"I suspect that you are one of those people who just can't believe that those in authority would manipulate 'human nature' for their own selfish and venal ends"
No I am not. I absolutely agree that those in authority do manipulate human nature whenever it suits them.
You have just agreed with me.
How?
Well you can't manipulate human nature unless there is something there to manipulate.
Human nature is constructed of irrational instincts as well as the capacity to reflect on them.
Advertisers manipulate our sexual instincts.
Politicians manipulate our fears.
The least subtle politicians tell us that the reason why we have no jobs is that johnny foreigner has taken them all.
The reason many people don't question this is that it strikes a chord with their irrational fear that johnny foreigner is up to no good.
Sometimes I find myself lapsing into fears of black stereotypes, especially when I am tired and walking through deprived areas at night.
Then when I go round to the houses of black people I am close friends with and I enjoy the warmth and depth of our friendships, I reflect on how powerful my irrational fear is and how grateful I am for the ability to discriminate intelligently.
Sometimes, as some of my black friends live in deprived areas, I face both sides of this challenge in a single episode. I walk through a deprived area with my radar and my defences on full alert before arriving at a friends house and breathing a sigh of relief.
If it wasn't for my choice to discriminate intelligently rather than instictively I wouldn't have those friends and I would be infinitely the poorer.
I have a wide and challenging life experience, I'm 6'2" tall, I can handle myself and tackle any challenge thrown my way and yet I jump in the air and make a weird strangled YAWP noise at the sight of a daddy-long-legs dropping into my washing up bowl.
Part of being human is having irrational weaknesses.
Growing up is about acknowledging them, accepting them, understanding them and overcoming them.
I would like to add that I don't think instinct is a bad thing.
I think we should listen to our instincts, but each time they have had their say we should continue to stage two and scrutinize them objectively to decide how we wish to respond to them.