by Phineas

Created on: June 27, 2009

The entire legal system is an attempt to manipulate the behavior of the governed people. Laws, through several routes, are invariably meant to prevent certain behavior from occurring, and preventing behavior is as manipulative as encouraging it. People are pressured towards a moral ideal by observing the consequences of criminal actions applied to others, being punished by the legal system, and simply having morals molded by the legal system taught to them by adults during their own childhoods.

Campaigns for public offices are also manipulative - candidates do everything they can to alter the votes (a personal behavior) of the public in order to get in office. Manipulation is ingrained in all government so deeply that it is nearly impossible to fathom a type of government without it; simply persuading a group that they need governing is manipulation in and of itself.

Manipulation is necessary and beneficial if it is for the right reasons. Manipulating the public to do something that is in its best interest by simply persuading them to vote for it is the basis of democracy. The safety and well being of the governed citizens may rely on the personal behavior of those same citizens; manipulation by persuasion to sway these citizens to do what is in their own interests and those of their fellow humans is necessary.

Persuasion is amoral and destructive when the goal of the swaying is not the good of the people but personal or political interests. When a political party crosses the line from governing to campaigning, what they persuade the public to do changes from collective to personal interests. Encouraged or manipulated behavior should not infringe on the rights of other nations/people/cultures. Persuading citizens that it is beneficial to invade a neighboring country may be beneficial to one group of people, but it will certainly harm another.

The line becomes somewhat blurred when persuasion turns to deception. In a dire situation, where the public will not willingly do what they must do to avert disaster, manipulation by deception is necessary and right. When an impending conflict of catastrophe is about to occur, a government should induce calm, cautious behavior by hiding the true nature of the event from the public in order to avoid panic. Deceptive manipulation can be downright evil, however, if it is exercised for the wrong reasons.

Nazi Germany is a classic example of evil deceptive manipulation of citizens. Many dictators and leaders follow the trend of galvanizing an anguished public to action by blaming their problems on another group. While this may benefit some citizens, it endangers other innocent people. It may be done simply because of the psychotic or hateful interests of the governing despot, causing damage both to the citizens and targeted group. Another example of evil deceptive manipulation is the persuasion of a nation to invade another nation by convincing them that it is for peacekeeping or another morally justified reason while it is truly for national economic interests.

In short, governments should manipulate when the manipulation is beneficial to the governed citizens. When manipulation either infringes on any group's or individual's rights or is committed for personal or political interests, however, it is destructive and unjust.

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