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Imagine that you saw an ad for a psychological experiment, & you applied for it. In the experiment, you were given a string of words in pairs & asked to memorise them. You would be asked to repeat them after. & told that each word you failed to get correctly, an electric...
...shock would be administered on you. And each time you failed to get a word, the voltage would be increased by 15 volts. You're a little worried, but you tell yourself that if the shocks start getting unbearable, you could always ask to quit the experiment. The experiment is...
...designed like this, you the "Student" who needs to memorise the words, and then a "Teacher" who administers the voltage. Then there's the psychologist in a white lab coat who instructs the teacher to administer the shock whenever you fail an answer. So, whenever the teacher...
...calls a word from a pair, you would reply with the other word that makes up the pair. Each one you fail, an electric shock of +15 volt will be administered on you.
So the experiment starts. You get the first few words right. Then you fail a word and 15v is administered...
So the experiment starts. You get the first few words right. Then you fail a word and 15v is administered...
You fail another word, and 30v is administered. The more words you fail, the more the voltage, until at a point, it starts becoming unbearable. At a point you let out a whimper when the shock was further increased. Then you start screaming that they let you out of there. At...
...this point, the voltage had increased to about 200v, you're screaming and writhing, but the teacher keeps calling out a word, and if you refuse to answer, he assumes you failed it, and he'll administer another shock. Finally, you're lying down inside the cage, while the...
...shock keeps increasing. This continues until the psychologist calls off the experiment, and you're allowed to exit the cage.
This sounds like stuff of nightmare, right? Well, it actually happened, almost exactly as this story, the only difference is that person who was...
This sounds like stuff of nightmare, right? Well, it actually happened, almost exactly as this story, the only difference is that person who was...
...told to be the teacher was an experimental subject who responded to the ad. In other words, the teacher was you. The student was the psychologist's assistant, and there was really no electric shock being administered. The assistant was just acting.
Here's where it...
Here's where it...
...gets interesting.
When the subjects who were acting as the teacher administered the shocks and saw that the "student" was suffering, they didn't stop, even though they wanted to. They kept pushing the levers that increased the voltage.
Why didn't they stop?
When the subjects who were acting as the teacher administered the shocks and saw that the "student" was suffering, they didn't stop, even though they wanted to. They kept pushing the levers that increased the voltage.
Why didn't they stop?
They didn't stop because, even against their better judgement, the psychologist kept asking them to keep administering the shocks. The experiment reported that some of them were crying, some of them were pulling their hair, some of them were grovelling and begging to stop...
...but the interesting thing was that none of them stopped. As long as the psychologist, who was a figure of authority, asked them to continue administering the shocks, they did.
Figure of authority?
Human beings have a reverence for authority which bothers on the irrational...
Figure of authority?
Human beings have a reverence for authority which bothers on the irrational...
...this is a double edged sword, and I will tell you why.
Remember the incident of the Lekki Toll gate massacre. These soldiers probably know that it's wrong to shoot unarmed civilians, but they went ahead, against their better...
Remember the incident of the Lekki Toll gate massacre. These soldiers probably know that it's wrong to shoot unarmed civilians, but they went ahead, against their better...
... judgement, to shoot these civilians. And do you know what is very messed up about this? If it were you or I in that same situation, we'd have done exactly the same thing.
Of course, obeying authority is important, because without it, the world would collapse into the...
Of course, obeying authority is important, because without it, the world would collapse into the...
... hobbesian state where life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.
But, at the same time, it is important to stand against authority when it starts going against your internal principles.
This is why the German armed forces are told to disobey any direct order...
But, at the same time, it is important to stand against authority when it starts going against your internal principles.
This is why the German armed forces are told to disobey any direct order...
...which violates human rights. Easier said than done, but it's a start.
The aim of this thread is to advise you to always bear it in mind that even constituted authority could be wrong sometimes, and you should always be circumspect at all times, so that you do not fall into...
The aim of this thread is to advise you to always bear it in mind that even constituted authority could be wrong sometimes, and you should always be circumspect at all times, so that you do not fall into...
...the exact predicament that the soldiers at the Lekki Toll gate fell into.
Be Unruly.
Be Unruly.
