Writing Psysoc Tyrrany

Five Steps to Tyranny When some political groups get into power tyranny may be only five steps away. Step 1. Establish 'in-groups' and 'out-groups'. Former friends and neighbours can become violent enemies quite quickly when differences are exploited. `In-group' members become superior and confident while `out-group' people feel inferior and inadequate. Out-groups could be those of a different race, sexual preference, the physically or mentally disabled, homeless, poor or those of a minority religion. A famous experiment in a school in the US highlighted this in-group / out-group phenomena. Young children were told that eye colour was the factor deciding whether they were part of the ingroup or out-group. Researchers were shocked to see how quickly cruel behaviour developed in the in-group children (whether blue-eyed or brown-eyed) towards the out-group children. Even close friends were shunned in favour of other members of the in-group of similar eye colour who may have been enemies before the experiment. In another startling experiment in the UK by psycholoststs, Manchester United football supporters enthusiastically went to the aid of a falling stunt man who wore their team's shirt - but NONE helped him when he wore a Liverpool shirt! Step 2. Train the in-group to behave automatically and without question to authority. In another psychology experiment, actors asked people to give up their seats on a train for no reason except that the actor wanted it. Fifty percent gave up their seats unquestionably as asked. When accompanied by an uniformed person (representing authority) the number of obedient commuters jumped up to 100%! This experiment showed that the danger from society comes not from rebels or deviants but from the mindless unthinking obedience of the majority. Step 3. Crush `sub-groups', establish a master control group backed up with `moral family values'. In the train experiment above, the subjects were sitting alone and were sober. But what if the experiment was focused on social sub-groups such as `skinheads', `punks', `New Age Travellers' `football supporters', `Hells Angels' - or any other closely-bonded gang or clique? And what if they were all high on drink or drugs? The combination of being in a strong anti-social pier-group and intoxicated would, I am sure, result in none of them giving up their seat. In fact, the authoritative figures would be lucky to escape without assault. So tyrannies protect themselves from this threat by introducing tight control of alcohol and drugs and also setting up a 'master control group' to substitute for the many uncontrollable sub-groups. This master control group links the individual to the heart of the tyranny, and is often `The Party' in communism and Fascism and 'The Church' in

fundamentalism. All tyrannies stress 'the family' and strongly encourage single people to get married. Single lifestyles are discouraged because it is easier to control a married person economically and emotionally. A single person with an independent lifestyle is a threat. Step 4. Ensure that most people `stand by' not 'stand up'. Visit speakers corner in London. Most people are either passively listening - but a minority are shouting back. It tends to be the SAME people shouting back no matter what the subject of debate. Tyrannies thrive if dissenters are in the minority and bystanders are the majority. Step 5. Get ordinary people to commit evil acts. Having been taught to obey orders, become a bystander and to bond to the `master control group', people are virtually guaranteed to by compliant in the bad treatment of the out-group. There was another famous experiment in the US where ordinary people were encouraged to administer what they thought were electric shocks to humans. Nobody was actually being electrified but the subjects, believing that there were, continued to press the button even at levels where it was obvious that the person, whom they did not see but could hear shouting in agony, was in great pain. Having created two classes (the all-powerful and the powerless) ethnic cleansing, the `final solution' can become a reality. The increasing power of the torturer, who is a `normal' person, over victims, finally culminates in extermination.

opyright Michael Davies 2001