“Tyrannies are perpetuated by diffident men who do not possess the courage to act out their [moral] beliefs. Time and again in the experiment people disvalued what they were doing but could not muster the inner resources to translate their values into action (p. 10).*
“These inhumane policies may have originated in the mind of a single person, but they could only have been carried out on a massive scale if a very large number of people obeyed orders.
“Obedience is the psychological mechanism that links individual action to political purpose. It is the dispositional cement that binds men to systems of authority (p. 1).*
“Subjects have learned from childhood that it is a fundamental breach of moral conduct to hurt another person against his will. Yet, almost half the subjects abandon this tenet in following the instructions of an authority who has no special powers to enforce his commands. To disobey would bring no material loss or punishment. It is clear from the remarks and behavior of many participants that in punishing the victim they were often acting against their own values. Subjects often expressed disapproval of shocking a man in the face of his objections, and others denounced it as stupid and senseless. Yet many followed the experimental commands” (p. 41).*
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* Milgram, Stanley. Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View (Perennial Classics) HarperCollins. Kindle Edition (Bold emphasis added.)
