If only idiots are influenced by the media in their relationships, then tell me how did kneeling to propose, white weddings and wedding rings become a global standard? These are all British relationship traditions that spread globally through the power of romantic movies, soap operas and other media

Of course when it comes to violent media such as action games and action movies, people are not influenced by these, because action media is so over the top that even if you tried to imitate what they were doing, you would realize how ridiculous it is within five minutes. But this argument doesn't apply to romantic media.

The appeal of romantic media is how it purposely treads a fine line between fiction and realism. When romcoms like How I Met Your Mom or Friends show the mid-looking, dorky, unambitious, timid men getting the pretty girls, they present it such that it doesn't look so far fetched. They were also subtle about normalizing the women hopping from man to man in the group, and the men just taking it on the chin. Such wrong ideas get spread through romantic media and men copy them to their detriment