LogFAQs > #942765340

Muscles posted...

You may want to look up the milgram experiment

I'm familiar. I think it's a reductionist take on what motivates people to follow an authority figure that doesn't take into consideration several variables. I don't think the psychological motivations really matter when you take into consideration the larger global context at the time. You have to remember that experiments happen in a vacuum, reality doesn't.

I'm also totally aware that the social climate and appeal to authority can motivate people to do horrendous things (which is already more than the Milgram experiment considers). But I don't think that justifies them. The context of history doesn't mean we should give deplorable actions a "pass". We can hold both history and ourselves accountable.