reply to post by chasingbrahman
Mr Milgram and his experiments are definitely stepping stones along the path, to be sure.
For those who are unfamiliar:
This type of behavior can be seen in many societies, past and present. All repressive regimes have informers - people who effectively accomplish the
same results as Milgram did in his lab - but on a larger and slightly more removed scale.
Milgram played upon not only authority but also upon curiosity in his study, I believe. The people were never positive that anyone was really being
hurt. The idea that it was a test or experiment ( the participants were aware of this aspect ) opened the door for moral ambiguity. A subconscious and
implied
trust in those running the experiment.
Surely they wouldn't just sit there and knowingly let me kill a person, just for a study. Right???
This aspect allowed the participants of the study to vacate their own morals, and defer to morals of those conducting the study. The victim was
removed, and an abstract - and the insulation of it being a lab "study" IMO skewed the results.
A much different concept than creating a "Manchurian" assassin. A person who will directly inflict violence upon others without such insulation.
The most effective method of creating real killers is to give them a cause. Something bigger than themselves. Something they can latch onto morally.
This is the basis for every military in the world and for every terrorist organization extant.
A "cause" is the key to going from trying to make a person do what you want them to do - and into the realm of making them want to do it
themselves.
~Heff