Exactly, our identity is the sum of our influences and I also agree if someone actually engages with the art and has their own views on it, that is a good thing.

My comment spoke more about how society just drip feeds us influences via marketing and with an external motivation. That means they are screwing with our very identity itself. My point is that curating those influences is important and shaping your own identity instead of basing it on universal acclaim, reviews, "what does the world think/what must be the right way to think".