system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[General]Can you think of any works of fiction that actually discuss the ethicality of wiping people’s memories?

When you think about it wiping people’s memories, even if you are able to wipe out specific memories with no real side effects, is kind of messed up.

I mean, if I entered someone’s computer without the owner’s permission and erased a file, any file I am probably guilty of some sort of crime(computer trespass etc) or if I took someone’s book and ripped a few pages out of it I’m guilty of destroying someone’s property.

Yet in fiction when they are methods wiping people’s memories the ethicality of is never really discussed at all:

In Harry Potter we found out that they are memory erasing spells and that Lockhart as been using to erase people’s memories so he can take credit for tenor achievements and that is depicted as a bad thing but we are also told that “good” wizards use it on muggles to cover for the wizarding world

In MIB Will Smith is very hesitant about K using the neuralyzer on people but in the sequels he used it frequently with no hesitations.

In Gravity Falls there is actually a group of villains that goes around wiping people’s memories and it is depicted as a negative thing but when the protagonists gets the hands on their memory erasing device they use it on them and it is portrayed as a good thing and also for comedy even though the leader of the group had been the leader for decades and by wiping out his memories of  group they basically brain damaged him yet any discussions of whatever it was the right thing to do is never brought up.

That’s just seems to the standard in fiction: if antagonists erase people’s memories it’s a bad horrible thing but when protagonists do it is a good thing, no discussions at all is necessary.

Can you think of any works of fiction that actually discuss this?
gpt
Yeah, Identity Crisis in DC Comics 

The heroes started wiping memories and rewriting personalities of supervillains who were crossing moral lines. Then as other heroes start finding out, there's a pretty big fallout out over it. 

It was sort of like DC's Civil War but not really.