Quote:
Originally Posted by perpetuallysad
AkAngel, while I can appreciate the parallels you draw, I don't think the two situations are a fair comparison. Whether good or bad, right or wrong, when people are removed from direct involvement in a situation, like a war, it is much easier for people to accept things they don't necessarily support. In a situation where a person is directly doing something, shocking people, or whatever, they are part of it, not removed-it is something that their actions (or inaction) affect at that moment.
|
That is a fair observation and I withdraw the latter part of my argument (though strong feelings remain). The first part of my argument remains though - it seems that everyone is shocked and repulsed and yet, as many times as they did this experiment, in as many countries as they duplicated the test, a huge number of people went on to hurt people because they were told to. Many went on believing that they killed the person because they were instructed to.
Everyone who hears of the test knows that THEY wouldn't do it but the reality is, many of them would. They, in many cases, are those people. Be it Milgrams experiment or becoming a drug addict, someone who commits a crime or someone with a mental health problem brought on by childhood - the tendency of people to sit in judgment and think that they are stronger than others may have been because they have been blessed to not have the same challenges.
It is not the people who frustrate me, but the prejudice and self-righteousness born of ignorance.