THE “PANDEMIC” & THE LUCIFER EFFECT

Insights into how power, authority, and innate corruption shaped responses to the Covid “Pandemic"

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THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT

In 1971 an investigation into the psychology of prison life transformed how the academic world views relationships between those who are viewed as powerful versus those who are to be beholden to that power. The Stanford Prison Experiment was a real-time example of The Lucifer Effect.

Lucifer effect

the tendency for iniquitous social contexts to negatively influence and transform human behavior, in some cases to an extreme degree. According to this conceptualization, even individuals who are inherently moral in character and upbringing can, in a corruptive social setting, be induced to act dishonorably and unethically. This phenomenon takes its name from the Christian story of the angel Lucifer, who defied God's authority and ultimately became the Devil. (Psychology, 2023)

Funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research to study antisocial behavior, the experiment was led by Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo the experiment was originally planned to span two weeks but was quickly reduced because of the extreme stress the simulated prisoners exhibited, and the sadistic behaviors of the simulated guards. (Zimbardo, 1999-2023) The students were fully informed that they were going to be randomly chosen to play the part of either guard or prisoner in a study for the psychology department. They were compensated for their time. Those selected as prisoners remained in character and were confined 24 hours per day. Those chosen as guards rotated on 8-hour shifts with three guards assigned for every nine prisoners. All participants were compensated for their time. All participants were screened and cleared of any prior criminal behavior, personality disorders, or mental illness. They each had full informed consent and were told they could leave at any time.

The experiment began with simulated surprise arrests in the homes of the prisoners. They were fully booked with the assistance of the Palo Alto police department. The guards were not given any formal training but were instructed to “maintain law and order, avoid physical violence, and prevent prisoner escapes.” (Zimbardo, 1999-2023)

PRISONER RULES PREPARED BY THE WARDEN AND GUARDS

·       The rules below were read twice to all prisoners. Before the second reading, a guard told the prisoners: "Prisoners are part of a correctional community. In order to keep the community running smoothly, prisoners must obey the following rules."

·       Prisoners must remain silent during rest periods, after lights out, during meals and whenever they are outside the prison yards.

·       Prisoners must eat at meal times, and only at meal times.

·       Prisoners must participate in all prison activities.

·       Prisoners must keep the cell clean at all times. Beds must be made and personal effects must be neat and orderly; floor must be spotless.

·       Prisoners must not move, tamper with, deface or damage walls, ceiling, windows, doors, or any prison property.

·       Prisoners may never operate cell lighting.

·       Prisoners must address each other by number only.

·       Prisoners must always address the guards as "Mr. Correctional Officer," and the warden as "Mr. Chief Correctional Officer."

·       Prisoners must never refer to their condition as an "experiment" or a "simulation." They are in prison until paroled.

·       Prisoners will be allowed 5 minutes in the lavatory. No prisoner will be allowed to return to the lavatory within 1 hour after a scheduled lavatory period.

·       Smoking is a privilege. Smoking will be allowed after meals or at the discretion of the guards. Prisoners must never smoke in the cells. Abuse of the smoking privilege will result in permanent revocation of the smoking privilege.

·       Mail is a privilege. All mail flowing in and out of the prison will be inspected and censored.

·       Visitors are a privilege. Prisoners who are allowed a visitor must meet him at the door of the yard. The visit will be supervised by a guard. The guard may terminate the visit at his discretion.

·       All prisoners in a cell will stand whenever the Warden, the Prison Superintendent or any other visitors arrive on the premises. Prisoners will await an order to be seated and resume activities.

·       Prisoners must obey all orders issued by guards at all times. A guard's order supersedes any written order. The Warden's order supersedes both the guards' order and the written rules. Orders of the Superintendent of Prisoners are supreme.

·       Prisoners must report all rule violations to the guards.

·       Failure to obey any of the above rules may result in punishment.

The experiment became realistic almost immediately. It was reported that prisoners completely forgot that this was a simulation that they could leave at any time. They began suffering from extreme mental fatigue, exhausting and genuine terror. The guards quickly became cruel authoritarian figures who were quick to punish, abuse, and terrorize. They used their assumed authority to admonish and command behavior and compliance.

“There were many results, but perhaps the most important was simply this: The simulation became so real, and the guards became so abusive, that the experiment had to be shut down.” (Zimbardo, 1999-2023) As the acting “prison” superintendent Zimbardo was confronted by one of the observers and informed that he had become indifferent to the suffering the experiment was causing in the students, so he ended it the next day.

Zimbardo went on to write The Lucifer Effect detailing how power can corrupt and imprisonment can cause extreme stress. The assumption of either role results in personality shifts, unwillingness to relinquish the role, and situational variables that make resistance difficult. We see in his writing how easy it is to get individuals, groups, and communities to "conform, comply, obey and be readily seduced into doing things they could not imagine doing when they were outside those situational force fields." (Zimbardo P. G., 2007)

THE COVID “PANDEMIC” RESPONSE

Retrospectively, we can see that during the declared pandemic for COVID 19 many “wardens and guards" emerged while the global society quickly became the imprisoned. Public figures, global leaders, "philanthropists," social influencers, and elected officials quickly and uniformly established the rules and swiftly enforced the punishments for dissent. Stay-at-home orders, business closures, and public gathering restrictions sparked the initial arrest of society. Even those who fervently opposed lockdowns, forced medicine, and experimental treatments still became subjugated to the assumed and asserted authoritarians.

A highly repetitive news cycle lamented gruesome details that lead to prolific fear and prolonged terrorization. Public health directors talked in confusing circles and issued senseless protocols that did little to help address any of the proposed problems. Suicide rates skyrocketed during the lockdowns shining a dim light on the internal terror many were struggling with during isolation. (Suicide Rates Rise, Spotlighting Pandemic’s Mental Health Toll, 2022)

The lucifer effect truly emerged as we saw the global wardens collaborate on what the conditions were for release, a mandatory experimental medical product. For some who were deeply tormented by the fear of an illness, submitting to this was an overwhelming relief. They quickly clung to the hope it offered while ignoring that those who had committed the worst atrocities during this time, were also the ones offering the solutions. They fell into dogmatic thinking, and mass psychosis, and welcomed forced physical measures. They quickly became the guards, using social pressure, physical violence, and threats to force their ‘solution” to the current problem. "Even individuals who are inherently moral in character and upbringing can, in a corruptive social setting, be induced to act dishonorably and unethically."

Initial reports were that the product proposed would stop all transmission of the infection, and life would return to normal if everyone complied. (Pfizer, 2020) World leaders repeated that life could not be normal without compliance. As time went on the world realized a simple truth, the solution was likely worse than the problem. Despite an initial overwhelming compliance, mask mandates, vaccine mandates, and social restrictions lingered in place. Then, they demanded more injections.

Brave doctors, lawyers, and good humans (the observers) stood up and began telling the truth. The vaccine wasn’t working, it was hurting. The wardens and guards had become indifferent to the pain they were causing, the lives they were taking, and the torment they were continuing to inflict. Those who were adamant they retain the power they had assumed doubled down and tried to suppress any dissent. They revoked the licenses of doctors who opposed them, silenced those on social media who provided data and information on injuries or alternative treatments, ruined livelihoods, and started a propaganda campaign to strengthen their guards and amplify their cruelty.

The declared pandemic is over, but the remnant of terror remains. Unlike the Stanford Prison Experiment where the warden and guards expressed regret and empathy after it was over, we still have those who assumed power struggling to retain it. We are still divided and fractured in so many ways. Fear is still the weapon of choice, and labeling dissenters as those in need of confinement and isolation is means preferred by the terrorizers. The “pandemic” didn’t end because the measures implemented worked. The pandemic ended when people stood up and spoke the truth and countered the lies. It ended when the prisoners realized, they could leave anytime they wanted to, but the road out was paved with landmines.

“Situational forces can make good people do bad things, but that does not translate into either suspending personal accountability or endorsing pessimistic determinism. We are ultimately responsible for the consequences of any of our behavior that is enacted intentionally; however, now we add to the accountability mix those responsible for creating and maintaining evil-generating behaviors.

I am advocating a revolution in legal theory that expands on the narrow individualistic focus by adding situations and systems to calculations of guilt and sentencing. Further, I advocate replacing the traditional medical model of individual disease and cure, which has spilled over into law, psychiatry, religion, and most of our institutions, with a public health model.

The presence of pathology in a society alerts the search for the "disease vector" which when found enables inoculation against its toxicity and environmental modifications to prevent its spread. Finally, I must add the obvious recognition that people create situations and thus with wisdom and goodwill can change them to work for us rather than against us.

The last chapter of Lucifer lays out a basic program of central actions designed to increase our resistance potential. It is expanded in my website to offer specific strategies and tactics of resistance geared to various types of influence—group conformity pressures, persuasive communications, compliance eliciting by influence professionals, cult recruiting, and more.” (Kawaski, 2007)

As survivors, as those committed to living in truth, we must continue to share what has truly transpired and will continue to transpire if these dynamics remain in place. We must pursue legal accountability and create a true lasting community outside of oppressive systems of control. We must rally together against conforming to social roles that violate our morals and principles. We must continue to fully live and stand in truth.