The Psychology of Internment – Part 1

Guest Author Uncategorized

In the past nineteen months, I have become deeply afraid. Because I think this nation is heading down the path of fascist totalitarianism so fast it’s almost unbelievably irretrievable.

abbott, that vainglorious little man, is only the front puppet.

Behind him are the forces of BIG energy (aka coal and oil), BIG Pharma (what is the TPP all about?), BIG guns (aka the Military-Industrial Complex, about which President Icingsugar warned us – well, that’s what I thought his name was 55 years ago), BIG whatever else you can think of . . .

Puffy’s piece is a timely reminder of the hell we are perpetrating, not only for others – for which we should be hauled before the International Court of Justice – but also the hell we are fomenting for ourselves.

You can’t do this stuff without enormous psychic damage to everyone.

Thank you, Puffy.

(Image Credit: How Stuff Works)

 

A discussion in two parts

Part One – The reader completes a task (please).

Australia has entered an Age of Internment, the like of which not seen on our soil since World War Two.

Both major political parties have gone down this miserable road, in thrall to a section of the populace fearing outsiders and the perceived threat that they may steal this land in the way we stole it from the Aboriginal peoples in 1776.

There was a road to a humane solution that could have saved lives, built a new regional plan to help asylum seekers while taking Australua off the people-smugglers’ menu. It was, in my opinion worth a try. The Gillard ALP government’s Malaysia plan might have worked. We will never know now, as partisan politics and the chance of picking up some votes in electorates where racial fear was opportunistically stoked by the Liberal and National parties scuttled that idea.

So here we are,going backwards into the internment era, and worse, with reported conditions akin to the worst hell-hole in a mad third-world dictator’s prison. The reports on the treatment of children are shocking.

This is the perfect time to revisit an old social science experiment, one shocking and controversial. This experiment triggered the creation of University Ethics Committees, which these days examine every researchpropsal for potential harm to the participants.

This research would never be allowed today and cannot be repeated. Indeed the experiment was cut short when the lead researcher was pulled up by a colleague who saw he had gone off the rails too.

I am of course discussing the Stanford Prison Experiments at Stanford University, California, in 1971.

Many are aware of it but I urge you, even if you have not the slightest interest in social science, to set aside a little time, grab a glass or cup of whatever and read through the complete description of the planning, carrying-out and fall out of this seemingly innocent almost naive research.

Because nobody predicted the shocking results.

Then think of Nauru and Manus Island. Think of the Department of Immigration, the Minister, and our Prime Minister.

I will not pre-empt the story just now, but will follow up with another post when people have had the time to read, listen and absorb. Please don’t just read the first page of the website and think, yeah, that one. Take the slide tour. It has the detail which contains the devil.

http://www.prisonexp.org/

Thank you.

610 thoughts on “The Psychology of Internment – Part 1”

  2. Although this Bight is beautiful

    It looks like something took a bite out of it.

  3. Finally got around to getting an external hard drive. Goodness they have shrunk. A 1Tb drive and it really does fit in my pocket. Shirt pocket at that. Very nice.

  4. The Indonesian ambassador’s statement was a formality, nothing more. If Abbott thinks it is any indication of warmer relations between Australia and Indonesia then he’s an even bigger fool than I thought.

    Abbott keeps talking up our ‘anger’ at the executions. What anger? Public opinion seems to be covered by three responses – I’m glad it’s over because I was sick of hearing about it’, “They deserved what they got’ and ‘Who cares?’. Sometimes there’s sadness that two lives had to be ended in this way, but I have not seen or heard anyone apart from Abbott and Bananas showing ‘anger’ – in their case it’s fake, anyway. They cared only because failing to get a reprieve was a bad look for them.

    Today someone asked The Idiot if he had written to General Prabawo Subianto, a political opponent of Jokjo, who had allegedly offered to help get a stay of execution. Abbott refused to answer, saying, when pressed a second time wtte ‘of course we made every effort’. Weasel words, he still refused to confirm or deny. But that didn’t stop Sky News trying to talk up Abbott’s alleged secret contact, constantly running the same item over and over, saying Abbott ‘admitted’ to contacting Subianto.
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-01/decent-indonesians-understand-australias-anger-bali-nine-abbott/6437038

    Meanwhile that fool Bandt is demanding the Indonesian ambassador be sent home. For good, as a ‘strong stand’ on Australia’s opposition to the death penalty. Odd that he didn’t demand we also send the US ambassador home as well, because the US keeps executing alleged criminals too, and not just their own citizens.
    http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/05/01/calls-to–boot-out–indonesian-ambassador.html

    Then there are all the other countries that still use the death penalty. Does Bandt want us to send home the ambassadors for the lot of them? Thailand, China, Singapore, India, Egypt, Belize, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, United Arab Emirates (Dubai), Vietnam, BRazil, Jamaica………..and lots more. Look it up for yourselves.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_capital_punishment_by_country

  6. kk

    Just finished doing a back-up this morning. Mine 1TB as well. About 5 yo so not pocket size.

  9. This comin g Monday’s 4 Corners should be worth a watch. The “productivity and industrial dream of the LNP in action here in Australia.

    Slaving away: The dirty secrets behind Australia’s fresh food.

    It’s in your fridge and on your table: the fresh food that we take for granted.

    But there’s a dirty secret behind it.

    Much of it is picked and packed by a hidden army of migrant workers who are ruthlessly exploited.

    “There is slave labour in this country.” – Queensland grower

    A Four Corners investigation has uncovered gangs of black market workers run by unscrupulous labour hire contractors operating on farms and in factories around the country.

    The produce they supply ends up in our major supermarkets and fast food chains.

    “These labour hire contractors prey upon highly vulnerable young foreigners, many with very limited English, who have come to Australia with dreams of working in a fair country.

    They’re subjected to brutal working hours, degrading living conditions and the massive underpayment of wages……….Reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna has obtained undercover footage and on-camera accounts of this dark world.

    http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2015/04/30/4227055.htm

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