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Neuroscientists Detail How Humans Are Able To Hurt Others When Given Orders (universityherald.com)
Ever wonder how seemingly normal people were able to become Nazis and commit such atrocities? A team of neuroscientists studied just that, following the Milgram experiment conducted in the 1960s. Published in the journal Current Biology, this new study explains that "some basic feeling of responsibility really is reduced when we are coerced into doing something." The results indicate that humans are able to hurt each other when given orders.
On things far less important than this ... how many of us have said to the boss "No, that's a stupid idea", only to be cajoled ... and how many times has "OK, send me an email demanding this" ... you forced me to do it, you authorized it, I no longer give a damn about the outcome.
Now, it's all well and good to say it's obvious ... but if you've objected, been over-ruled, and possibly told you'd have some consequences if you didn't comply ... I can see how the brain is wired to say "fuck it, that's not on me".
I mean, armies train people to be more willing to kill people ... why would anybody be surprised when they actually do it? You've pretty much been told to surrender the authority for certain kinds of moral judgement up the chain of command.
As so often happens, it's common sense after someone actually explains it. :-P
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
It's not like an SS guy went from walking on the street, to signing up for the SS and to murdering jews in a week.
Well, actually, some did. When walking the streets in their pre-SS days some were severely beating jews and destroying the property of jews. They already possessed violent anti-semitic behaviors. The camp environment removed what restraints society was putting on them. It liberated the hatred and violence they already possessed.
That said, there were also SS volunteers who refused to participate and were quietly transferred without any fuss. These volunteers joined the SS to be soldiers. They were quietly transferred out to avoid a paper trail. If charged with disobeying orders the order disobeyed would have to be stated. Its a myth that those assigned to death camps would be themselves shot for refusing to participate. It was not that simple.
As far as I've been able to figure, Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan murdered at a much greater rate than Communist China and the Soviet Union, but were stopped sooner. I'm not going to try to pick one out as better than the others, because they're all farther in the moral abyss than I'm willing to reach.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Tell the neuroscientists to go study drone operators ordered to bomb hospitals and schools.
What is the root of such behavior? I have only one data point to share - a conversation with retired middle class Republican gentleman in a plain flying to the US. I was telling him about all those "controversial" liberties the Dutch enjoy and he asked me "then why did you go living there?" "Because I wanted to have those liberties in case I needed them [personally I meant the euthanasia and the coffee shops; hopefully I won't have to use the services of the ladies of negotiable affection for a while longer]" .
He looked rather surprised by that answer and said "this can never happen in US". "Why?" "Because we are large country with diverse population so someone will always be against those liberties". "So, what IS the problem - in NL not everyone agrees with those either?"
At the end it was clear that he could not accept the idea of choice [! weird form a member of allegedly the freest society in the world]. Having a possibility of abortion does not mean YOU have to do it - I tried again and again but no...the man would not accept the possibility that other people would do something that he considers wrong. So better ban the whole thing. Period.
BTW, at the very end he said [it's true, I swear] "Never come to the US, you are too liberal for it. Go to Canada." I replied "Thanks, I had come to the same conclusion already".