Tying Two Things Together

Decades Later, Still Asking: Would I Pull That Switch? -- an article about Milgram's (in)famous experiment in the willingness of people to obey an authority figure.

This Comment from Jay Diamond:

The enduring (and time honored) lesson to be learned from Stanley Milgram's BRILLIANT experiments in obedience is that most human beings do what they are told.

Is this human nature ?

Or is it human nature to want to be liked and to particularly gain the approbation of authorities?

No matter.

Most people are not "troublemakers", ie, loyal to their own code of ethics and justice, rather than conformers to the whim of individuals in authority.

Our top down political, business, and militarized culture indoctrinates every American, starting in early childhood to obey, Obey, OBEY!

I don't obey. And I've paid for it. But that's the kind of hairpin I am. And that's the kind of hairpin I'll stay.

Hear that coppers, bosses, clergymen !

Get your foot off my neck and America's neck.

I was tuned in by mistake to WABC low-brow, fevered right-wing, junk radio, and there was a "public service message" (Yeah, sure..."public service"....the way a bull services a cow!)by an FBI agent assuring us that the FBI can get anybody's fingerprints inside of 10 minutes, but that we shouldn't worry because that's not good enough. He assured me that the FBI was now developing techniques to identify me with retinal scans and biometrics!

I can't wait.

I'm sure this post will be sufficient to open a file on me in about 1,000 "law enforcement" agencies.

So don't get your knickers in a twist because Milgram proved people take orders and wimp out to authority.

Because one young Mr. Martinez, aged 21, was shot 15 times by a Jersey cop, in a traffic stop, for no reason, and with no weapon.

I'm sure the "investigation" will reveal no police misconduct.

God Bless America. God Bless this "Freedom".

God bless Authority.

God bless God.

And remember: OBEY.

— Jay Diamond, New York City

(Bit of background: WABC-AM was once the premier rock-and-roll station in the U.S.. It went all-talk in the 1980s, with mostly satellite-fed programming. When that went bust, it went all-local talk, eventually devolving into cartoonish Right-wing talk that only certifiable idiots could lap up. Here in the 00s, it's gotten even worse!)

And I tie that into this quote mj highlighted on his blog:

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.

-- Eric Hoffer

Yep.