No Western Government Has Ever Claimed The Power To Do This, Not even Hitler
"With numbing
regularity good people were seen to knuckle under the demands of
authority and perform actions that were callous and severe. Men who are
in everyday life responsible and decent were seduced by the trappings of
authority, by the control of their perceptions, and by the uncritical
acceptance of the experimenter's definition of the situation, into
performing harsh acts. A substantial proportion of people do what they
are told to do, irrespective of the content of the act and without
limitations of conscience, so long as they perceive that the command
comes from a legitimate authority." Stanley Milgram , 1965 Obedience to Authority: An Experiment
[Milgram was a psychologist who
performed a series of experiments that proved conclusively that
obedience to authority was so ingrained in the average US citizen they
were prepared to cause lethal harm to others when instructed by
authority figures to do so. All those who took part were first asked if
they would be capable of killing or inflicting severe pain on their
fellow human beings. 100% replied categorically 'no'. Germans of the
WWII era were no different from modern Americans who are presently
turning their backs on the very same kind of atrocities committed by the
authority of the United States around the world under the banner of the
"War on Terrorism." ]
We live in a society where submission to authority is a given, especially when cloaked in a uniform. Almost from birth we have been conditioned to respect and obey authority figures, who we are told over and over are there to protect us from falling victim to some evil. Those who do understand the psychology of our 'authority-complex' have often used it to gain control over segments of society and some of history's most heinous acts have been perpetrated under cover of the 'respectable' uniform. Our growing up years are spent mostly under the guidance of authority figures in the form of parents, teachers and family physicians, all telling us what we should be doing. At some point we outgrow the nest and take up employment, where we go to work for one or more 'bosses' who issue us with orders.
The net effect of all this conditioning is that we become accustomed to simply doing whatsoever is requested by an authority figure without even stopping to think about its propriety. As the Milgram experiments on Obedience to Authority demonstrated with stunning clarity, this can lead to horrific results as our moral compass is hijacked by an unscrupulous authority figure. The only way to avoid becoming a victim of 'only following orders' is to be prepared to question every order as necessary.
Red flags that alert us to when things are going off track include a different set of laws/penalties for rulers and governed, claiming increasingly draconian powers with ever-growing demands for secrecy. The video and articles touch on many of these factors which are faced by everyone in today's society.
Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled ProgrammingFriday, December 9, 2011
True equality is the end of double standards
Anthony Freda Art J.G. Vibes
Activist Post
There is no doubt that inequality is at the root of most of the suffering that takes place in the world, but this inequality extends far beyond income and opportunity. In fact, the surface inequality that we see throughout civilization is merely the result of double standards that have been progressively handed down over many generations.
A double standard is basically the idea that different people are subject to different rules and expectations based on their class position, race, sex or social status. This idea becomes more complicated when you throw “proxies” into the mix. A “proxy” is basically a group or organization that accepts blame and responsibility for the actions of individual people. Governments and corporations are the most obvious and oppressive examples of this phenomenon in our society.
When people do something on behalf of the government or a corporation they are almost never held accountable for their actions, this is one of the primary purposes of governments and corporations to begin with. These proxies legitimize the unethical actions of individual people and shield them from any legal consequences.
The double standards created by governments and corporations are at the very root of human suffering and environmental destruction. We have come to the understanding as a species that murder, theft, kidnaping, and other forms of violence are completely unacceptable human behaviors.
Unfortunately, this is where the double standards come in, because the aforementioned violent acts are excused if they are carried out by agents of the State or the corporate establishment. This is why none of the people who were responsible for the financial collapse or the murder of civilians in Iraq have been brought to justice. Murder is seen as justified if it takes place on a battlefield; theft is seen as charity if it takes place at the hands of an IRS agent; and kidnapping is seen as justice if the police are locking up a nonviolent offender.
This is the insane world that we have found ourselves in: a world of subjective law and subjective morality where the most heinous atrocities are given a pass if they are ordered or allowed by someone in “authority”. Gang members and serial killers account for a very tiny percentage of the violence that takes place on the entire planet, as these people are forced to do their deeds in secret and they are subject to the consequences of law. On the other hand, State-sponsored thieves and murderers like the IRS, the army, or the police are cloaked by the false legitimacy that is created by the proxy of government. Corporations work very much the same way thanks to a little-known legal loophole called “corporate personhood”. This is why when the CEOs at Exxon make decisions that bury tropical islands in crude oil, or the CEOs at Goldman Sachs make decisions that cause millions to be homeless, no one is held personally accountable like they would be if they were your average citizen.
Average citizens are under constant scrutiny and are constantly 10 steps behind the tiny few who are given a license to murder, cheat, and steal. This is why there is so much inequality and violence in the world, because some people are allowed to cheat, steal, and commit violence without consequence. It really is that simple. Holding every human being on this Earth to the same standard is the only way that we are going to correct the imbalance that has plagued our civilization for many generations.
No comments:
Post a Comment