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Why Do We Obey?
By Eric Peters, not me; to address what is happening to us at airports these days, at a certain level.
http://ericpetersautos.com/2012/08/11/why-do-we-obey/ If some random guy ordered you to submit to his will – or else – most of us would at least consider it assault. Many of us would try to escape – or defend ourselves. Very few would quietly submit. And almost no one would submit willingly. But when exactly the same thing is done to us by a person wearing a uniform, most of us not only submit and obey – we do so without even questioning the rightness of the thing. The uniform – and other totems of officialized authority – confer legitimacy upon the illegitimate. It is a startling thing. It reveals that most people are incapable of grasping the concept of a moral principle – that something which is wrong when committed by an unsanctioned individual is just as wrong when committed by a sanctioned individual – or a group of them. ... |
Human nature. Stanley Milgram showed this in his famous experiment:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment It is also exceedingly difficult to resist group pressure, to think for oneself and to stand up for what you believe in. These actions often lead to ostracism by the group, which may mock or even turn viciously on the outlier, who exposes their weaknesses/misconduct. Standing up for what you think is right leads to punishment - in this case, a potential delay in flying or an inability to reach your destination at all [see: ocean for anyone who wishes to pipe up with 'flying is not a right']. |
Originally Posted by GaryD
(Post 19114236)
By Eric Peters, not me; to address what is happening to us at airports these days, at a certain level.
http://ericpetersautos.com/2012/08/11/why-do-we-obey/ |
Originally Posted by VelvetJones
(Post 19114609)
Heck, they don't even need to have a uniform.
Even in America, where the police are far less corrupt and abusive than many other places, the police have a disturbing tendency to beat, tase, and/or shoot people who are not posing an immediate threat to life or safety in addition to causing rampant property destruction up to and including killing harmless pets (google "Cheye Calvo"). The actions of the police are almost always defended by their colleagues and management and usually held up by the courts or non-LEO authorities. The police can make a completely innocent person's life miserable on a whim by arresting them for a trumped-up contempt-of-cop charge and throwing them in jail overnight, and even if the exonerated person throws all their might at filing complaints and lawsuits, the cop is unlikely to receive even a slap on the wrist while the victim is out thousands of dollars and has an arrest record. So there's a very practical self-preservation-driven reason to cave in to cops. *Anyone* who stands up for their liberty to a cop in the field in an appropriate and non-violent fashion, even in the smallest way such as recording an encounter, is a hero. I would be willing to bet that a majority of people do not remotely grasp the vast differences in legal authority between a LEO and a TSA screener, particularly once TSA went to police-style uniforms and badges, which I don't for a moment believe was coincidence. I would be willing to be that some smaller fraction, maybe 10% or so, think a TSA screener is a LEO. A huge fraction of the TSA's de facto power over the population comes from this lack of knowledge. (IMO most of the rest of the power comes from TSA's exploitation of the time-sensitive nature of air travel; in other words they know most passengers are rushed and will cave in just to clear the checkpoint.) |
Why do we surrender to the orders of e TSA? If you don't they can stop you from flying. There is no other choice. Not like you can go across the street to the 'compettitor'. And no one at the top, i.e., Congress, feels there is a problem since obviously we are all guilty of trying to cause havoc.
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Originally Posted by FLgrr
(Post 19134772)
Why do we surrender to the orders of e TSA? If you don't they can stop you from flying. There is no other choice. Not like you can go across the street to the 'compettitor'. And no one at the top, i.e., Congress, feels there is a problem since obviously we are all guilty of trying to cause havoc.
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