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Would You Follow an Illegal Order?

4/6/2013

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Would you follow an illegal order?

Experiments, such as the Milgram Experiment, have concluded that people will break their own moral code if conditioned under certain circumstances.  In that experiment, the person running it would tell the subject to ask questions of another person.  Upon receiving incorrect answers from the other person, the subject would be told to order shocks to be given to them.

Unbeknownst to the subject, the other person was an actor secretly helping those who ran the experiment.  Separated by a wall from the subject, the actor pretended to feel serious pain from the shocks.  Overwhelmingly, the subjects, at some point told that they would not be held responsible for the harm, would continue to administer the shocks.

In a municipality recently, the head of Code Enforcement made a remark we have probably all heard frequently.  When asked why he did not charge a city official with permit violations, he said he was “just following orders” from supervisors who urged him not to pursue the matter.

Before we make any moral judgments of those discussed here who went along with actions they knew or should have known were wrong, we could start by asking ourselves:

What would we do?

Few people are comfortable with the idea of standing alone in advocating a point of view.

Few people are willing to risk repercussion from authority.

Few people have the ability to see themselves as part of the orders they carry out, especially when given the choice to displace the blame on the ones who gave the orders.

The morality of an order depends upon the followers’ willingness to equate their responsibility to that of those who give them.


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Fools and Children Speak the Truth

3/29/2013

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Picture
A French proverb tells us that only fools and children speak the truth.

Many children grow up believing in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.   It obviously isn’t because they researched the issue on what happens to their teeth after they put them under their pillows or how a sleigh run by reindeers can fly all over the world in one night.

Someone told them to believe it.

I believed in these things as a kid because it felt good.  I liked to believe that someone was thinking about me and giving me rewards.

It was all plausible to me because I did not give the details of any of these myths much of a thought.

For most of us where I grew up, these were among the first things that someone (i.e. adults) told us to believe.  The beliefs of the tooth fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were our first official theories.

We laughed off any suggestion that they were not real.  After all, everyone we knew believed in them, so we did, too.  Anyone who said anything to the contrary was not with us.  They were just foolish.

The best theory in alternative to the official one was, of course, the theory that adults were lying to us about where the money we would find underneath our pillows or gifts under the Christmas tree would come from.  Our parents – lie to us?

It was a lie to help us enjoy our childhood, long before we became adults ourselves and faced big responsibilities.  The lie made us feel safe.  Never mind it was barely plausible.

But the white lies didn’t stop there.  And it wasn’t just being lied to, either.

We learned to lie and accept lies out of comfort.  I could not stand eating certain vegetables as a child.  I also learned my mom feared looking old.  So, at around the age of eight, I lied to my mom by telling her she looked 30 (she was 31 when I was born) to get her approval to skip the vegetables.

In high school, I had a date with a girl who offered no opinions, thoughts or ideas on anything during our dinner.  I should have told her that I did not want to see her again.  Instead, to avoid the discomfort of dirty looks from her friends who were in my classes, I waited for her to tell me that I was not a high priority.

I don’t know who told the lie that I just needed to get a bachelor’s degree to get a good job.  But I felt conditioned to believe it.  Then I discovered the cold truth when I took a job shortly after college graduation that did not even pay minimum wage and for which I slaved to try to please a boss who could not be pleased.

We are simply conditioned to avoid truths that would wake us from our slumber of comfort.  We are conditioned to respond negatively to unpleasant truths.

I had trouble believing any of my English ancestors held slaves.  My family wouldn’t do that!  But I couldn’t help but notice a black man named Edgerton Hartwell while watching National Football League games.  There were so few blacks in England during the time my ancestors were there, the proof that people I am related to owned slaves stares back at me.

The issue here is not really the truth.  It is comfort.  Few will risk stepping out of their comfort to speak up for the truth.  It is so much easier to stay asleep and tell ourselves that at least we aren’t foolish.



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Diary of a Disturbed Mind Using an Eight Ball

3/23/2013

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Picture
As a child, there was a phrase I had to say every day…

ONE NATION UNDER GOD

My kindergarten class says there is a God, but my parents don’t.  Why should I recite this pledge?

BECAUSE I SAID SO

The principal says I must say it.  Maybe he is wrong.

YOU’RE A LOSER* IF YOU BELIEVE THAT

I tried to trust God, but my friend died in a car accident.

GOD MUST HAVE HAD A PLAN

Then I do not care for God.

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD…

Then why does he let innocent people die?

HAVE FAITH

Faith in what?  A God I cannot see?  A Bible I read and do not believe?

ONE NATION UNDER GOD

My nation sends troops to fight wars that make no sense.

OUR GOVERNMENT WOULD NEVER DO THAT

Where are the weapons of mass destruction?

I CANNOT REVEAL MY SOURCES

What?

SUPPORT THE TROOPS

I support the troops coming home and for all of them to stop supporting wars based on lies.

THE TERRORISTS DID IT

What terrorists are you talking about?

I CANNOT REVEAL MY SOURCES

Who can I trust?


FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD...

I give up.  Is there something you can tell me not connected to God or country?

 "RAYMOND SHAW IS THE KINDEST, BRAVEST, WARMEST, MOST WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING I'VE EVER KNOWN IN MY LIFE."**
---

*or a communist, a traitor, a conspiracy theorist, etc.

**from The Manchurian Candidate, a movie based on the novel by Richard Condon



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When the Revolution Came

2/1/2013

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Picture
When the revolution came, no one recognized it.

"The media's lying to us?  Yeah, right.  You people should go to jail."

Those who could see found their vision had no light, their voice had no audience.

They had nowhere to go.  The few true revolutionaries looked within for freedom, for genuine solutions to problems and for the truth.

It was a movement with no sound or fury, a concoction of like-minded people who decided the box had nothing to offer them.  They would meet every so often to provide comfort to one another.

The rest of society simply ignored them.  They knew what was best for themselves and for others.  Very soon they outlawed questions by refusing to answer them.

This is how a lie became the truth.  The revolutionaries are nothing more than a memory somewhere deep in the archives of the Town that Time Forgot.

No one will ever ask about the time capsule of the revolutionaries and their ideas.  It's not that they don't care.  They just don't know how.

Now they don't even recognize themselves.  Who says you need a gun to dictate to the masses?  Some just dictate themselves.

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Your First Step toward a More Responsive Government

2/15/2011

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Our government should be responsive to us.  But with so many people complaining about the size of government, its ineffectiveness and their general discontent with it, there is a disparity between what the public needs from its government and what it gets.

Where should we look to correct this problem?

Don't look to the federal government.  It is too big and too remote to respond easily or quickly.  Try your local government where most decisions affecting you are made.  And try going to the top first.

As one who has served in local government for almost two decades, I have observed a few things.

One is that those who move up in public administration are typically the ones who follow orders unquestioningly and act to please their superiors.  They get promotions and praise but their lack of creativity or innovativeness ensures they will make no real difference to the public.

Another observation is that these same people, who give bureaucrats a bad name, in turn promote others without much insight on how to help the public.  Think about this when you get the answer from your local government that something is not their responsibility or that they cannot help you.

The system is not about to change.  It certainly won't change for anyone working inside it who questions authority or who has a better way of doing things.

Changing the system is in the hands of residents like you.  And the person to watch is the city manager because he or she answers to the city council, whom you elect.  The city manager controls the management of the city's operations and policy affecting most issues that matter to you.

What are some important issues your city manager has likely handled in recent years?:

They have enforced the federal "war on terror" at the local level, typically with such actions as the demand for gates constructed to protect city buildings and employees from "terrorists."

They have declared curfews, such as in times of rioting or natural disasters.

They have decided whether to recognize employee union demands and whether certain unions should even be allowed to function.

They have had access to FBI "watch lists" on employees and other individuals who express disagreement over policies such as the ones mentioned above.

They have appointed other managers who won't raise any legitimate questions.

So tell your city council what kind of government your city deserves and keep an eye on the one with the most authority, the city manager.  Remember, this is the first step in citizen control of public agencies in a real sense rather than merely on paper.

Other ways of fixing the government, such as an emphasis on customer service, less high-level employees doing meaningless "ribbon-cutting" work and the reduction of bonuses to city employees without explanation, can follow when those in authority know you are watching.
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With No Values, the United States Will Never Have Justice

11/16/2010

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With No Values, the United States Will Never Have Justice

I had a classmate in high school who was quite popular, a good student and a star athlete.  He seemed destined for success.  And indeed he went on to receive scholarships and later became an FBI agent.

The newspapers from my hometown reported that while on duty, he had carjacked someone at gunpoint.  This activity got back to his supervisor, who ordered him to come see him in his office at once.  But instead of going back to the office, my classmate shot himself to death.

I thought that he obviously felt embarrassed about what he had done but could not understand why he would not see his boss, even though it would likely mean losing his job.  What would cause him to take his own life, which was surely more important?

I wondered if he ever had faced a difficult situation or whether he had ever done something unpopular or even said anything that the majority did not agree with.  I could easily recall others I knew in high school facing dilemmas.  But not him.  He always seemed to be with the "in" crowd.  His inexperience with looking or feeling different may have contributed to his suicide.

I learned of another situation about conflicting values from my uncle, Steven Hartwell, a law school professor at the University of San Diego.  He brought in a guest to explain an assignment about a client with a legal document in a hypothetical tenant/landlord dispute.  She went on to say that the only way for them to win the case would be to lie on the document.

This is the kind of action that gets attorneys disbarred!  And yet twenty-three of his twenty-four students gave this advice!  People face pressure to win and the pressure intensifies when an authority figure (like a client) pushes for a certain result that contradicts established ethical standards.

I went to hear Oliver Stone speak recently.  He talked about problems journalists face when they ask questions about the assassination of John Kennedy.  Those who ask, according to Stone, typically find that their sources "dry up" quickly and they have nowhere to go for information.

People make decisions, sometimes good and sometimes not so good.  Typically, a person must decide between two choices, each of which represents a value.  Those who value popularity spend less time evaluating the substance of the decisions they make and lose sight of what their values are.
  Those who go against the grain do so at their own peril.

Why do some conform and others do not?

Conformity probably begins at an early age.  It is difficult for many of us to be alone for too long.  We need friends, companions and others to be around us.  As a child moves up through the school ranks, they see that their opinions do matter in terms of landing friends.

A child might hear a question: "Do you like to play football?" and begin to understand that the question is really a way that the questioner divides those whom they know.  Other questions can make it clear who is "cool" (i.e. friendly or likable) and who is not:  "Do you party?" or "Did you study for that exam?"

By the time they become adults, those who answer too many of these questions with the minority find themselves on the "outs" of their community.  And the questions get more tricky.

"What do you think of people who put up signs for same-sex marriage?" (or people "who support flag-burning" or people "who oppose the death penalty") any other topic in an area in which the topic is not popular).  We may say that questions like these are not appropriate at places such as the work site, but we also know that people ask them and we know that silence or "No comment" can and will be used against the person responding in such a manner.

Those who ask such questions communicate what they expect of others.  Those who answer with the crowd likely gain more friends or acquaintances.  But they may lose their sense of who they are and what they believe.

How does the issue of conformity apply to our nation?

I believe a lot of people are looking for someone or some group to validate their opinions.  The Tea Party has become a symbol for those who say they are frustrated with our government.  As I have noted before, the Tea Party focuses much of its "platform" against taxes and government spending.  Many of those who claim to be with the Party also vent their anger against illegal immigration as well.

The Tea Party has chosen to be for what is popular (and against what is not): no one ever says they don't get taxed enough.  Government spending can be measured in the trillions, a number most cannot fathom.  And illegal immigration is, well, illegal.

One needs to dig deeply into analysis to understand that each of these issues is more complicated than the Tea Partiers let on.  Taxes will always be necessary to allow society to assist individuals in ways they cannot do for themselves, such as making roads, maintaining street lights and maintaining order.  Because of these common needs, we will always have a government that taxes and spends.  As for illegal immigrants, the simple fact that many people are unwilling to do jobs that people emigrate here to do keeps this issue in play.

But popularity, often derived through polls and the mainstream media, does not reflect reason as well as emotion.  Many people still conform to ideas that should have been discarded by now:

Osama bin Laden did 9/11 (even the FBI acknowledges a lack of evidence for this idea)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2623
Barack Obama is a socialist (the United States Socialist Party has denounced him) http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20019089-503544.html
The United States is a Christian Nation (there is no mention of God or Christianity in our most important document, the Constitution)

Our nation is lost and probably always has been.  We have thrived on military might to get what we want from the rest of the world and we have, through educational institutes, told children to worship the flag by encouraging the repetition of the Pledge of Allegiance the way churches tell them to believe in the superiority of their religion.  Worshipers conform and do not question authority or much else around them.

Of course they do not all take their own lives, commit fraud or shun those who seek the truth.  They just see their own image and not their true selves in the decisions they make, perhaps the biggest tragedy of all.
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