Why do we abide by the rules, even when the so called rules are immoral? Perhaps because contrary to what we'd like to think of ourselves, we aren’t moral, we’re merely conformists. What’s more fascinating than the human mind to me is the fact that the human conscience can remain intact in the aftermaths of such a mind blowing experiment. Reproduced on a bigger scale, such an experiment can lead to disaster. The fact is that it has been done in the past. Will we learn from the mistakes of the past, or will we mindlessly do as we’re told, even if it breaks the fuck out of our moral compass?
The experiment of Milgram shows us how the fear of not conforming to the rules - even when those are deeply immoral - is bigger than our propensity to refrain from inflicting pain upon another human being. Punishing an innocent person is easier of a thing to do than dare risking being punished ourselves by not doing as we’re told. By blindly following the rules, we never come to question their legitimacy.
While there is an abundance of evidence to support your post, I do not believe that this is our natural state of being. Our condition is more about the conditioning we receive from birth.
The perception is that life is much easier when we conform to the social norms dictated to us by the dominant social structures we find ourselves immersed in.
I would like to understand a lot more about what early childhood experiences are required to produce people who do not conform to the negative influences of social structures.
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