the stanford experiment.

The Stanford experiment says a lot about the power of context. the context in the case of the experiment was a mock jail. It was an experiment with a frightening outcome. the captors began to exhibit sadistic behaviors. unfortunately this experiment holds true in the real world. It's one of the most disturbing facets of context in Gladwell's book. It's also a fairly common issue...who remembers Abu Gharib that was just a few years ago and a few months ago we heard about black water. there are all kinds of alarming stats on how often incarcerated women are sexually assaulted by guards.When i read about what guards are capable of inflicting on prisoners it makes me wonder about the human psyche. Is it possible that if put under the right level of stress and supplied with relatively unchecked power that we default to sadistic behavior. Or is it possible that prison guards are a sort of self selecting breed that subconsciously or consciously lust after these kinds of situations. We may all have this capability with in us but are conditioned out of it. If i was ever in the position of a guard i would like to think that i wouldn't resort to this kind of behavior. From my experience with being incarcerated I can tell you that i might not necessarily be able to resist. when i was in jail I didn't feel connected to any thing I felt stripped and raw and dehumanized. I think its very possible that the guards may be reacting to their subconscious worries that they are just one misstep away from being in prison themselves. When they treat the prisoners in completely sadistic and dehumanizing manner it creates a difference between the captor and captive. Its a sick way to comfort yourself when you add the context and stress together with the laws of Gladwell's epidemic people can be caused to do some twisted things.

The grayscale

Morality is many things to many people. It's also many things on an individual level. when i was a kid it all seemed pretty simple a life is a life, premarital sex is bad and drugs just say no. Now i'm seventeen and much to my parents dismay I've grown fast. when you deal with these issues of morality you see how many facets there are too life and how it's ridiculous to make judgments for others. I'm no longer pro-life (anti-choice), I believe sexuality is fluid, personal and there's no set time when its okay to become sexually active. I've learned that saying no to drugs isn't my strong point and drug use is a health issue not a law enforcement issue. I'm not the person I envisioned when i was young my morals have done a three sixty. I think I'm better for it i see things in a gray-scale and I'm not worried about what god thinks. the right choice isn't the same in every context. there are no absolutes. society needs to make allowance for that and people should have the right to choose based on the context of their lives.