Thread by @goddek

1/16: How did ordinary citizens commit unspeakable evil in Nazi Germany? Stanley Milgram sought to answer this in 1961. His theory? Some people commit horrific acts simply by blindly obeying authority. What he discovered will make you rethink the power of obedience.

A THREAD 🧵

2/16: Milgram designed an experiment to test this theory. He wanted to see how far people would go in obeying an authority figure, even when it meant inflicting pain on another person. The results were more disturbing than anyone could have imagined. Here’s how it all unfolded.

3/16: The experiment involved 3 roles: the experimenter (authority figure), the teacher (unsuspecting test subject), and the student (the victim). What the teacher didn’t know was that the other two were actors. The real test was to see how far he would go in following orders.

4/16: Before the experiment began, Milgram asked his colleagues what they thought would happen. Most believed that only a small percentage of volunteers would obey the instructions to the end. They couldn’t have been more wrong. The truth revealed a dark side of human nature.

5/16: Volunteers were told they would draw lots to determine their role. Unbeknownst to them, every lot was rigged to make them the teacher. To make the setup even more convincing, they were given a mild electric shock to understand what their “victim” would supposedly feel.

6/16: The teacher was then seated in front of a machine with switches labeled with increasing voltage levels, from 15 V (slight shock) to 450 V (danger: severe shock). The student was strapped out of sight to a chair in another room. The stage was set for a psychological drama.

7/16: The teacher’s task was simple: read a list of word pairs & test the student’s memory. For each wrong answer, the teacher had to deliver an electric shock, increasing the voltage with every mistake. But here’s the catch—the student wasn’t actually shocked; it was all an act.

8/16: As the shocks increased, the student would cry out in pain, beg to stop and eventually fall silent. The teacher, visibly distressed, could only communicate with the experimenter, who was present in the room. The teacher was told to continue, despite the student’s suffering.

9/16: The experimenter had four standard prompts to push the teacher to continue:

1. “Please continue.”
2. “The experiment requires that you continue.”
3. “It is absolutely essential that you continue.”
4. “You have no other choice; you must go on.”

10/16: The experiment would only stop if the teacher refused to obey after all four prompts were used, or if the teacher administered the max voltage of 450 volts 3 times. The tension in the room was palpable as teachers grappled with the moral dilemma. What would they do?

11/16: The results were shocking—all participants gave shocks of at least 300V, despite hearing cries of pain. Even more unsettling, 65% of the participants went all the way to 450V, giving shocks they believed to be lethal. Obedience to authority overrode their moral instincts.

12/16: This experiment revealed a disturbing truth: ordinary people can commit extreme acts of cruelty under the influence of authority. This wasn’t just a historical reflection on the Nazis; it was a warning for the present and the future. But what does this mean for us today?

13/16: Fast forward to today: many MDs, despite knowing better, still pushed vaccines & mask mandates as authorities told them to. They ignored their own medical judgment, echoing Milgram’s findings. Blind obedience to authority, once again, trumped critical thinking and ethics.

14/16: Just like in Milgram’s experiment, many people not only obeyed COVID mandates without question but actively enforced them, even when the measures were clearly absurd. This blind compliance, driven by fear & a need for virtue signaling, eroded our freedoms & individuality.

15/16: The lesson is clear: don’t be a passive participant in today’s social experiment. Question authority, think critically, and stand up for what you believe in. The future belongs to those who refuse to be controlled by fear or manipulated by power.

16/16: Since the start of this plandemic, I’ve rejected every attempt by authorities to control me through fear and coercion. If you’ve done the same, let’s stand together. I’d appreciate your support with a retweet or follow.

https://x.com/goddeketal/status/1826770880548274413