[Ainaserkewen]

Manipulation is evil if you listen to what people tell you. In the long run, it probably is, but manipulation and other forms of influence is something that makes us human, and makes us suckers sometimes.

When you look at the manipulation used in fantasy stories like The Lord of the Rings, then yes, you can definitely, concretely say that it is evil. However, in daily life it is my belief that if society, government and whoever else you want to blame didn't use many insanely, evil-y genius forms of mass manipulation and everyone was to use their own minds to make decisions, this would be one messed up world. That is purely how I perceive it, and yes, I may be a little pessimistic, but seriously, can you imagine a world without the media telling you what to do? Who would you vote for (if you live in a democratic society), who would you dress like, and for goodness sake what shampoo would you use!? If ignorance is bliss, then yes...manipulation is bad.