History repeats as man repeats his behavior again and again. In other words, Homo sapiens craziness continues regardless of century, socioeconomic, educational, religious, motive or political system. The October 30, 2022 edition of The New York Times had three different articles titled ""Suicide Attempts Amid Cruelty in Louisiana Juvenile Detention" taking place currently; "Before Salem" in 1650 and When Nazi Ideology Came to Long Island " In 1930. This essay illustrates man's insane behavior.
In 1650 the conditions in " Springfield, Massachusetts" were characterized by years of bad crops, Indian conflict, tornadoes, hail, extreme cold, soaring heat , drought with poor nutrition . Needless to say, these were conditions of deterioration. Most were in despair at that time, which included parents and children. However, the leader of the community was a wealthy WASP, entrepreneur, an amateur theologian and immigrant. He was able to buy property and become the ruling magistrate over those who worked it. Everyone in the town was beholden to this tyrant for their existence. They owed him for everything. Strips of land, goods from the general store, tools, cloth, sugar, spices, gunpowder ,medicines, as well as wheat, maze and meat. He made everything possible for a price.
These unfortunates left England to come to a "new" land to start a different ruling class inhabited by natives whom they called savages. Was that an example of rational decision making ? Were conditions so terrible back in England that they would head out across the ocean ? There was nothing new about the land nor the conditions of cold, heat, and cold etc. The growing of crops is hard work, regardless. Was pursuing religious liberty their primary motive ? Well, that should be debated. They were running from something.
In any event, their religious thinking was primitive as was the supernatural belief in witches. However, these unhappy individuals easily called a male or female a witch without evidence. One could say there were dangers of isolation, religious extremism, falsities, and lapses in morality. This craziness was not unique in colonial America , but also took place. in Europe. In any event, people were burned and hanged , suggesting sadomasochistic behavior by this "civilized" group. It wasn't until 1957 , that a park was dedicated in Salem, Massachusetts because of an act passed by the Massachusetts legislature absolving individuals or victims of the Salem trials. A civilized act 300 years later ? American madness displayed.
The second article showed a picture of Americans in a camp in the 1930s in Long Island giving the Nazi salute. There was also a picture of Hitler Street. This German-American Bund pro-Nazi organization was located in Yaphank, NY. It had its young participants, swimming, hiking competing in archery dances as well absorbing Nazi ideology. This retreat was 60 miles from Manhattan. This camp was closed when the United States entered World War II in 1941. Other streets were named Goebbels and Goering, Only buyers who could prove they were of German ancestry could purchase property at that location . That stood until 2017.
These crazy totalitarian beliefs were not about American democracy, freedom or the constitution, but pertain to WASP hate and consensus. My group is good and your group is evil. So what if we should take over the world with hate and destruction and follow a madman like Hitler. Just follow the leader. Sure there was an economic depression during the time but not all succumbed to attempts to get on their knees to this ideology. Oh yeah, how many Germans were interned during World War II like the Japanese? The madness was less than 100 years ago and continues to repeat itself. Craziness must be a First and Second Amendment right.
The third article takes place in Louisiana, that wonderful state with its revolting statistics on Covid -19 death, poverty, mental and physical sickness, and educational rankings Even Brett Favre was in the act for exploiting money for a volleyball building.
A juvenile detention facility was built in 1993. Of these captive kids, ¾ are Black. There were 64 suicide attempts in 2019- 2020. Sexual abuse, rape, physical abuse and isolating kids were other examples of juvenile sadism. There's an irrelevant law in Louisiana restricting isolation , Staff and the power structure have been above the law without consequences. At the moment, leaders in power "You can't believe what these kids say." Who is crazy? These adults are deranged.
The facility has received special funds without any oversight. The political and the legal system seem to be part of the problem as these allegations are not new. They falsify records and do not monitor kids' in isolation properly. The WASP power structure controls the funds for this center .
Stanley Milgram's classic research on obedience at Yale University comes to mind regarding man’s inhumanity to man. In his study, 40 males participated and were told that this research had to do with learning and memory. These 40 were designated as "teachers" as they controlled the device, increasing "electricity" to a confederate hooked up to an electric chair in another room. The confederate gave each teacher one correct response and three incorrect responses. For each incorrect response, the teacher was instructed to increase the voltage lever. When the voltage lever reached 300, the confederate in the other room screamed and made loud noises as if in pain. 65% of these teachers increased the voltage regardless of the noise in the other room. However, these teachers increased the lever ,in conflict, Their tension was apparent as indicated by perspiration, biting lips, digging fingernails into the fingers, etc. Yes, these teachers were obedient but in conflict . They did not express sadomasochistic character tendencies. However, this study demonstrated that males can and do exhibit irrational sadistic behaviors. Even being In conflict, sadly these individuals continued to inflict “pain” as they justified with rationalization their cruel actions toward others. Do what you're told even if it’s crazy. Humans have the ability to rationalize and justify insane behavior irrespective of moral reasoning . Yes,the confederate wasn’t electrically shocked, but the teachers were under the illusion that they were shocking another human.
Phillip Zimbardo, another researcher, had his Stanford students become guards over other “incarcerated” student prisoners. The purpose of his research was to study the behavior of normal people in a particular situation or a "mock" prison. In the research, the individuals selected as prisoners were unknowingly arrested beforehand by the police department for fictitious crimes . They were fingerprinted, photographed and underwent typical police arrest behavior. They were then blindfolded and taken to the Stanford "prison." There, they were stripped of their clothes and underwent a sanitary delousing procedure. The experiment was supposed to go on for two weeks. But after a few days, five of the prisoners experienced mental distress such as depression, crying and acute anxiety. After only six days, all the remaining prisoners were released as the experiment ended. About a third of the guards seemed to enjoy the extreme control and power they had over the prisoners. Did the behavior of these guards exhibit a sadistic character? Researchers said no as the guards underwent psychological testing. The testing results did not find sadistic predispositions. Were these tests valid? Were these guards sadistically motivated and did they enjoy their cruelty and harassment ?
It should be clear that people engage in sadistic behaviors. However, that does not mean that they have a sadistic character . In other words, it takes a skilled clinician to evaluate the presence of a sadistic character diagnosis.
Homo sapiens throughout history have had no difficulty expressing crazy inhumanity towards fellow man. Man behaves sadistically and irrational towards himself and others regardless of frustration, revenge ,jealousy, insecurity or being drunk. Poverty, physical or mental illness seem to be at times, irrelevant motives. Man biologically and psychologically fights for “survival. “ Regardless, love becomes hate and objects are found for expression of unbalanced hate . It's not surprising that cruelty, irrationality, prejudice and hate are significantly part of man’s crazy history. The problem is with man’s design . If man is In God's image ,then God is flawed also. As Gandhi said, "an eye for an eye will only make the world blind."
PS
A poll by the Public Religion Research Institute in 2021 found that almost 1/4 of Republicans agreed that "the government, media and financial worlds in the United States are controlled by a group of Satan worshiping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation."
Reference
Milgram, S. 1963. "Behavioral Study of Obedience." Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology.
Zimbardo, P. 1972. "Pathology of Imprisonment ." Trans- Action. 9 April.
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