Republican Total Power Trip is like the Stanford Prison Experiment >

Anyone familiar with this?

In a psychology experiment at Stanford in 1971, student volunteers were divided into prisoners and guards. The guards became drunk with power and abusive. I see a parallel.

The current Republican insistence on total power is scarily similar: the bullying, the belligerance, the insistence on complete, total domination, and the dehumanizing of the opposition, be they Iraqi prisoners or Democratic Senators.

Are we witnessing the Stanford Prison Experiment on a global scale? Are BushCo and the Congressional Republicans drunk with power? Just how far will they go as they hold the world, and the Democrats, hostage?

As Howard Dean noted today, they completely reject the wishes of the 48% of the population who voted against them.

Using the nuclear option because only 95% of Bush's judicial nominations have been approved - remind you of anything?


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http://www.prisonexp.org/

A Simulation Study of the Psychology of Imprisonment
Conducted at Stanford University

Welcome to the Stanford Prison Experiment web site, which features an extensive slide show and information about this classic psychology experiment, including parallels with the recent abuse of Iraqi prisoners. What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? These are some of the questions we posed in this dramatic simulation of prison life conducted in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University.

How we went about testing these questions and what we found may astound you. Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress. Please join me on a slide tour describing this experiment and uncovering what it tells us about the nature of Human Nature.

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http://www.prisonexp.org/slide-35.htm

Prisoners coped with their feelings of frustration and powerlessness in a variety of ways. At first, some prisoners rebelled or fought with the guards. Four prisoners reacted by breaking down emotionally as a way to escape the situation. One prisoner developed a psychosomatic rash over his entire body when he learned that his parole request had been turned down. Others tried to cope by being good prisoners, doing everything the guards wanted them to do. One of them was even nicknamed "Sarge," because he was so military-like in executing all commands.

By the end of the study, the prisoners were disintegrated, both as a group and as individuals. There was no longer any group unity; just a bunch of isolated individuals hanging on, much like prisoners of war or hospitalized mental patients. The guards had won total control of the prison, and they commanded the blind obedience of each prisoner.

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Been thinking about this and it's really true. America is being held hostage.

I'm familiar with the Stanford Prison Experiment, and I feel the Bushco Republicans ARE drunk with power, but they are about to "overdose" and "pass out" on it. ;-)

and why the republicans aren't satisfied with almost all the power, but insist on TOTAL absolute power over anyone who disagrees with them.