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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe US has turned into a giant Stanford Prison Experiment in every sense
The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) was an attempt to investigate the psychological effects of perceived power, focusing on the struggle between prisoners and prison guards. It was conducted at Stanford University on August 1420, 1971 by a research group led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo using college students. It was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research as an investigation into the causes of difficulties between guards and prisoners in the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The experiment is a topic covered in most introductory psychology textbooks.
Some participants developed their roles as the guards enforced authoritarian measures and ultimately subjected some prisoners to psychological torture. Many of the prisoners passively accepted psychological abuse and, by the guards' request, actively harassed other prisoners who tried to stop it. Zimbardo, in his role as the superintendent, allowed abuse to continue. Two of the prisoners left mid-experiment, and the whole exercise was abandoned after six days following the objections of graduate student Christina Maslach, whom Zimbardo was dating (and later married). Certain portions of the experiment were filmed, and excerpts of footage are publicly available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment
Think about it; it's like the Trump Administration is literally being as crazy and erratic as possible, hanging up on other leaders, inducing paranoia against citizens and residents, getting into a fight with a US State that is the sixth largest economy in the world by itself, kissing up to Putin, attacking Hillary for having an email server and then get an email server, treating Goldman Sachs like the devil during the campaign and then onboarding their guys, saber rattling against Mexico and China, outright confabulating things like the Bowling Green Massacre and some attack in Atlanta (If Spice Boy was not actually referring to Eric Rudolph), etc.
Who's to say that at the end of the day, they don't shut all the blinds, put on lab coats, take out notes and have a discussion that goes something like this...
"Our approval rating is still lingering around 40%"
"Fascinating."
"I know... We need to get to the heart of the matter, why are we still receiving support? What are we doing wrong... er, right for these people? We need ideas, let's go."
GusBob
(7,286 posts)There is a movie based on this experiment
2naSalit
(86,071 posts)that experiment on a large scale... still trying to come up with a counter-strategy.
Squinch
(50,774 posts)It talked about the multiple airport security people from many different places having their breakfast and driving their kids to school, then going to work and handcuffing 5 year olds and elderly women and denying them food for 20 or more hours. Not to mention the abuse of the mother of a US Marine.
Then they went home and put the kids to bed and read them a story.
These things happened.
Here.
ck4829
(34,977 posts)If it doesn't chill you, there's something wrong with you.