Is knowledge power?

And is that a bad thing?

I was talking with my friend Six last night about this particular subject and it led to some interesting conversation (always a good thing, in my never-very-humble opinion). He was relating a story to me where a husband had gained insight to his wife and then had used that insight to manipulate her. Interesting... and a pretty crappy thing to do, as well.

My thought on it is this: people will do what they are going to do regardless of what insight you give them. If this husband didn't have that particular information to use for manipulation, it would have been something else. He's obviously an asshat that was just looking to get what he wanted and didn't give a rat's banana about how he was going to get it and who he was hurting in the process. I believe that "players" are also very good at this type of manipulation. They "woo" you with pretty words and fluff (or whatever works for you) only to take what they want and then leave.

We all use the tools available to us to try and get what we want. If you think you don't, you're crazy... and in serious denial. The difference is how we treat the other person while we do it. There are those that are only concerned about what they want. And then there are those that really care about what the other person desires as well. And then that knowledge becomes another level to connect to each other and really explore.

So, is knowledge power? Yes.

To be used for good or evil? That's the tough one to figure out...