The Power of ‘They’

Throughout time it has been commonly discovered that putting a name to something diminishes the fear of it, and that understanding the unknown makes an individual more comfortable with their place in the grand scheme of life; more confident in the control they have on their situation. This is the way of society – it has been, and it still is. This is the reason why a dying man will ask how much time he has left, why the condemned will ask to know the name of his sentence, why a pregnant woman will examine the health of her unborn child.

The unknown has power. And with the knowledge of that power, comes the ability to abuse it.

We see it every day: Commercials saying, “Experts have proven this shovel to be the best in all of shovel history” and, “Ninety percent of dentists use Colgate Total as their primary tooth paste” and, “Women everywhere are raving over our new anti-aging cream”. But what experts? What dentists? What women? Ninety percent of how many? Three? Six? Are we honestly supposed to believe that Dove and Loreal surveyed every single woman everywhere, and that they were all raving over their newest cream? Of course not. But the statements still have power over the majority of society – if they didn’t, advertising campaigns wouldn’t be using them anymore.

Thus: the power of ‘they’.

This power has been present all throughout time. Trends are created because of it; whether it be commonly spoken phrases, fashion, materialistic objects, or activities. The latest fad doesn’t happen because ‘no one is doing it’, it happens because everyone is doing it. (Or so businesses and the commercial industry would have it seem.) I guess it stems from an innate need to belong; a human desire to be ‘popular’ and ‘up to date’ – Now, whether this need is a natural one, or if it has been conditioned into us by society is still debated. But though the superficial need to be ‘one of the many’ seems to benefit the buyer and follower of trends, it truly is the businesses that profit. The businesses use the power of ‘they’ to create the trends, and by using that power, they gain a stream of revenue going right into their own pocket.

Another problem with this misused power is that people try to use ‘they’ as a reason: as proof. An individual can defend their actions by referring to the similar actions of ‘them’, therefore ‘proving’ that they are in the right because an allusive number of supposed people are doing the same thing. Yet aren’t ‘they’ still just made up of individuals who have to make their own moral choices? So why is ‘their’ opinion viewed with so much weight?

And of the individuals who are part of the allusive ‘they’, how many of them are biased? How many of them are fully informed? How many of them have been paid to give a specific answer? How many of them are even qualified to be used as the reasoning and proof behind someone else’s argument? We don’t know. Because the vague statement of ‘they’ doesn’t reveal that information. Hence, the danger behind the power of ‘they’.

Fear of the unknown is present within all of us; it’s hardwired into our very existence. The unknown has the power to make people do foolish and reckless things – a trait that is easy to use against us. The power of ‘they’ is part of those ‘unknown’ things – it can mean anything and nothing, everything and all, but society will never know which one it is: it is simply a broad brush stroke meant to attract attention and persuade: it is an advertising strategy.

We, as philosophical thinking minds, must constantly be wary of the ever-present danger of ‘they’. It is a statement that hides un-provable claims, that covers up gaping holes in arguments and theories. If we are to build a society of reasoned, critical thinkers, we must be able to look past its guise, and see the multitude of flaws behind it.