Similarities Between Abu Ghraib Torture And The Milgram Experiment
Mahatma Gandhi, the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement states “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” This is important because torture is brutal on the body and mind. The article “Torture’s Terrible Toll” by John McCain is more convincing then the article “The Case for Torture” by Michael Levin because McCain provides more logical reasoning, he adds his own personal experience of being a captured prisoner during the Vietnam War, and he creates an emotional bond with people around the world. Through more logical reasoning McCain Argument is more valid than Levin.
When is it okay to force a radical change in ethics and increase suffering on innocents? The answers to the first three are more complicated, but the last question is a firm and definite never. People who have been forced into situations where the death rate and conditions were so horrible have had to adapt to great extents in order to stay alive. Their thought process seems inhumane and apathetic to the average human, but without the insanity they wouldn’t have the ability to survive.
In Michael Levin’s “The Case for Torture”, he uses many cases of emotional appeal to persuade the reader that torture is necessary in extreme cases. There are many terms/statements that stick with the reader throughout the essay so that they will have more attachment to what is being said. Levin is particularly leaning to an audience based in the United States because he uses an allusion to reference an event that happened within the states and will better relate to the people that were impacted by it. The emotional appeals used in this essay are used for the purpose of persuading the reader to agree that in extreme instances torture is necessary and the United States should begin considering it as a tactic for future cases of extremity. One major eye catching factor of this essay is the repetitive use of words that imply certain stigmas.
Neither one of the circumstances was ethical at any point and had been publicized by the media for its explicit type of interrogation methods as well as sadistic behavior. In particular, Phil Zimbardo has argued that the study shows that strong situational forces can override individual differences in personality and moral values. In Abu Ghraib, soldiers were inserted into the role of prison guards and began to sadistically torment prisoners there and at other detention sites in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many of the specific acts of humiliation were similar to those that transpired in the Stanford Prison Experiment, according to Zimbardo. This theory has been challenged by allegations by Seymour Hersh, in the New Yorker, that these soldiers were in fact acting under direct orders of their superiors as part of a top secret Pentagon intelligence gathering program authorized by Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.
People do this to avoid consequences, have respect for all authority, don’t question authority, and most are too afraid to speak up. Overall, throughout “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, “The Milgram Experiment” by Stanley Milgram, “The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes” by Malcolm Gladwell, and “Zimbardo - Stanford Prison Experiment” by Saul McLeod, all exploit and explain the dangers of blind obedience. In the Crucible, blind obedience is shown during the witchcraft investigation that resulted in the deaths of innocent people which was led by Abigail Williams. In the Lottery, blind obedience is shown when in the brutal stoning of a member in the village without questioning the ethical standpoint. In the Milgram experiment, blind obedience is shown when individuals get pressured into causing harm to others when they were instructed by the authority.
In Michael Levin's The Case for Torture, Levin provides an argument in which he discusses the significance of inflicting torture to perpetrators as a way of punishment. In his argument, he dispenses a critical approach into what he believes justifies torture in certain situations. Torture is assumed to be banned in our culture and the thought of it takes society back to the brutal ages. He argues that societies that are enlightened reject torture and the authoritative figure that engage in its application risk the displeasure of the United States. In his perspective, he provides instances in which wrongdoers put the lives of innocent people at risk and discusses the aspect of death and idealism.
The code of ethics in which an individual abides by speaks volume. High ethical values are very important in every facet of life. Honesty, loyalty and trust worthiness make up the moral compass in which to live. This moral compass can often be blemished with the ugliness of immorality, deceit and greed. The Tuskegee Syphilis study and The Stanford Prison Experiment are experiments indicative of how research and an individual’s ethical values can become distorted.
While analyzing “The Torture Myth” and “The Case for Torture”, it is very clear to see the type of rhetorical appeals used to persuade the audience. Anne Applebaum, the writer of “The Torture Myth” --in context of the decision of electing a new Attorney General--would argue that torture is very seldomly effective, violates a person’s rights, and should be outlawed due to the irrational need upon which physical torture is used. On the other hand, Michael Levin strongly argues that physical torture is crucial to solving every imminent danger to civilians. Levin claims that if you don’t physically torture someone, you are being weak and want to allow innocent people to die over something that could have been simply done.
Are Americans as obedient to authority as the Germans were during World War II? Does the location of the experimenter and the victim matter?
In medieval times, torture was used to punish criminals, deter crime, and gather information. There were many different types of tortures, most of which were brutal and painful. At the time, torture was deemed necessary to maintain order. Laws were harsh and torture was severe, but effective form of punishment. Despite its effectiveness, torture was often an unfair and extremely cruel punishment, and should have been eliminated in all forms.
Over the years, six flags went from being top 50 places to visit, to becoming on the top 20 list of the places to visit in America. I been to six flags many times in my life. Over the past years, they been improving a lot. More people are visiting six flags every year because of the improvements they made through the year. They provide the most needs to the customers.
Since the beginning of the human existence, man has always dominated and ruled over one another be it empires, corporations, or small groups. Authority and obedience has always been a factor of who we are. This natural occurrence can be seen clearly through the psychological experiments known as The Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment. Both of these studies are based on how human beings react to authority figures and what their obedience is when faced with conflict.
This experiment fits into Kidder’s ethical dilemma paradigms of short-term vs long-term. In fact, Zimbardo choose the long term effects of his experiment over the short term effects of it. The Stanford prison experiment had a short-term effect on the university students that could not bear the prison life for long and the prison was ended after 6 days only. The long hours of imprisonment revealed that the students had become depressed while the guards had already become cruel at their maximum. The prisoners were humiliated and embarrassed by the guards.
"Erroneous Assumptions: Popular Belief in the Effectiveness of Torture Interrogation." Peace & Conflict 13.4 (2007): 429-435. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.
The first scene that these quandaries come to light is where General Geoffrey D. Miller, a specialist in interrogations, was sent to Abu Ghraib to help guards extract more information from the prisoners. The guards at the facility had been trained for years to follow every order they had been given, but this would mark the first time that the United States Army’s orders had directly conflicted with their personal convictions. This fact was stated by the soldiers themselves in the the interviews conducted afterwards. This type of obedience can be explained by Erich Fromm in his article, “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem”. Fromm states that there are two types of Obedience one that is submissive to an institution or power, and another which an affirmation of your own personal beliefs (Fromm 124).
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