It Blooms in the Dark
Robert H. Outman, Prisoner P-79939
Unlike
nocturnal plants, that sometimes bring forth delicate and beautiful flowers,
this blossom is neither beautiful nor delicate. Like molds and fungi,
which can also live in dark places, this blossom finds refuge in the dark
recesses of the human mind. It is the icon of darkness: evil.
Philosophers, psychologists, and theologians can argue among themselves,
not coming to a definitive answer other than that evil takes root in the
human mind.
An
insatiable appetite for punishment (evil in itself) has allowed prison
systems to become multi-billion dollar shrines to evil, where good men
are made bad and bad men are made worse. California is so dedicated
to punishment that its prisons hold the third largest line item on the
state budget.
Dr.
Philip Zimbardo's book, The LUCIFER EFFECT: Understanding How
Good People Turn Evil, addresses the dynamics of evil in the prison
system and within society, among the so called "good people."
Moral Disengagement
Zimbardo
explains that evil is much too clever and insidious to be confined within
prison walls. By means of a simple psychological mechanism known
as Moral Disengagement, "good people" can justify any sort of destructive
and egregious behavior. Moral Disengagement is the act of establishing
the mental perspective that what you are doing is for the good of society
or in the performance of a duty: "I was only doing my job," "I was
only following orders," "This is God's will," "He deserved it," "It's in
the interest of justice," "He blasphemes," "God is on my side," "By authority
of the court," and any other mind-set that gives license to evil acts by
"good people."
Moral
Disengagement makes it all easy to justify: "Justice must be served,"
"It was God's will," "He asked for it." Moral Disengagement allows
the son to hate his father, the guard to beat the prisoner, the policeman
to administer "street justice," witches to be burned, and innocent men
to be sent to prison. It facilitates a will to power and control.
The
Inquisition allowed "good God fearing men" to do God's business of killing
and torture. Almost everyone can remember the video of a pack of
police officers beating Rodney King. During the Vietnam War, villages
of innocent people were decimated. WWII produced "good Germans" killing
millions of Jews. In Rwanda "good Hutus" roamed the streets, slaughtering
Tutsi neighbors and, in the U.S., "good people" advocate torture as a means
to an end.
Depersonalization
"Good
people" know that evil must be kept in the darkness, which explains why
the executioner wears a mask, members of the Ku Klux Klan wear sheets,
and brutal policemen or guards wear sunglasses and remove name tags.
The process of concealing one's identity is called Depersonalization.
Dehumanization
To
further the dark influence of Moral Disengagement, "good people" will employ
Dehumanization of the subjects of their hatred. This is accomplished
by identifying an individual as a lesser creature such as a "cockroach,"
a "jackass," or some such pejorative that describes the target as less
than human. After all, everyone knows cockroaches have to be exterminated
and dumb animals have to be subjugated.
The
trinity of Moral Disengagement, Depersonalization, and Dehumanization allows
evil to take root behind a facade of goodness and virtue, but we each have
the ability to separate ourselves from the herd. We do not have to
follow the herd mentality or submit to the dark blossom's seductive lure.
Evil needs the soil of weak character to survive. Good people can
strive to develop strength of character. Identifying evil must start
within. Too many "good people" are too busy identifying evil in others,
while it is in full bloom in their own darkness. How often do you
employ Moral Disengagement? How often do you refer to other human
beings as non-human? How often do you practice Depersonalization,
by hiding your identity? Where are you in the human herd?
| October 2016 | Frontiersman,0c/o
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