What Ethics Come into Play Concerning Changing the Beliefs of Our Candidates?
What are the ethics involved in making a concerted effort to change the beliefs of another person? During the Korean War, such efforts on the part of the Russians and North Koreans to alter the political beliefs of American soldiers who were being held as prisoners of war were well known. While there was always a threat of physical punishment and other deprivations, the brainwashing techniques were often a combination of some of those suggested above-dissonance, social pressures, and immersion in a new culture. POWs were inundated with “facts” about injustices in the United States, how rich people were benefiting from the war, and how the capitalist system had many contradictions and problems. While such efforts were generally seen as obscene and decidedly “un-American,” American universities on occasion ask professors and administrators who are accused of sexism or racism to attend “sensitivity” classes to improve their attitudes and presumably their practices. Even now, 50 years late
