Sunday, June 04, 2006

US confronts brutal culture among its finest sons

"American veterans of the war in Iraq have described a culture of casual violence, revenge and prejudice against Iraqi civilians that has made the killing of innocent bystanders a common occurrence."
Is anyone surprised by this? These young men, many younger than my own sons, are not bad apples. They are terrified kids living in a violent and terrifying subculture that most of us cannot begin to understand. Subcultures have their own unique rules and norms. Look at Enron. Members of that particular corporate subculture, otherwise law abiding people, colluded to commit crimes that ruined the lives of countless others. I suspect that the reaction of these perpetrators, when confronted afterwards with the enormity of their actions, was akin to "What were we thinking?". Their aberrant behaviour had been reinforced by the group; they were living in a kind of bubble.
The social experiments of Asch and Milgram illustrate respectively the effects of the pressure to conform to peer pressure and to obey authority. In the Milgram experiment 67% of participants,all average joes, were willing to inflict fatal shocks to "learners" when instructed to do so.
I believe that the stress of war causes normal human beings to do very bad things, things that most will regret for the rest of their lives.
These horrific incidents should shock but not surprise us, especially since the powers that be continue to condone them with a nod and a wink.

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