SOCIAL CONTROL. XL I.
IN THE last paper it was shown how Enlightenment can redound to the social profit. But the taming of men is no carpet busi- ness. There must be provided coil after coil to entangle the unruly one that will not walk in the beaten paths. Man-quellers must have at hand fallacies as well as reasons, snares as well as leading strings, will-o'-the-wisps as well as lanterns. The truth by all means if it will promote obedience, but in any case obe- dience this is the maxim to act upon. Hence, coupled with the social endeavor to clarify the individual's judgment on cer- tain points, we detect an unmistakable effort to confuse, befud- dle, and mislead it on other points. Society, taking a leaf from the policy of nature, masters the trick of deception. Of out- right invention there is here no question. The fraction of a per- centum that has the initiative in most social regulation has neither the common understanding nor the conscious purpose needful for outwitting men by any fraus pia. But we do find that certain appearances which mask the face of reality have been seized upon, turned, and manipulated for the management of men.
I showed in an earlier paper how, upon a platform of belief in the supernatural, various orders of extra-mundane sanctions come to be planted for the upholding of the commandments. In this paper I shall show society again making use of conviction, but in a different way. We shall examine, not creeds, but the films, veils, hidden mirrors, and half-lights by which men are duped as to that which lies nearest them their own experience. This time we shall see men led captive, not by dogmas concern- ing a world beyond experience, but by artfully fostered miscon- ceptions of the pains, satisfactions, and values lying under their
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