Milgram Revisited

whole procedure is for those poor wretches who were subjected to Milgram’s bullying. These innocents came along expecting to participate in some experiments to advance the cause of science, and were instead subjected to a contrived session of mental torture. The torment they went through was real, unlike the faked pain of Milgram’s accomplices. Yet how many of the experimenters refused to participate in this exercise? Did any of Milgram’s associates decline to be involved on the grounds that the idea of forcing people to inflict pain on others was deeply immoral? The question is surely more pertinent to the supposed aim of the experiment – to test the extent to which individuals will impose suffering on others simply by the expectations implicit in the social context – than the question actually asked. But of course it was never an issue that the scientists in the white coats would question their right to inflict suffering in the supposed cause of advancing scientific knowledge.

Any discussion of the experiment inevitably winds up with an us-and-them assumption about those sheep who mindlessly obey orders, and those heroes – that’s you and me of course! – who question authority. Diski points this out well enough, but then – this being the LRB and all – just can’t help herself and brings in Iraq.

Most people do what they are told. Apparently, a majority of people in this country did not want to join the US in making war on Iraq. This country joined the US in its catastrophic adventure nevertheless. The dissenters marched and argued and put posters up in their windows, but . . . Great passions were aroused, and yet . . . For the past eighteen months, the Independent newspaper has been producing astonishing front pages to make you weep, still . . . It all happened, and goes on. It could be inertia, or a sense of helplessness, or it could be that our fear of the consequences of disobedience holds sway over our judgment.

The only reason Diski can think of that anyone should have supported the overthrow of Saddam is fear of the consequences of disobeying our political masters. Those pathetic sheep! If only they’d been paying attention to the front pages of the Independent! Unaccountably the Independent omitted to show on its front pages – or on its inside pages – details of the state of Saddam’s torture chambers. Still, there you are….it just goes to show that despite the best intentions, people can still use Milgram to make cheap political points.