"Our study…reveals the power of social, institutional forces to make good man engage in evil deeds."
—Philip Zimbardo
"My notes, I feel that they echo many scenes in my life. I am not here to analyze the behavior of psychological groups, but to reflect on the oppression I encountered in my life."
Power makes people unconscious. In just 6 days, this experiment turned all the students involved—guards and prisoners, and even the initiators of the experiment itself, into slaves of power. Jesse said, "I hated who I am now, and I became the kind of person I hated the most."
P1, the perpetrator's usual trick is "guilt" - it's all because of you that others suffer with you.
P2, we always think that temporary patience will bring peace. We don’t want to worry our relatives and friends, but it will never happen. No matter whether we are patient or not, the oppressor will only intensify, because it has nothing to do with what you do, the important thing is Power is in their hands. And in the end, the oppressed often have to bear the blame from all sides - why didn't you speak up earlier? ? Others have endured it, are you too vulnerable? ? ? Please understand one thing: in the environment of violent suppression, there is often no way to think and refute. They are not vulnerable, they are just "normal people" like you. "Be strong enough to endure unfair treatment" and "Be strong enough to endure unfair treatment", please don't change these two completely different concepts for those with ulterior motives. Also, please give relatives and friends more trust and support, at least a little more than we use to give a hostile stranger.
P3 & P4, there is nothing to blame for the temporary obedience of the oppressed, and no one ever needs to be blamed by bystanders to protect themselves. The one who needs to be condemned is always the one who does violence without respecting the value of others. Like 2093, he was nothing more than a poor student who was forced to make a living, homeless and trying to make $15. Sadly, perpetrators and onlookers will always see politeness as weakness and violence as competence.
P5, at the end of the film, the words of a student who plays the guard are very thought-provoking - no one can say what kind of human nature he will show when he is truly empowered with even a little unfettered power. "Unchecked power is a disaster", however, the power in the film is not even said to be completely unmonitored. The researchers can see everything in real time on the other end of the camera. However, their silence and connivance contributed to the violence The madness of the people - power requires not only monitoring, but also supervision.
P6&P7, in the whole film, only 416, who replaced 8612 at the end, showed the most sober performance. He refused to be treated unfairly beyond the original intention of the experiment, refused to be numb and obeyed, even on the weakest issue of principle, he kept fighting and never yielded. There is a narration that seems to wake up a dreamer with a single word in the film.
P8, the confession of the most perverted guard in the film. The funny thing is that in the interview at the beginning, when asked whether he wanted to be a guard or a prisoner, the student once clearly said "prisoner, no one likes the police" . Anyway, when I was interviewed, the perpetrators often had a thousand reasons to justify themselves, the most common one being "they didn't explicitly resist, if they were really so unbearable, they should resist", And there are some people who agree with their explanation very much-if the behavior of so many priests in the film cannot be called "resistance". Only those who deceive themselves will feel that they have been oppressed until they finally lose the courage to resist, which is called "don't want to resist".
Finally, when the perpetrators live and ask us to live together in the Spring and Autumn Dream they created for themselves, may we all be able to wake up like 416, and may we all stick to our bottom line like 2093.
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