Conspiracy Theory
PWR 1 Fall Quarter 2008
Jonah G. Willihnganz
Stanford University

J. G. Ballard, "The Subliminal Man" (1963)

In J.G. Ballard’s 1963 short story “The Subliminal Man” we are presented with a dark vision of the future, a vision in which people’s behavior is powerfully conditioned by subliminal messages that appear nearly everywhere.  In this vision, there is almost no awareness of the subliminal conditioning and resistance to it proves very difficult.  This story makes an argument about the character of our own, real world, and the way it seems to operate.  The text also makes an argument about what it takes to fight a conspiracy such as this, and about what the specific costs of fighting may be. 

Imagine now that you are asked to write an argument of approximately 5 pages in which you respond to Ballard’s vision of how we can become conscious of social conditioning and fight it. What would be your argument? What evidence from the reading and from your own experience (including other reading, films, material from other classes, and your own experience) would you use to develop your position?