I have a lot of familiars who were in the captivity of the one or another sides. Listening to their stories, I understand, that I don’t have a right to comment anything and words of consolation sounds from my mouth sad and pathetic.  

In 1963 Stanley Milgram first time described his experiment, made in Yale University. Two subjects the “teacher” and the “student” took part in this experiment. «Student» had to memorize the simple value chain and “teacher” had to control the answers of a “student”. Also, experimentator took part in the experiment too. He helped to the “teacher” giving him advices and tips for action.

As you can see — everything is simple. It a holy case to help to the science, that’s there wasn’t the deficit of those who wished to take part in the experiment “The influence of pain on the memory”. Pain? Oh, yep. I forgot one little detail: the “student” was chained to the electric chair during the hall experiment and the “teacher” had a right to punish him for the incorrect answers with discharges of current of different power…

… The longer a person had been in captivity, the less likely human is divided with the «experience», the more stingy his stories. But, as for me, the person with unstable mentally and violent fantasy is more than enough.

The breaking of fingers with saying slogans «for the mother, for the father, for the homeland …», burrowing into the snow («it’s time to freshen up»), shaving on the nape and burning on the body of the curly abuse, cutting the ears and other «vestiges», stitching the mouth — such things are pierce the consciousness with a clear way, depriving of sleep. When you begin to think that the picture of the memoir begin to fade since the statute of limitations, cockroaches, working in the cell of memory in your, operatively and obligingly are taking out the necessary folder. Cockroaches are already graying, as you are. It’s hard to live with all this for them too.

Not so long ago one man, listened to the story of ex-captive, which includes a lot of material for the encyclopedia of the human’s sadism (the storyteller himself could be placed into the chapter “The action of acetone on the human organism “), indifferently claimed: “So, what do you want? It’s their work!”. “Who’s work?” — silly swallowed someone of the same audience. “The work of people, who protect us!”

Let’s come back to Milgram and his experiment. And we begin from the fact that all the «students» were actors, and electric chairs were props. But nobody from “teachers” knew about it. The “teacher” was offered only to watch for the answers of his partner and in a case of the mistake to punish him with increasingly strong discharge. Therefore, the aim of the experiment was not the exploring of the influence of pain on the memory, but it was the try to understand, who much pain common man is ready to cause to another innocent man.

The results of the experiment are scaring the immature minds no less than the stories of sadistic games with prisoners. Beginning from the small electrical discharges, the “teachers” came step-by-step to maximum, in spite of shouts, pleas for help, and the apparent deterioration of the health of the «students». Literally units of “teachers” refused to hold the experiment further. The overwhelming majority continued the torture. They acted without any shadow of a doubt or continued, bow to the authority of the experimenter, who presented in this quest. The experimenter is the person in in lab coat, «a science man», quietly gave prearranged phrases on all doubts of «teachers»: “It’s absolutely necessary for you to continue”, “You don’t have any choice you need to continue”. The choice was in fact and everyone make it. It happened in 1963. Later the experiment of Milgram repeated a lot of times in different countries: Holland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Jordan, Austria. The results were approximately the same in a try to understand what makes one man to to cause a pain to another. People didn’t refused to cause a pain to other people, listening to the authority, whispering: “Do it, you can!”. And this university employee was completely innocent, also like a cockroaches in the heads of “teachers”, who silently sat and collected the new documentation in the memory cell for the archive.

Dasha Tundra for Informator.lg.ua