20 April, 2016

Accountability 102 (Stanford Experiment)

The Stanford Experiment was quite remarkable. In my opinion, it clearly demonstrated the ease with which anyone can go from normal to Nazi in just under a week. The Professor in charge went from amiable to Goerbles in the same time frame.

So, under similar circumstances, the human race goes from whatever you wish to call it now to George Orwells 1984, fairly quickly.

The experiment isn't a mainstream topic, the results haven't been endlessly discussed. The clever Facebook person summed up the problem far more concisely than I would ever bother with. Accountability.

No one was accountable to anyone. Which is sufficient to go from normal American man in his twenties to something far darker, in a week.

Whatever, who cares? Well may I posit that without anyone bothering to hold our governments to account they drift ever closer to tyranny.

Fairly obvious, once someone points it out to you.

So, dear reader, does anyone hold our governments to account?

We all, as individuals, should hold each other to account. Anyone claiming to be ' in authority' requires us to be extra vigilant and perhaps increase their medication.

One thing those in 'authority' excel at is forming committees and thus thwarting anyone from holding anyone else to account. For example many may say, 'it isn't my fault, it is what the committee decided.' Hold the individual to account anyway but do it firmer. Don't worry about fair, just send a clear message. The committee will hear it.

Please give it some (critical) thought and form your own opinion. Then express it, discuss it and refine it.

Could I please have more comments from people please? You can do it anonymously, yet less than 1% of you bother. Thank you to John who gave me additional information regarding the Nazi system / regime and nightmares.

So how can we practically hold governments, banks and huge corporations to account?

Try giving it some (critical) thought then do as much or as little as you like.

Bear in mind that, the biggest threat to us is not terrorists but our own governments. Please give this some undivided attention, when you get a moment.

You could also try to steer people to this blog. Or write a better one. I am happy to steer people over to yours.

You have fun fellow Earthlings whichever area of the planet you are currently taxed in and not allowed to leave without 'papers'.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for helping to disseminate this story. Too many people are unaware of it, and too many people perpetrate the inhumanity presented here.

By the way your captcha doesn;t show the criteria, I just guessed that it was meat.

frst said...

Your article reminds me of the scene in "The Dark Knight" in which Joker rigged 2 boats with explosives, 1 boat was loaded with convicts, the other with upper class(?) people. Long story short, the common man wants change, but nobody wants blood on their hands. And besides, what if that person fails? Will that give the ruling elite the perfect excuse to lockdown everyone? Going against an established, well dug-in incumbent is easier said than done, nothing short of global civil war. The chances of that happening is _____, judging from how the general populace are content with burying their faces in their smartphones reading social media posts or watching videos. They would rather be entertained than be enlightened.

David Watkinson said...

You make some really good points, thanks. I did enjoy the dark knight, I may well watch it again, soon. Yes, the common man is a moral man, a just man, a fair man. The elite think differently to the common man. The elite, think they are elite, they aren't. The common man, he is elite. I do wonder, sometimes, what I actually am because I see the elites games so clearly. People are nice, the elites aren't and I am even worse. Anyway, thank you for the comment and you take care.

frst said...

Nice people! Hah! I have met plenty of "nice" people. Yes they are nice on the surface, but are they good people? Hilary Clinton is even nicer, always smiling on camera, so is Trump. However one is a pathological liar (video incident), the other is a big-time cheat (trump university). The idea is to disarm people's guards by using the soft approach, then manipulate them to do his / her bidding.

Elite? Commoner? No such distinction, there is only Awakened or in the process of awakening, and there is everybody else. I also disagree that the common man is moral, just and fair. As I said, they would rather be entertained than be enlightened. It takes active effort to cultivate morality because morality consists of thought, speech and actions; it is not an innate ability. Most of the time this effort to do the right thing is overridden by the desire to do what we are familiar with, e.g. we know adultery is morally wrong but physically the sex feels soooo good and exciting!

Cultivating morality is like changing the leopard's spots, it can be done but depending on how attached the leopard is to his spots, the process can either be very miserable and painful or not painful at all. Hint: the keyword is "attached".

David Watkinson said...

Hi frst, thanks for commenting. You make some great points and I do like the awakened / awakening or not distinction. We do disagree on whether man is a moral creature or not, which is fine. I could easily accept that morality is a cultural issue or simply fear of punishment.

Regardless, thanks for reading and for giving me a few things to ponder.

frst said...

Hello and thank you for your attention. My statement on common man's morality is with reference to the current state of society, hence my disagreement with you. To be fair, humans are capable of both complete morality or amorality and in between, as well as a whole container-load of other things. Simply because we have free will to make choices. Whether those choices are unbiased logic or due to illogical attachment(s) is an entire different but related topic called "dependent origination".

I stress my view that consistently having moral thoughts, speech and actions is not an innate ability and must be actively and consistently developed. Especially in our current society where very low morals are infectious, i.e. seeing people doing unwholesome acts and seemingly getting away with it (e.g. adultery) will lead other people to make the biased choice of doing the same unwholesome acts and extrapolate this to other unwholesome acts (e.g. lying, stealing, killing etc). Wholesome acts will make a moral person seem unusual and ridiculous in this current age when it is the amoral people that are misguided. I say they are misguided because they are unable to comprehend the consequences of those amoral people they so choose to follow when the fruits of their unwholesome acts catch up with them. By the time the consequences of these misguided followers catches up with them and they realize their mistakes, it will be too little too late. As you can see, it is neither culture nor punishment / rewards. Cultures and perceptions vary over time but the consequences of morality / amorality do not vary with time. Do not let yourself or anyone confuse you with irrelevant ideas that detract form the crux.

TL;DR - just think, speak and do the right things and refrain from thinking, speaking and doing the wrong things. Please pass this message to all those you know or come across.

If you need help just scream for it. Not kidding.

David Watkinson said...

Thanks for explaining further. I have read your post twice and I will re-read it tomorrow.

I find myself dealing with a potentially amoral hotelier and a potentially amoral car hire company. Basically, a piece of the hotel fell off and damaged my hire car. The hire car company has so far simply kept my £1,400 deposit and the the hotelier said that he is not liable for damage to cars parked on his car park. Once the saga has concluded I will write it up from the perspective of morality, thanks.

frst said...

I'm not familiar with UK law, but over here we can try small claims tribunal. Perhaps that is what you are trying?

David Watkinson said...

Hi frst, we have an on line small claims court but first every opportunity must be given to everybody to behave appropriately.

I will write it in real time, with the first post published tomorrow and update it as I receive more information.

Perhaps modern man is as you described. I was thinking more of a natural man, not under attack, living comfortably within his means and not impacting negatively on others.

I now fully agree with you, I am an idiot.

Regardless, feel free to comment on the Enterprise vs me vs hotel post. Your insight will no doubt prove to be valuable or expensive, depending on how events unfold.

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