As I sit here, feverishly refreshing on this and another, related forum, watching this soap opera unfold, I'm reminded of a psych class many years ago, and a discussion of the Stanford Prison Experiment.
Before going much further, I know some have said that they're being persecuted for "speaking the truth" or "daring to question" the moderators, but I refuse to believe that in the bastion of reason and critical thinking skills that is AO, members would be silenced for so little. Still, given the climate here, I'll try to tread lightly.
In the course of the experiment, otherwise reasonable people were divided into two groups, prisoners and guards, and were put in a simulated prison facility for what was intended to be two weeks. The intention was to study how people react to externally assigned roles, or some similar such wad of pychological babble. Fearing for the safety of all involved, the experiment had to be stopped after only six days.
What happened? Well, those involved adapted to their roles a little too well. The prisoners rioted repeatedly--hostages were held at one point, and the guards became downright sadistic--beating and torturing the prisoners. It's a humbling example of human nature--power corrupts, and the oppressed revolt.
I can't help but find parallels to recent events.
Before going much further, I know some have said that they're being persecuted for "speaking the truth" or "daring to question" the moderators, but I refuse to believe that in the bastion of reason and critical thinking skills that is AO, members would be silenced for so little. Still, given the climate here, I'll try to tread lightly.
In the course of the experiment, otherwise reasonable people were divided into two groups, prisoners and guards, and were put in a simulated prison facility for what was intended to be two weeks. The intention was to study how people react to externally assigned roles, or some similar such wad of pychological babble. Fearing for the safety of all involved, the experiment had to be stopped after only six days.
What happened? Well, those involved adapted to their roles a little too well. The prisoners rioted repeatedly--hostages were held at one point, and the guards became downright sadistic--beating and torturing the prisoners. It's a humbling example of human nature--power corrupts, and the oppressed revolt.
I can't help but find parallels to recent events.



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