America – The Free Thinker

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Why are some rebellions in history more acceptable than others? Or are they; are there still grudges over the civil rights movements, the foundation of the U.S constitution and other famous rebellions? Depending on the positive views that came out of the rebellions and how they conformed to society, some rebellions are more acceptable than others. Rebellions in history are a part of who we are today. The essay “Perils of Obedience” written by Stanley Milligram states, “some system of authority is a requirement of all communal living.” There will always be a correlation to obedience and rebellions in this world because it is a part of our history and lives.
It is not that people want to disobey and do wrong but, it defines to what we should do and to what is proper. For example, Marriane S. Maszak, author of the essay “The Abu Graib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism” states that authorization has a major part to do with how we act. If someone, our boss or manager tells us to do something, we do it. Most of us do not ask questions, it is clear that it has to be done, so we just obey. However, in order for anyone to follow orders, according to Maszak, “authority… needs to say that extreme measures are acceptable.” The American soldiers in the prison were told and shown by their leaders that what they were doing was not wrong; that it was not wrong to these acts. This state of obedience of authority was one of the answers that U.S soldiers gave when they were asked why they did such horrible things when they mistreated Iraqi soldiers. Some Americans that defend the actions of the soldiers back up their opinion by stating that the American soldiers were simply following orders. When people simply follow orders and the list of following orders go on and on, who should really be punished?
Individuals, when in a rebellion often state that they were following orders. When individuals follow orders, it is more difficult to find out who was the one doing harm. Everyone whether out of the U.S or in the U.S has received some type of orders throughout their lives and has had to obey them. A woman in an airplane stated that she was against all authority, in the article “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You,” by Theodore Dalrymple, she was not aware that a simple authority given to a pilot can change how a different situation is seen. Our life as a human being depends on authority and rebellion to exist. Sometimes, authority is given out blindly without even knowing. Dalrymple warns that “in this instance, {the pilot’s} authority was necessary.”Just because the woman in the plane officially did not go over to the pilot and gave her authority to him to fly that plane, that does not mean that he does not have authority to do his job. The authority given to the pilot was simply blind.
The history of the U.S is a perfect example of a rebellion. The book We The People , according to Duane E. Smith, states that “The delegates under the The Articles of Confederation were only given the power to only ratify the constitution.” However, the delegates refused to do what they were told and they gathered around to create a more powerful new form of government. When this new government was being formed, some delegates knew that this process of free thinking that was going into effect would benefit everyone and would also make America stronger. Other delegates, the anti federalists acted as the normal American that believed that what they were doing is wrong. Soon later, with pressure to authority, the opposing delegates followed the lead to defend the more powerful new government. This is how free thinking and rebellion made the American government a better unified country.
There have been many experiments that lead to state that authority is what makes people act obedient. The essay, “The Stanford Prison Experiment” written by Phillip Zimbardo is an experiment ran to imitate a make believe prison. Under this make believe prison, college students were hired to act like prison guards and prisoners. Zimbardo states, “that these normal, healthy, educated young men were so radically transformed under the institutional pressures of a prison environment.” The results of these experiments, like the experiment by Milligram state that under the pressure of order, the results of the experiments are hard to believe.
It is obvious that obedience and rebellions is what makes up our daily lives and history. Almost no one under obedience most of the time is out to harm anyone. The number one thing people under obedience are after is making their leader appreciative of them. Milligram states, “{People} often like the feeling they get from pleasing the {experimenter}.” In this case in life and society, some Americans just want to please their teacher, friend and or boss when they are under the role of being obedient. Individuals have to consider their personal ideals and consequences when they decide to rebel and or be obedient of something. Just because some rebellions are more acceptable than others and some are common in our society, that does not mean that starting a rebellion is the right thing to do. We as Americans are constantly dictated on how to act everyday and how not to act.
Works Cited
Dalrymple, Theodore. “Just Do What The Pilot Tells You,” Writing and Reading Across the
Curriculum. Eds. Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen .NY: Pearson, 2006. (364-368)
Maszak, Szedy. “The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism,” Writing and Reading
Across the Curriculum. Eds. Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen .NY: Pearson, 2006. (302-304)
Milgram, Stanley. “The Perils of Obedience,” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Eds.
Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen .NY: Pearson, 2006. (313-324)
Smith, Duane. Eds. We the People. Calabass: Center For Civic Education, 1995.
Zimbardo, Phillip. “The Stanford Prison Experiment” Writing and Reading Across the
Across the Curriculum. Eds. Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen .NY: Pearson, 2006. (344-354)

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