The effects and pervasiveness advertising is a good example of both the power and fragility of the imagination.
We are (almost always subconciously!) actually affected by some hyper-loud voice telling us something in the ad-breaks of whatever TV show we’re watching or by some image we see on a billboard, in a magazine, etc., etc. ad infinitum… That is how fragile our imaginations are.
And we act, behave, decide, spend-time/money, choose, etc. ‘out of’ our imagination. We buy ‘this’ or ‘that’ product based (often) on nothing but our imaginitive affection for it… That is how powerful our imaginations are.
This is a double edged sword. Great strides in medicine, architecture, physics, art, education, etc., etc. have been made because someone ‘imagined’ a different way. Also great pain has been caused in marriages, families, communities and nations because one or more people ‘imagined’ that that woman, experience, possession, ideology or whatever would be desirable, fun, cool or powerful.
Take an affair for example. They don’t just ‘happen’. A man/woman must first enjoy the company of someone other than their spouse. Imaginitive step after imaginitive step are taken. And boom – there you have it – an affair.
This appreciation of (and respect for) the power and fragility of the imagination is what should drive all concerns about things like pornography, boobs-on-bikes parades and modesty, etc., etc. Sooooo often, they are often driven by what seems like an assumption that if we could just get the laws sorted out to how we think they should be, people will behave like we think they ought…
…leaving the power and fragility of the imagination (the heart of the issue) untouched, un-dealt-with, un-appreciated… and not solving any problems whatsoever.