Given how our discussion turned to manipulation through religion in the last class, I thought it was rather odd to see much the same thread in Dune. Whether the Bene Gesserit had this intention when they originally where formed, in the current times of Dune, they most certainly are a mystical, religious group. Within the the Bene Gesserit, they certainly are cynical in how they achieve their ends, ends that do not seem to go to the heart of most religions. The Bene Gesserit have controlled people, played them for hundreds of year just as surely as the guild controls space travel. They do posses their "Voice", however, the real power behind Bene Gesserit comes from their status as religious leaders, prophets of sorts. They can hardly use the voice on everyone, especially when it is revelled that few who here the vioce live. Their power relies on getting people to believe, indoctrinization if you will, and then manipulating this beliefs as they wish.
The Bene Gesserit have selective breeding to produce what they see has fully human as their end goal, and will control whomever they can to acheive this breeding pattern.
Even the end result of their programs can be called into question. Freyd hardly seems the epitome of what a human should be, while Paul himself displays a coldness and detachment at times that do not endear him to the audience.
While Dune may be a tale of politics in feudal societies I also see it as a cautionary tale of the "opiate of the masses" and the way in which the masses can be controlled through this drug.