Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Re: Pictures of Abuse in Iraq Prisons
Okay...here's the thing.. not that I am coming to the defense of the American soldiers who abused, humiliated, raped, and possibly killed some Iraqi prisoners.. I simply want to point out the fact that we are not the people who should judge these soldiers.
I saw a documentary on television the other night that really opened my eyes. Although I've been exposed to these different studies through psychology classes before, I never thought to apply them to this situation. Abuse in prisons have been common for a very long time...this is not NEW news, nor is it an isolated case.
In the documentary, there were a few psychological experiments conducted to study the effects of power and order-taking. In one study, done by Milgram, he turned the basement of Yale University into a prison and asked a few top-grade students to participate. They were separated into groups of guards and prisoners. Given the power to dominate, the "guards" quickly started to play into their roles and by the end of the six-day experiment, these top-grade, intelligent students were guilty of doing the same things that these prison guards in Iraq were doing. Humiliating their classmates, forcing them to simulate sexual acts were just some of the actions they were guilty of...in six days...imagine what could have happened in six weeks.
In another study about taking orders, there was an experiment done to see how far people will go against their morals and values when given orders. In a fake "shock" therapy session, a man (taking on the role of "teacher")was told to shock another man in another room if he answered any of the questions incorrectly. Of course, the man in the other room is an actor and is part of the deception of this experiment. In all of the cases, the "teacher," administrated shocks to the fullest extent, despite the cries of the man in the other room because the conductor of the experiment kept urging him to continue. Even when the screams in the other room had stopped...the "teacher" kept administering shock therapy until all the questions were asked.
Sure, these experiments are unethical...but given power and instruction, we may all fall under these dire circumstances and consequences. So we cannot judge.. it is human nature to succumb to such evil acts at times. Given the circumstances... given the situation...could you say that you would have not acted the same way?
Perhaps. But never say never...we cannot judge these soldiers...it is not up to us. They will be judged when their time comes around.
I saw a documentary on television the other night that really opened my eyes. Although I've been exposed to these different studies through psychology classes before, I never thought to apply them to this situation. Abuse in prisons have been common for a very long time...this is not NEW news, nor is it an isolated case.
In the documentary, there were a few psychological experiments conducted to study the effects of power and order-taking. In one study, done by Milgram, he turned the basement of Yale University into a prison and asked a few top-grade students to participate. They were separated into groups of guards and prisoners. Given the power to dominate, the "guards" quickly started to play into their roles and by the end of the six-day experiment, these top-grade, intelligent students were guilty of doing the same things that these prison guards in Iraq were doing. Humiliating their classmates, forcing them to simulate sexual acts were just some of the actions they were guilty of...in six days...imagine what could have happened in six weeks.
In another study about taking orders, there was an experiment done to see how far people will go against their morals and values when given orders. In a fake "shock" therapy session, a man (taking on the role of "teacher")was told to shock another man in another room if he answered any of the questions incorrectly. Of course, the man in the other room is an actor and is part of the deception of this experiment. In all of the cases, the "teacher," administrated shocks to the fullest extent, despite the cries of the man in the other room because the conductor of the experiment kept urging him to continue. Even when the screams in the other room had stopped...the "teacher" kept administering shock therapy until all the questions were asked.
Sure, these experiments are unethical...but given power and instruction, we may all fall under these dire circumstances and consequences. So we cannot judge.. it is human nature to succumb to such evil acts at times. Given the circumstances... given the situation...could you say that you would have not acted the same way?
Perhaps. But never say never...we cannot judge these soldiers...it is not up to us. They will be judged when their time comes around.
