Dear VCC Community, A topic that has preoccupied me these last three years is why so many people went along with the tyranny of our governments. This line of inquiry is critical as we go forward because a small cadre of tyrants is incapable of imposing tyranny by themselves. They require the active participation of a large number of obedient followers. My training in Psychology exposed me to the research of Stanley Milgram who discovered some disconcerting realities about humanity’s willingness to comply with authority even when they believed it
would cause harm to another. In his research, which has been replicated hundreds of times, approximately 65% of subjects were willing to comply with the ordered administration of an electric shock, even when they understood the shock to be lethal. Of particular interest to those of us in the freedom movement is that when test subjects watched someone else refusing to obey, the subject’s compliance with immoral authority reduced to 10%. Milgram showed the effect of witnessing disobedience as an option. “The solution for toppling tyranny is
highly visible acts of disobedience.”
- James Corbett This explains both the power of the Freedom
Convoy, and Trudeau’s pathological response to the truckers and other Canadians legally protesting the overreach of government. I reflect upon all this as I anticipate meeting Tamara Lich later this week. Tamara is, from my perspective, a modern day Gandhi. She is a wise and soulful individual who stood up to tyranny with love, compassion and courage. Her courage, and that of the truckers, brought us back from the brink of full on totalitarianism. Their moral courage to disobey broke the spell that so many were under. Never underestimate the power of your peaceful disobedience. As Tamara has stated, even under the threat of imprisonment – Hold the line. Ted |
