Who is Lucifer? Simply, Lucifer was an angel. We are told from different sources that he was one of the greatest. What it takes to be a great or greatest angel? I am not sure, but the point being he was good, possibly very good, and then went very bad.
So the question and answer the book proposes is: what makes good or ordinary people, felons, murderers, drug addicts, thieves or more generally speaking, bad?
Do not want to read the book to find the answer? Well, I can give you the abridged version. We all have the capability to assume one of the roles listed above. Don't believe you have it in you? Look into the Milgram experiment wherein we first realize that any where from 60 to 80% of the population has the mentally justifiable resources to take innocent human life. The experiment has been done umpteen times over 40 years and the out comes rests between 60 to 80%
Here is a simple list of mental or psychological resources used to allows us to be bad
1. dehumanization: The typical German population thought of the Jewish community as monsters. The U.S. government demonized the whole Asian population by making brash and over generalizations and stereotyping "Japs" as something other then men.
2. Deniablity/Rationalization/3rd party influence: " I was just following orders". "Satan made me do it". " The ends justified the means". "Every one was doing it". " I did not know any better because I was beaten as a kid".
3. Moral disengagement: In a firing squad it was typical for only one person to have a working bullet and none of them knew who had the blank and who had the real bullet. Jews themselves decided who was to go into the gas chamber that day. The guy turning the knob to turn on the gas never watched them die nor did he go in to make sure all were dead, he just turned the knob.
4. Autonomy: They do not know me and I do not know them, therefore it is easier.
That is a short list but I think you get the idea.
It was an interesting book. It requires constant thinking and the ability to read pass the ego, as is the case with most psychology books that I have read.
Some may recognize the name of the author because he was the leader in a highly publicized experiment at Stanford during the late sixties. He rehashes the whole experiment in the book, which is relevant, but it does not take log to realize where the experiment is going and does become tedious. I did not become depressed reading the book thinking that any moment I could randomly kill but realized I was human and therefore capable of making mistakes. The author does well to keep the book intellectual and does not project his psychological theories on the reader but is obviously less then pleased with the Bush administration and goes through many chapters regarding the Abu Ghraib incident.
If you are in a thinking read mood then give it a try but do not expect it to be a quick read. I would even suggest skipping the chapters that do not interest you.
So the question and answer the book proposes is: what makes good or ordinary people, felons, murderers, drug addicts, thieves or more generally speaking, bad?
Do not want to read the book to find the answer? Well, I can give you the abridged version. We all have the capability to assume one of the roles listed above. Don't believe you have it in you? Look into the Milgram experiment wherein we first realize that any where from 60 to 80% of the population has the mentally justifiable resources to take innocent human life. The experiment has been done umpteen times over 40 years and the out comes rests between 60 to 80%
Here is a simple list of mental or psychological resources used to allows us to be bad
1. dehumanization: The typical German population thought of the Jewish community as monsters. The U.S. government demonized the whole Asian population by making brash and over generalizations and stereotyping "Japs" as something other then men.
2. Deniablity/Rationalization/3rd party influence: " I was just following orders". "Satan made me do it". " The ends justified the means". "Every one was doing it". " I did not know any better because I was beaten as a kid".
3. Moral disengagement: In a firing squad it was typical for only one person to have a working bullet and none of them knew who had the blank and who had the real bullet. Jews themselves decided who was to go into the gas chamber that day. The guy turning the knob to turn on the gas never watched them die nor did he go in to make sure all were dead, he just turned the knob.
4. Autonomy: They do not know me and I do not know them, therefore it is easier.
That is a short list but I think you get the idea.
It was an interesting book. It requires constant thinking and the ability to read pass the ego, as is the case with most psychology books that I have read.
Some may recognize the name of the author because he was the leader in a highly publicized experiment at Stanford during the late sixties. He rehashes the whole experiment in the book, which is relevant, but it does not take log to realize where the experiment is going and does become tedious. I did not become depressed reading the book thinking that any moment I could randomly kill but realized I was human and therefore capable of making mistakes. The author does well to keep the book intellectual and does not project his psychological theories on the reader but is obviously less then pleased with the Bush administration and goes through many chapters regarding the Abu Ghraib incident.
If you are in a thinking read mood then give it a try but do not expect it to be a quick read. I would even suggest skipping the chapters that do not interest you.
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