Reply #114: consent, or the illusion thereof

[NuttyFluffers]

the issue of operating conditions is real. but then there are FGMs that are done in hospital conditions as well. and places that don't do FGM in hospital conditions often do other procedures w/o such conditions, too (branding to cauterize wounds for example).

but your question really has to do with issues of manufacturing consent and the issue of de jure and de facto control of a populace. you're not going to get (easily) a logical debate in DU about that. most people cannot figure out that they live in an environment that routinely conditions them. and, even though there are those that can fend off a portion of conditioning, there are others that cannot. and little appreciation of how powerful such conditioning is is expressed here. that is why de facto manipulation is so insidious; through manufactured consent you give the illusion of freedom. the result is the same -- control -- but the populace would need to be far more introspective and resilient in their thinking to truly appreciate the parallels.

there is a reason seduction and coercion is considered amoral in studies of ethics; it is the subtle abuse of power to get what you want. it may not be an overt abuse of power, such as outright oppression, but in the end it is still an abuse of power. i think the populace has only been waking up to how much potential this form of abused power has in the past 100 or so years. remember, the great horrible movements of our times have been immensely aided by media and propaganda. to discount all such situations, like what you're talking about for example, that "we all are free and have a choice," might be dangerously simplistic. but that never stopped people from pointing their fingers and blaming "the other."