2023-05-16 21:40:45
Compared to hypnosis, mental manipulation destroys free will in a more lasting, even irreversible way. Mind manipulation is not Pavlovian-type conditioning. Finally, it has nothing in common with shamanic practices provoking trances without drugs like Haitian voodoo, or with drugs like Gabonese bwiti.
Mental manipulation is much more complex than all these behavioral reflexes or gregarious behaviors, because it uses an infinity of psycho-social and neurophysiological resources.
But it is also very simple in the sense that it is a corollary and a constant of life in society. Amorous seduction, political speeches, and the placebo effect are both the most elementary and the most effective forms of this, since no one can escape them. The extreme forms are expressed in sects where the manipulators manage to pervert the entire cognitive system of the manipulated until the autosuggestion of the manipulated becomes more effective than the suggestion of the manipulators.
In general, the manipulators benefit from it, but such banality is reprehensible only if the prejudice to the manipulated is very significant. We must therefore approach mental manipulation as we approach drugs: in terms of benefits/risks.
The great religious myths are good examples of mental manipulations which have allowed the enrichment of all the churches, however this is not reprehensible insofar as the manipulated live their faith and their community membership as a benefit. Conversely, when God asks Abraham to kill his son, when jihadists impose suicidal martyrdom or when priests sexually abuse the children of their flock, the damage is enormous.
When tribunes skew information to establish their power, the damage depends on the ideology and the secondary benefits of each manipulated. But when a dictator suppresses all information, the damage is considerable, because it deteriorates the cognitive system of the manipulated. In the same way that concealing the side effects of drugs can lead to death.
Social networks are a powerful support for mental manipulation which works all the better when it is aimed at people who are psychologically fragile or have a low level of education. It particularly affects adolescents who often have low self-esteem and who are at the age of psychoses and dangerous games.
Despite this easy evaluation of the benefit/risk ratio, there is no legal framework for mental manipulation. This is probably why pedophile priests, neuro-marketers, sex-abusing gurus, cover-up chemists, paranoid dictators and conspiratorial parties are on the increase.
Does mental manipulation announce a second Middle Ages?
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