A National Milgram Experiment
Have you heard about the
rules for eating in public places in California? You are supposed to wear a mask even after
sitting at the table, removing
it enough to take a bite and then putting it back on. Who would have thought that anyone would
propose such a ridiculous idea, or that people would follow these orders?
The media feasts on the fear they spread like a disease. The result is a cowed nation following orders
that make little or no sense. Healthy people shut themselves in their homes for months and avoid meeting with family and
friends. In Virginia, most of the people
I see in stores and offices are wearing masks.
A fair number of people alone in their cars are wearing are masks, and a
few people walking or jogging for exercise are wearing masks. In California, forget about dining out
anywhere until January 4th, 2021.
What’s interesting is that isolation and mask-wearing don’t seem to be helping. According to the CDC, during the last 7 days California (the purple line) is off-the-charts for new Covid-19 cases compared to all other states.
Note that states like Florida (the green line) is open for businesses. This brings into question whether the
restrictions that have been placed on people in various states are either reasonable
or scientifically valid.
I suggest that any public official that issues unreasonably restrictive or medically questionable orders should be ridiculed and defied.
The rules we are living under resemble Communist
societies. State legislators have not passed these rules that we live under. We are ruled by decree. Legal penalties
including fines and jail time are being imposed for non-compliance. Pressures via social media are incredible. People not wearing masks are literally accused
of murder. This is totalitarian.
Why is it so many people obey
when they feel coerced? Social psychologist Stanley Milgram researched the
effect of authority on obedience. He concluded people obey either out of fear
or out of a desire to appear cooperative--even when acting against their own
better judgment and desires. Milgram’s classic yet controversial experiment
illustrates people's reluctance to confront those who abuse power.
Milgram recruited subjects for
his experiments from various walks of life. Respondents were told the
experiment would study the effects of punishment on learning ability. Respondents
thought they had an equal chance of playing the role of a student or of a
teacher, but the process was rigged so all respondents ended up playing the
teacher. The "learner" was an actor Milgram hired.
"Teachers" were asked
to administer increasingly severe electric shocks to the "learner"
when questions were answered incorrectly. Shock levels were labeled from mild, to painful, to deadly.
The "learner" (the actor) appeared to react to
shocks depending on the supposed severity.
The experimenter would pressure the “teachers” to give increasing levels
of shock for each wrong answer. The actor would pretend to show increasing
levels of pain, to the point of screaming.
Milgram was shocked to find
those who questioned authority were in the minority. Sixty-five percent (65%)
of the teachers were willing to progress to the maximum voltage level, which could
have killed the “learner.”
Milgram showed that many of us are willing to literally torture people when told to by an authority.
Recall that at the Nuremberg trials the common excuse for Nazi atrocities was that “I was only following orders.”
In many states, jobs and businesses are destroyed by Governors and mayors issuing fatuous, ill-considered orders with no concern for the damage caused to the people affected. It is a disgrace. We are being ruled by petty political hacks acting like medieval Barons ruling by decree. They are using the Wuhan flu as an excuse to rule as dictators.
There is a movement in California to recall Governor Gavin Newsome, evidence that there are a fair number of people there who are appalled enough to sign a petition, if not rise up and take to the streets. Elon Musk is moving his entire organization from California to Texas, and others are doing the same.
Governor Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio are
struggling to see which one can do more to drive the people out of New York faster.
The original Milgram experiment ended when Milgram explained
to his subjects that they were being hoaxed.
The end of this experiment will
end when we, the subjects, see through the hoax, refuse to take part and rebel.