what to not forget

Yesterday was September 11th, and try as hard as I could not to look at my Facebook page (okay, not very hard) I couldn't help avoiding all the reminders to "Never Forget."

Yesterday was also the second meeting in my intro to Social Psych seminar, where we get to read all the oldies but goodies in psych research. This week's discussion was Milgram's 1960's Yale study. You've almost certainly heard of it: New Haven residents innocently came in to participate in a study about "learning" and within an hour found themselves obediently administering electric shocks, starting at 15 volts and moving up to 450, to another "participant" (actually a "confederate" in on the game). Almost all participants started to be concerned when the confederated began hollering in pain and begging to be released, but most - over 60% - continued to flip the shock switch all the way up to 450, even after the screams from the confederate suddenly stopped, leading them to wonder if they had killed the guy. What's unsettling about the study is not just that so many people easily follow orders to harm another, it's that these participants look - and act - like such nice people. They're intensely concerned about the welfare of the person they're zapping, visible writhing in metaphysical pain themselves, yet they zap away.

In light of the Milgram study, I couldn't help wonder what it was I was supposed to be not forgetting on September 11th. When we hear the words "Never Forget" in reference to the Holocaust, the lesson is pretty clear; at least according to the tour guide in Israel's Holocaust museum, we're never to forget that humans, even when they appear to be at the height of civilization, are capable of horrendous acts. And, by humans, we're talking about me and you. It's the same message Milgram hoped to get across (along with Hannah Arendt and many others): it doesn't take much to turn us all (or a good 90%+ of us) into willing executioners.

But I'm pretty sure that is not what all those images of the twin towers with the words "Never Forget" were trying to tell me. I know some were saying we should never forget to honor the many innocent lives that were lost in the tragedy. But perhaps just as many don't want to forget that "bad people did something really bad to us."

I agree a noble society always remembers those who were sacrificed in its name (AQ was taking aim at all of us, and just happened to hit those 3000). But I don't understand what we gain out of remembering that some people once tried to hurt us. There's not much to learn beyond anger and paranoia. 

We're much better off remembering Milgram and, instead of hoping we can eradicate all the bad guys from the earth, being very vigilant that one day we don't become the bad guys ourselves.