"So what is mind control?

It's best to think of it as a system of influences that significantly disrupts an individual at their very core, at the level of their identity (their values, beliefs, preferences, decisions, behaviors, relationships etc.) creating a new pseudo-identity or pseudopersonality.

It can of course be used in beneficial ways, for example with addicts, but here we are talking about situations that are inherently bad or unethical.

Philip Zimbardo says that mind control is a ""process by which individual or collective freedom of choice and action is compromised by agents or agencies that modify or distort perception, motivation, affect, cognition and/or behavioral outcomes"" and he suggests that everyone is susceptible to such manipulation.

It is not some ancient mystery known to a few, it is words and group pressures, packaged in such a way that it allows a manipulator to create dependency in his or her followers, making their decisions for them while allowing them to think that they are independent and free to decide. That is, the person is not aware of the influence process, nor of the changes occurring within themselves.
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