"Much of life," he said to me, "depends on our being ignorant of reality. If we understood reality, we would never go on." - Sheri S. Tepper

But you're saying all societies are coercive, said Ellin in a troubled voice.
Questioner laughed. But Honorable Ellin, of course they are. This is what makes reading history so amusing. Most cultures think of themselves as free while regarding others as coerced. They do so because they are following traditional values, and the generations of coercion that resulted in those values is long forgotten.

It is better to die than to be used by evil for evil’s purposes.

“I know so little,” she murmured.
“Better admit you are up to your neck in ignorance than stand upon a pinnacle of misinformation,” he said firmly.