Free Talk Live

The temptation to submit to authority examined by "Compliance" bolsters an authoritarian culture by transforming its leading institutions into servants of power rather than checks on it. But worse, it conceals the presence of oppression by ensuring that most citizens, choosing to follow and obey authority, do not personally experience oppression and thus do not believe – refuse to believe – that it really exists.

For those interested in the science behind authoritarian sociopathy no studies are more poignant, or more chilling in their ramification than the Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment. But their sentiment was perhaps best expressed by Thomas Jefferson in an often overlooked passage of the Declaration of Independence:

“All experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

Dana Carney, a professor at Columbia University, conducted an experiment intended to discover whether “leaders” and “subordinates” experience the same physiological response to lying. She found that power not only makes lying easier, but pleasurable.

Professor Carney speculates that authority could have a similar impact on other unethical behavior with similar physiological responses, such as cheating, stealing, exploitation, reckless behavior and even political corruption. She concludes, “Power will lead to increases in intensity and frequency of lying.”

In each of five experiments the method of inducing a powerful feeling, and the method of determining moral double standards was different, but in every one the results were the same. Powerful people judge others more harshly but cheat more themselves. But what’s especially interesting is his last experiment where distinguishing between legitimate power and illegitimate power garnered the opposite results.

The long-maligned field of U.S. medical cannabis research took a step forward with the formal government approval of a study on the efficacy of marijuana to treat chronic post-traumatic stress disorder in war veterans.

Daily News @ http://RevolutionNews.US ~ Michael Lapihuska is facing a sentence that could be as severe as 10 years in prison, not for rape, burglary or assault, but for the possession of a single joint’s worth of marijuana.

Michael suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and has used cannabis for many years to combat the symptoms of his illness. After suffering arrests for possession, he moved to California.

There a doctor recommended he take marijuana for his disorder, and he became a legal patient in the state’s medical marijuana program.

The typical American is so conditioned to Authority that he will not even dare to defy a road sign – even when it’s out in the middle of nowhere and there’s essentially zero chance of any repercussions. Anything that looks official, anyone in a uniform of any kind – even if it’s not an official uniform and the wearer has no gun or actual authority to do anything – the average American will, without a murmur, sit quietly – and obey.

Daily News @ http://RevolutionNews.US ~ A former CNN Iraq correspondent suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder says his employers wouldn't run footage he filmed of what he describes as a war crime by US troops, an Australian news source reports.

Michael Ware, who covered Iraq for CNN from 2006 until last year, describes the incident as "a small war crime, if there is such a thing."

Thirty-two soldiers took their own lives last month, the most Army suicides in a single month since the Vietnam era. Eleven of the soldiers were not on active duty. Of the 21 who were, seven were serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, the Department of Defense said.

Army officials say they don't have any answers to why more and more soldiers are resorting to suicide.

Last year, a record-breaking 245 soldiers committed suicide. The Army seems on track to surpass that number this year, as 145 soldiers have taken their lives in the first half of 2010.