Imagine: You are sitting in the stadium, 5th game of the World Series, ring-side seats. Soda in the cup-holder to My right, tasty snacks in hand, and My Beloved in the seat next to Me, to My left. [N: She’s looking particularly hot today; and man! – does that bra really make Her rack look great! I could just bury My face in those melons and…]
Ooops, My bad! Lost My train of thought there for a sec.
Where was I? Oh yeah, I remember now. Stadium. Sitting. blah blah blah
I’m sitting there, minding My Own business, and all-of-a-sudden, Outta Nowhere, the section to My right starts doing The Wave.
How? Why? Where?? WTF! – My SB has a million questions all at once. [N: kinda like that traffic scene towards the beginning of The Fifth Element, where Bruce saves Milla – can I get that outfit for My Woman on Amazon?? Hmmm]
Did they all have a meeting I wasn’t invited to attend? Did someone take an on-the-street survey? Was everybody in that section given a liability form to sign beforehand?
No. None of this. One single Person – Connected by sight, by blood, or by emotions, even – jumped up… and Influenced the other 1,200 or so, give or take, Human Beings sitting in the stadium. Myself included.
This. THIS is the Money Shot. This is an IRL visual representation of how fast Influencing Other People is. How easy it is. A literal Child could do it.
TECH? True to Pearl-Clutching form, TECH has a bunch of labels for Influence: peer pressure, monkey-see-monkey-do, birds of a feather, mind control, “sheep!” brain-washing, hypnosis, drank the kool-aid, etc. etc.
I ‘get’ it, TECH. From TECH’s perspective? All of these are air-quotes ‘Bad.’ Even the not really bad ones are bad! It’s just how TECH is wired. Everything external is dangerous… until I decide otherwise. [N: *Spoiler Alert!* PASSION helps TECH with “otherwise” FYI]
And say TECH is seated there, in this stadium, and You, DR are My Beloved sitting next to Me: Whatever I verbalize to You next, right now, in this exact moment? Will – in turn – Influence You.
Who You are – physically or emotionally and regardless of Our IRL interpersonal relationship – is irrelevant. I will Influence Your SB – it’s just the way the human brain is designed – but! Probably not in the way that You think, or can imagine.
And this – THIS right here – is what makes Influence so… so… tricky. Dangerous. Double-edged sword dangerous.
What gives Me the power to Influence You, DR? Our Connection. If I Trust You – based on actual real legitimate Proof or not – then You can Influence Me. You can harm Me. You can even kill Me.
And I will consent to it.
Now picture what a Vampire does. I love Vampires! They are usually portrayed in teenage angsty movies as “the totally hot Boy” Who is begging to be air-quotes ‘fixed’ by Me, the awkward, has-few-friends at school qwirky Girl. How can I resist?!
Vampires only have power if You invite them into Your home. Think about that for a minute. I have to Consent to this other-worldly beautiful fantasy creature for Him to enter My Safe Space. And there’s the clue, right in this one sentence: fantasy.
The Vampire has this power over Me because I am Connected with Him. I Love Him, or the very idea of Him. [N: details be damned] I want Him to Love Me back. And if I can’t get Him to Love Me? If I have to expose My neck, complete with veins throbbing with the blood running through them – AKA Vampire cocaine – then I will do it. Happily. Willingly. Even if I die at the End.
TECH is self-soothing right now, thinking, “Well, thank goodness Vampires aren’t Real then!” And that, DR, is TECH missing the plot. Per usual.
Now take away the Vampire imagery, and leave the naked behavior – Mine, and also Yours, DR.
I am vulnerable to You because I Love You. I will give everything I have to You – My treasure, My Support, every tool in My toolbox – because I Love You. When You lash out at Me, You scream at Me, You beat Me in the head with a hammer, You knock My teeth out, or You molest Me, f#ck Me in the @$$, or demand the last chocolate chip cookie on My plate? Take it. It’s Yours. Everything I have… Everything I do… I do it. For You.
And if in My IRL-Life I am – among other things – completely Love-starved? It’s gonna be way easier for Me to invite You in. If I am a Child who is being neglected, who is food insecure, who is just looking for One single Friend in a landscape full of Foes – “where’s Waldo?” – then I will do anything humanly possible to fill that Need by Myself.
And Who’s fault is this? It’s Nobody’s fault. And… it’s Everybody’s fault.
. . .
Conner’s Comments: My eyes just caught an article by Mr. (? I dunno loll) Svante Myric, posted 05/05/25 at 10:30AM ET entitled “Trump is destroying his own presidency – let’s finish the job” that has some excellent points about how Influence works, in the Context of our political sphere. I scanned the highlights, and that was enough for Me to write this Story for You, now, here. You’d be correct in saying that Mr. Myrick ‘Influenced’ Me. [N: loll]