Perception As a Hindrance

There are times when reading into things proves beneficial. The act of "reading between lines" is used in everyday conversation in the most casual of times. However, it can be argued that utilising this to extreme degrees can be inopportune, even harmful to one's emotional harmony. Unfortunately, today's world seems to be one in which everyone is on guard, expecting unseen attacks from all sides and paranoid about encountering it. Even worse is the fact that we as human beings are disinclined to leave a perceived threat as is - many arguments and subsequent falling outs are a consequence of the would-be victim and the indignant would-be attacker. The recently released movie "Avatar" is meant to be a source of entertainment with a lingering eco-friendly theme, yet a quick search on the web will reveal different reactions ranging from claims that the film is supporting racism, paganism, and in some cases even causing depression and suicidal thoughts (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html). The latter in particular emphasises the point that purposely seeking out the possible (and I stress the word "possible) negative aspects in something with a benign surface can oft times lead to more bad than good.

The audience that this issue concerns the most would probably be almost all adults and teenagers; smaller children typically being too young to concern themselves with subtleties. With this in mind, the genre of an argumentative approach should probably try to appeal to the intelligence of these age groups; thoughtful blogs online and Letters to the Editor in a newspaper coming foremost to mind.