Zimbardo's Essay: Violence Is Never The Answer

Violence is never the answer. It is a much heard phrase, however, these wise words are almost never followed. Violence seems like a fragile beast that no one has full control over. People, groups, and states all display acts of violence and the reasons why can vary. Some rely on violence when they feel as if they have no other option, and there are people whose basic instinct is to commit a violent act. The basic reasons violence exists is, because it is a potential option. It can be used as a tool to achieve certain goals, and the simple notion of violence can be used as a manipulation method. Also when one is put in a position of authority, it can cause potential abuse of power and assertion of dominance over another group, state or being. Lastly, when one’s life or freedom is at risk or it seems to be, one may have to rely on violence.
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This idea is occasionally seen when a person is put in a place of authority or he or she is put into scenario where abuse of power is possible. Experts believe that this can be attested to those individuals not being properly trained in handling situations of authority. Without this training, the power seems to go to their heads. A prime example of authority abuse is the Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment. In the experiment people were chosen at random to be prisoners or guards. The results of the experiment showed that when regular human beings are put in a place of authority they may abuse it. The guards, as the experiment progressed, became more sadistic. During night time, when they believed the cameras to be turned off, the guards would harass, punish, and occasionally beat the prisoners. This information is especially shocking, because these abusive guards all had an equal chance of being picked as prisoners, however, no sympathy was shown. Foucault believes that punishments