Are People Obedient
ARE PEOPLE OBEDIENT? By Queron Thompson Does everyone in society go against what they believe in merely to satisfy an authority figure? Stanley Milgram's "Perils Of Obedience" expresses that most of society supports the authority figure regardless of their own personal ideals. Milgram says to the reader, "For many people, obedience is a deeply ingrained behavioral tendency, indeed a potent impulse overriding training in ethics, sympathy, and moral conduct" (Milgram 606). Is Milgram's statement telling us obedience is an unparalleled force in today's society? Two authors, George Orwell and Langston Hughes, provide us with incidents that support Milgrams findings.George Orwell's work, "Shooting an Elephant," can be used as an example of Milgram's discoveries. He recalls an account of himself as a British policeman called upon to take action against a belligerent elephant rampaging through a small Burmese Village. Orwell makes it a point to show that the natives of the village, "who at any other time would have looked upon
This occurrence, whether it is instinctive or judgmental is one that each individual deals with a personal level. Langston Hughes, author of "Salvation" offers us a different perspective on Milgram's findings, "obedience before morality. Orwell realizes it is quite unnecessary to kill the animal, yet does it anyway. George Orwell and Langston Hughes have both given us two examples that support and defend this theory. Why might you ask? Milgrims findings on people's obedience to authority can be seen as an answer to this question. Once again, Stanley Milgram's theories are correct. With this statement, we can easily determine the role the villagers take on. the him in disfavor," are now backing him in hopes of the animals destruction. The people expected it of me and I had got to do it: I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly. Suddenly, they have taken on the role of the authority figure and Orwell the conforming citizen. His discoveries bind us to the fact that people may believe strongly in an idea or thought but, will overlook that belief to be obedient. With all this evidence compounded, we "the reader" can make a justified assumption that everyone in society has, at one time or another, overlooked his or her personal feelings to conform. Hughes paints a picture of himself as a little boy, whose decisions at a church revival, directly reflect mans own instinctive behavioral tendencies for obedience.
Common topics in this essay:
Perils Obedience,
Langston Hughes,
Village Orwell,
Holy Spirit,
Stanley Milgram's,
Shooting Elephant,
Queron Thompson,
Stanley Milgram,
langston hughes,
authority figure,
Orwell Langston,
orwell langston hughes,
Milgram's Perils,
meet level obedience,
reader people,
perils obedience,
meet level,
level obedience,
holy spirit,
george orwell,
george orwell langston,
milgram's perils obedience,
deeply ingrained,
orwell langston,
|
Acceptance Essays
