A great many people (but not everybody) have a deeply set abhorrance of being seen nude, sometimes even a phobia. The feeling is not merely not wanting to offend the sensibilities of others but an intensely uncomfortable feeling about being exposed welling from deep within the unconscious, not consciously controllable.
Babies are not born with this, so it is learned behavior. How does one psychologically program people so powerfully? (An answer which, if known, can be used for good or for evil.)
The fact that it is possible to program people so powerfully muddies the question, what does it mean to be able to make decisions about your own body? When you make a decision, say, not to be nude, is it really your decision, or a decision 99% already made for you by the agents who programmed you? "Agents" because I'm not so quick to jump to the conclusion that it is "parents": I know of siblings who have diametrically opposed opinions about nudity.
If a political cause advocates you being able to make decisions about your own body, are they really advocating on behalf of you, or on behalf of the agents who programmed you? It almost seems a power struggle between those agents and the government over who gets to control you like a marionette.
Economically, this issue is troubling because it could mean a large number of people may behave systematically irrationally, throwing a wrench into theorems about efficiency.
Obliquely inspired by the political arguments around abortion, but I don't think applicable to it: the abortion issue is about changing people's behavior by force of law, not by psychological programming.
1 comment :
How does one psychologically program people so powerfully?
A good question. I suspect that there is some external source of programming (e.g. parental disapproval of nudity) combined with internal positive-feedback loops.
Arguably this same mechanism is used for a variety of behavior, including religious orientation, love of learning, beliefs about other people, value systems, and so on.
If a political cause advocates you being able to make decisions about your own body, are they really advocating on behalf of you, or on behalf of the agents who programmed you?
Quite likely neither. They're likely advocating in their own interests, taking advantage of your programming, regardless of its source.
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