I am not a number
I am a free man.
You've probably heard about the experiment Dr Robert Zimbardo conducted in 1971 in which he divided students into "guards" and "prisoners" only to find that the former group rampantly abused the power they'd been given over the latter. Both groups were depersonalised, but the "prisoners" also wore masks concealing who they actually were.
The experiment is merely another manifestation of what happened during WW II in the extermination camps in Europe and Japanese POW camps (especially Camp 731). It seems that when one group of people depersonalises another, the latter group seems to lose something of their humanity in the eyes of the former, thus, apparently, excusing the treatment of one group by the other. It's alarming that such a thing should happen in an experiment involving students who were probably against the Vietnam War and would've deplored such brutal behaviour in others.
Without being put in such a situation, I don't know how I would react. If I were a guard, would I become a brute? If I were a prisoner, would I tolerate such treatment? Would I remind myself and others that it was just an experiment? I'd like to think that I'd never be so inhuman, but when I think of Classes 1 and 2 or Class 13, it'd be hard not to stray over to the dark side and justify it by saying that they need to be taught respect for others and discipline.
You've probably heard about the experiment Dr Robert Zimbardo conducted in 1971 in which he divided students into "guards" and "prisoners" only to find that the former group rampantly abused the power they'd been given over the latter. Both groups were depersonalised, but the "prisoners" also wore masks concealing who they actually were.
The experiment is merely another manifestation of what happened during WW II in the extermination camps in Europe and Japanese POW camps (especially Camp 731). It seems that when one group of people depersonalises another, the latter group seems to lose something of their humanity in the eyes of the former, thus, apparently, excusing the treatment of one group by the other. It's alarming that such a thing should happen in an experiment involving students who were probably against the Vietnam War and would've deplored such brutal behaviour in others.
Without being put in such a situation, I don't know how I would react. If I were a guard, would I become a brute? If I were a prisoner, would I tolerate such treatment? Would I remind myself and others that it was just an experiment? I'd like to think that I'd never be so inhuman, but when I think of Classes 1 and 2 or Class 13, it'd be hard not to stray over to the dark side and justify it by saying that they need to be taught respect for others and discipline.
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