How Could So Many People Follow Someone Like Hitler

When I reflect back on what we have learned this last half of the semester, one of the main questions that comes to mind is, “How could so many people follow someone like Hitler?” We often wonder how it is that a person can become persuaded to follow a man or woman who does nothing but evil destructive things to other human beings. Those who are able to get followers come across as powerful leaders, those who have the know-how when it comes to speaking to the public. They tend to be strong speakers who know what words to use to draw people in. In some cases, the person doesn’t have to be a strong speaker but a person of “importance” in the public’s eye, such as doctors, lawyers, politicians, teachers, etc. Society holds these people to higher standards and will believe most of what they have to say, even without proof because they are viewed as knowledgeable beings. One of the first things I looked at was the experiment

Here a professor had some of his students acting as prisoners and others as the jail guards. Its goal was to see how each participant fell into character. At first the guards seemed to be in an awkward position having to be an authority figure to other students, but not long after the experiment started the guards began showing their authority. This experiment showed that once in a specific role, one begins to actually believe they are that character and it is no longer a role being played. With both of these experiments we see that it doesn’t take much to persuade even the best natured humans to do inhumane things. In Hitler’s case it took him being in an authoritative position as well as him allowing those under him a bit of power of their own. Even those who may have had a few reservations about what was happening, continued on with the horrific deeds because someone above them assured them that nothing they were doing was