Living in Milgram's Experiment

People can get cruel. Fast.

It can be hard to understand how some people can be so cruel towards others. There will always be criminals — people who unlawfully take advantage of others for their own selfish gain. What is more troubling to me are those regular folks who get into positions of some authority and then use that power against others. I think it’s the juxtaposition of good people doing bad things that gets me.

Photo by Zachary Kadolph on Unsplash

I’m thinking about police officers who use excessive force when making an arrest, or ICE officers who appear gleeful when they take people into custody.

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I am struck by the TV commercial with Kristi Noam telling immigrants that they will be found — with a smirk on her face.

Why do we act in these ways?

Milgram

That was the question that Stanley Milgram was trying to answer. In 1954 he was admitted to Harvard’s Department of Social Relations. He received his Ph.D. in 1960, and started his research in this area at Yale. In his experiments, subjects were told to administer shocks of increasing power to people that were said to be other volunteers (although in reality they were hired by Milgram, and the shocks were fake). More than 70 percent of the subjects ended up giving what they were led to believe were fatal shocks to the others. This innovative work showed that humans had a tendency to obey authority figures even if they disagreed with what they were told to do. It became one of the most famous psychology experiments of the 20th century.

It also has implications for what we are seeing happen today.

Immorality in Action

I’m appalled at some of the things that are happening in our society:

In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a measure to prohibit local workplace standards requiring drinking water, cooling measures, or recovery periods for workers who are working outside in the heat. Here’s what Juley Fulcher of Public Citizen said: “Workers in Florida will die in the Florida heat as a result of Gov. DeSantis’ signing this bill. Denying any worker access to water or shade in the heat of summer is inhumane and cruel, yet Florida just allowed employers to do exactly that.” (desantis-signs-law-banning-water-breaks-and-cooling-measures-from-florida-workers)

The administration continues to treat undocumented persons as less than human. The Department of Homeland Security is now stopping non-profit groups like the Red Cross from helping undocumented immigrants, even during emergency situations. The rules also require groups to cooperate with ICE. This means that during a disaster like a tornado or a hurricane, any individuals who are undocumented that seek help from a non-profit will likely end up in custody. (dhs-fema-undocumented-immigrants-aid-groups-grants)

In a jail outside of Jackson, Mississippi, guards dragged inmates into areas where there were no cameras and beat them. They recruited other inmates to give beatings to those they deemed to be troublemakers. The Rankin County Jail, where this allegedly occurred, is being investigated by the Justice Department. Five former Rankin County deputies were sentenced to federal prison for torturing two Black men in 2024. Just for their own entertainment, one inmate, Larry Buckhalter, was placed in a stun vest which was activated so that the guards could watch and film him convulsing. (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/us/mississippi-jail-inmates-rankin-county.html)

Maybe the most egregious acts recently have been the killings of suspected drug runners at sea. Our military has killed 87 people to date, claiming that they are “narco-terrorists.” But no war has been declared. No evidence has been presented that drugs were on board these boats, or that they were headed for the United States. It would be murder if drug dealers were shot in the streets, so why is this different? It appears that our President may be ordering our troops to commit war crimes.(https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/us/politics/trump-boat-attacks-killings.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share)

Trying to Fix Things

Six elected officials (Senator Elissa Slotkin, Senator Mark Kelly and Representatives Chris DeLuzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan and Jason Crow) put together a video for our military stating that unlawful orders must not be followed, and do not have to be obeyed. President Trump immediately said that the video was “treasonous,” and is pushing for their arrest and prosecution.

In an interview with late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, Sen. Kelly said it “is kind of wild because we recited [in the video] something from the Uniform Code of Military Justice and he’s going to prosecute me under the Uniform Code of Military Justice”. Under the code, a member of the armed services can refuse to follow “a patently illegal order, such as one that directs the commission of a crime” or one that goes against the Constitution, which service members swear to uphold when they join.(https://time.com/7336802/trump-military-orders-mark-kelly-democratic-lawmakers-video/) In an NPR interview, Kelly said the president “is certainly outrageous and unpredictable. I don’t think he understands the Constitution”. (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cze832dr2n0o)

The Buck Stops

All of this starts at the top. When the rhetoric from our elected officials does not recognize the basic human rights of each individual, we are giving permission for leaders in other parts of our government to give directives that are inhumane. Giving orders that are immoral makes terrible actions even more likely. Understanding criminality and evil through the lens of psychological motivation does not excuse harmful behavior, but it helps explain why people sometimes commit acts that violate moral, social, or legal norms.

Our job is to shed light on these horrific acts and bring morality back into the public square. Then maybe America will be great again.