Are nice people the world's biggest problem ?

[MrQwertyasd]

Recnt news - update on Milgram’s experiment says that the more agreeable a person is, the more likely they are to obey a brutal authority.

Now a new study using a variation of Milgram’s experiments shows that people with more agreeable, conscientious personalities are more likely to make harmful choices.1 In these new obedience experiments, people with more social graces were the ones who complied with the experimenter’s wishes and delivered electric shocks they believed could harm an innocent person. By contrast, people with more contrarian, less agreeable personalities were more likely to refuse to hurt other people when told to do so.

Is this true anecdotally ?

[Velocity]

Nice people are a problem sometimes, but jerks and haters are still worse still.

[Mr.Nylock]

I think both groups commit different sins.

[Fallen]

Someone should ask, to be timely and topical, Deputy Sheriff Deehan (who, if he weren’t so agreeable, would’ve told the judge “uhm, no sir ree (‘Guantanamo’) Bobm that I will not do”:

Perspective | A stunning lack of humanity in Md. courtroom

[MrQwertyasd]

The research says a little more

It turns out that people holding left-wing political views were less willing to comply with demands to inflict suffering. A third group was also more likely to go against the grain and refuse destructive orders—women who had previously participated in rebellious political activism such as strikes or occupying a factory.

…interesting

Cue objection based on Stalin or Mao…

[Bryan_Ekers]

Nice people are the worst.

[John_Mace]

Someone has to finish last.

[Trinopus]

@MrQwertyasd

Recnt news - update on Milgram’s experiment says that the more agreeable a person is, the more likely they are to obey a brutal authority. . . .

The less agreeable a person is, the more likely they are to actually be a brutal authority.

More seriously, yes, a lot of evil has been done by people who were only following orders. But a lot of evil has been done by machines, too, which “follow orders” without the capability of reflection or dissent. We live in a world where the mechanisms of evil have been highly industrialized.

The best approach is education, and lots of it. Teach people how to evaluate situations for moral content, and what to do about it. Empower people. Protect “whistle blowers.”

[The_Joker_and_the_Thief]

@MrQwertyasd

Recnt news - update on Milgram’s experiment says that the more agreeable a person is, the more likely they are to obey a brutal authority.

Is this true anecdotally ?

OK, first of all, nice does not mean agreeable. Full stop. They’re different values.

Second, agreeable people are more likely to do bad things, but they’re also more likely to do good things. Sure, the world needs radicals and free thinkers, but more than that it needs policemen and soldiers and people who follow orders.

[Knowledgable]

If you actually think that nice people are our worst problem then eliminate all of them in your mind. Think of a World where people would never act in such ways that would be classified as “nice”.

Now did you like that horrible place? No. Then the answer is no too.

[MrQwertyasd]

OK, first of all, nice does not mean agreeable. Full stop. They’re different values.

Oh it does. There is considerable overlap.

[ITR_champion]

@MrQwertyasd

Recnt news - update on Milgram’s experiment says that the more agreeable a person is, the more likely they are to obey a brutal authority.

Is this true anecdotally ?

No. Milgram’s experiment sets up a purely artificial scenario; it is also highly flawed and unscientific. It really does not prove anything about human tendency to obey authority.

[Stringbean]

I think the brutal authority worse than the agreeable simpleton obeying orders.

[MrQwertyasd]

it is also highly flawed and unscientific.

Excellent, thanks.

[buddha_david]

Please continue.

[Sailboat]

@Fallen

Someone should ask, to be timely and topical, Deputy Sheriff Deehan (who, if he weren’t so agreeable, would’ve told the judge “uhm, no sir ree (‘Guantanamo’) Bobm that I will not do”:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-official-wants-judge-removed-for-ordering-man-be-shocked-with-stun-cuff/2014/09/09/6397b7aa-385c-11e4-8601-97ba88884ffd_story.html

Wow, that’s pretty damned disturbing.

[Ambivalid]

@Sailboat

Wow, that’s pretty damned disturbing.

Well, at least you can take comfort in the fact that the Sheriff’s Office did an internal investigation about this incident and found no one to have acted inappropriately (“no one” being the judge and the deputy who actually shocked the guy). So I’m relieved.

[grude]

I’m unclear on the connection between the guy holding the door open for a woman carrying an infant and groceries, and the guy gassing people in the third reich.

Cite?

[QuickSilver]

@grude

I’m unclear on the connection between the guy holding the door open for a woman carrying an infant and groceries, and the guy gassing people in the third reich.

They both know how to hold doors open for people. D’uh!

[CalMeacham]

So is this why Women Don’t Like “Nice” Guys?