Politics is dominating the news these days and there is no shortage of influencers out there. During election campaigns all the parties and all the candidates hope we will be influenced to vote for them.

Influencers try to sway us to vote one way, rather than another. But what I find is that many of them are simply preying on our emotions.

The media is the biggest influencer and, though their mandate might be to report the news, they are all about emotionally influencing the population either toward or away from candidates.

It’s not the news they report so much as it is their presentation of the news they are focussed on giving us.

But this past week there were a couple of other influencers that caught my attention. Toronto was in the middle of TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival), and the stars were out to promote their movies.

Donald Sutherland and his son Kiefer were there, proudly proclaiming their love for Canada and their film. We consider them both great Canadian actors, so when they speak they have a platform. People listen; they influence.

But they are actors and actors give interviews, sound bites and quick comments.

Donald was asked about the election and he fervently criticized Stephen Harper and his government, saying he’s got to go. His main focus was on the arts, support and funding.

It’s a narrow focus he used to influence the million or so people who watched the impromptu fifteen seconds of passion and authority. But I’m sure he influenced a number of people.

Then later in the week, Wayne Gretzky – our Canadian hockey icon – was with Prime Minister Harper. He also was interviewed briefly and shared his thoughts about how great a leader Harper is and how well he has lead our country through economic uncertainty.

Like Sutherland, Gretzky has influence because he is famous and admired by many. But many of the people who will be influenced by what the “Great One” had to say, will be so on an emotional level. … They admire Gretzky, and if he likes the prime minister, that’s good enough for them.

We are being influenced emotionally to make decisions that should be based on thought, fact and reason.

We are being influenced to take the easy way out and make our decision based on what the news reporters say, or a celebrity dishes out.

The more we listen to the influencers, with their quick little comments, quips, outbursts, and passionate pleas, the more we short circuit the work we should be doing to really determine who we will vote for.

To be honest, I don’t share the same passion or perspective as many of the influencers out there, so why should I get emotionally charged by them in making my decision?

Here’s the thing: We are influenced the same way to response to God. We hear something, or someone we respect holds a particular view and we believe it too. Influencers move us emotionally but they should move us to seek out answers for ourselves and not just take their word. Influencers should motivate us to search the Bible for answers, spend time with God in counsel, contemplate the research of real experts (commentaries) so that we are influenced on more than just an emotional level. We shouldn’t parrot the sound bites of others; we should know God’s heart and follow Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you taken from someone else that you should investigate for yourself? Leave your comment below.