06-14-2005, 12:32 AM
As far as authority figures and their power over people the Military is a special case. Part of training as a soldier is to take orders and carry them out.
If you got a group of 500 random Americans and told them to "take that bunker over there" you would probably get 495 responses of "F*** you!" By the same token, if you get a squad of 10 infantry soldiers together and tell them to take that same bunker they will find a way.
At the same time soldiers have a duty to refuse to obey unlawfull orders. The Abu Ghraib scandal? Many of the MPs said they didn't have adequate training. How do you train someone to not sodomise a prisoner with a chemlite? It isn't something you should have to train soldiers not to do. Then you get into what exactly were the supervisors doing during this time...
For the prison experiment: The grass is always greener on the other side. Most of the time most people feel most of their actions are completely justified and that everyone else is just "out to get 'em."
The way humans interact with and view the world around them is based on point of view, experience, morals, and a host of other factors. Are we paying attention to the right inputs when life presents us with the choice?
If you got a group of 500 random Americans and told them to "take that bunker over there" you would probably get 495 responses of "F*** you!" By the same token, if you get a squad of 10 infantry soldiers together and tell them to take that same bunker they will find a way.
At the same time soldiers have a duty to refuse to obey unlawfull orders. The Abu Ghraib scandal? Many of the MPs said they didn't have adequate training. How do you train someone to not sodomise a prisoner with a chemlite? It isn't something you should have to train soldiers not to do. Then you get into what exactly were the supervisors doing during this time...
For the prison experiment: The grass is always greener on the other side. Most of the time most people feel most of their actions are completely justified and that everyone else is just "out to get 'em."
The way humans interact with and view the world around them is based on point of view, experience, morals, and a host of other factors. Are we paying attention to the right inputs when life presents us with the choice?
The Bill of No Rights
The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance. Robert A. Heinlein
The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance. Robert A. Heinlein