely. I can’t have someone have control over me. In fact anyone who is independent enough would not like it. Rather, people like us would want suggestions, advices, and point of views but would never want anyone to have enough power where anyone can sway them from their own opinions. We would want to create and form our own opinions, our own point of views and our own attitudes.

Oscar Wilde also went on to say – ‘to influence a person is to give him one's own soul’ – which obviously means that anyone who is influencing someone expresses their own point of views but with an intention of changing their opinions and not just give them examples to make an informed decision. It is not necessary for the influencer to be always correct, so, if there is some fault in their thoughts that gets forwarded to the other person creating a domino effect until the end of line.

A thought that constantly occurred my mind while reading about it was, if someone constantly influences us, how are we supposed to grow? This is where my example of an infant fits in. They are given the freedom to understand and make their own opinions of the world until they learn to listen to us. Once they do, they are surrounded by innumerous influencers directly or indirectly. We never teach them to make their own opinions, when they grow up. Instead, we tell them what to think.

Some you might catch the irony here. I am sitting here and writing this blog, trying to tell you my opinions, isn’t that almost influencing you to think certain way? Reading this, some of you might change your opinion or if not, would be bound to think about what I have written here. Then again, this is post (or blog) is not here to influence you or to force you to change your opinion. This blog is solely here to resonate what I felt when I read these amazing (and sometimes infamous quotes).

Wilde also explained, in his own style, about why is influence is scientifically immoral. I wouldn’t want to quote it here, it would be best if you guys read it directly. He explains is way better that I do.

Food for thought – My motto is hear everyone, take in all the information, think about it and then make your own decision. What do you think?

Until Next Timeth,
GeekChic