The Lucifer Effect

This is part three of a series that has started in my head after the death of Qaddafi, which evoked something I have been thinking about a lot and a book came to the rescue. Part one is The Death Of Qaddafi  and two is Who Do We Hate ? And Why ?


How do you judge people? Don't pretend that you don't judge, we all do. So how do you judge them ? based on what ? most of us do so based on their actions, if they do good things then they are good and if they hurt others then they aren't and we would gladly call them "evil". We do it daily with dictators who kill their people, with rapists, killers, even normal people like you and you and you, cuz I wont judge me !!!.
But do you judge those who stop the evildoers like those who killed Qaddafi too ??


what do we know about the human nature?. How do people turn to good or bad ? How do they react in a good or bad way in the face of tragedies or with evildoers? 


The book that came to help, and believe me books can help you a lot in different parts of your life, is called "The Lucifer Effect, understanding How Good People Turn Evil" by Philip Zimbardo. If you ever heard his name then you would know that he is the one who staged " The Stanford Prison Experiment" . The book is trying to answer questions like "what makes good people do bad things" "how and why we are all susceptible to the lure of "the dark side" ..etc.? .


In the very first pages of the book, Zimbardo explains:
"The Lucifer Effect is my attempt to understand the processes of transformation at work when food or ordinary people do bad or evil things. We will deal with the fundamental question "what makes people go wrong?" but instead of resorting to a traditional religious dualism of good versus evil, of wholesome nature versus corruption nurture, we will look at real people engaged in life's daily tasks, enmeshed in doing their jobs, surviviing within an often turbulent crucible of human nature" and believe me the book has done so and much more. 

Its a big book of 550 pages and a big part of it is a detailed description of his Stanford Prison Experiment. you can read how normal people who were supposed to be prisoners and guards for only two weeks turned in the short time of one and two days to something evil and submissive. It explains a lot about what happens in our world and how do some can control others and how the rest can obey completely. Things we keep saying daily that we wont submit to, we wont let anyone treat us this way or that. I loved the part of the book that explains about "Crimes Against Humanity: Genocide, Rape, And Terror". Leave you wondering and in pain. 


What I love mostly is that unlike lots of psychologists, he doesn't judge, he simply explain to you the why's, the what's and the how's of our human nature. 


 The scariest thing  is that anyone of us can flip at any second if we don't be aware, awake, teach ourselves that we are all the same no matter what religion, race, country or gender we belong to. These things will help us realize that we can be on the good track. Cuz as much as it's scary to harm yourselves, it will always be horrifying to hurt and kill others. 


And keep praying it will help if you are a believer. 


More: Lucifer Effect
Lucifer
Lucifer Effect Overview

P.S: A free version of the book is available. 

Who Do We Hate ? And Why ?

A very interesting discussion about why does Arab have the well known bad image in the world in a post by a friend . 

Muslims too have a bad image everywhere but the Islam of the south eastern Asia is much more respected than the Islam of the Middle East. All of that is known. 

Here is something I want to know and I honestly wish that you will answer it , even those of you who read and leave, try to answer the question. 

Who do you hate ? and why? 

And I am not talking about individual, I am talking about a whole ethnicity, country, religion, people...etc. 

 if you don't hate anyone then explain why, please? 

You can answer anonymously, I am just interested to know why and who do we hate. 

The Death Of Qaddafi

Death is a natural end for all of us. There is no happiness in death, no gloating, nothing at all. Death should be observed with silence and silence alone. No matter who died, what is their relation to you and how badly they hurt you. 

The funny thing is that we got so happy when someone who hurt us die thinking that his/her death is an end to our sufferings. But it never is, the end to our sufferings comes from within us. And their death might be their end to their own sufferings. Believing in the hereafter,a God who is just, hell and heaven might help a lot but what if you don't believe in that , how is it going to help you ? 

Those two days were so upsetting to me not because Qaddafi is my favorite president -or whatever title he has-.The news of his death after being captured was so bad because of the way he was killed -the way the rebels killed him . The Libyan council really need a PR company to make them know how and when to spread a lie. They should of have lied about his death, claimed it to be during battles. But to claim to be pious and then kill a man after his surrender, a prisoner of war is beyond imagination. Not only its against any religion rules, it's against all human rights and mostly humanity. What difference does that make us from those who have tortured us ?. If Qaddafi was a teacher he would be the best, making his student follow his rules. 

The funny thing is that-as always-when you raise your voice against brutality and dignity then you are with someone. Damn you Bush you made people believe so much in with/against policy !!. But when you treat your POW with dignity, when you treat your enemy with dignity, when you allow them the fair trials and treatments they didn't allow you then you are a better human. Claiming that they are only human being and acted upon their  anger and emotions is a problem because someone only lives once and when you kill someone after being your prisoner there is no chance in a second chance, in him/her being raised from the dead and being treated better the next time. It's now or never. 

The worst thing is those how call them "sheikhs" and starting issuing fatwas about the death of Qaddafi. you shouldn't say these nice things about him or that because he is a dictatorship !!! really? wasn't he for over 40 years? weren't you his guests in someone of these years? . Wonder where did your condemnation against his brutality were all these years ? " Gone with the wind" !! . If you have the power to speak and didn't then it's better to shut up now. 

Humanity needs a huge lesson in humanity.

P.S: I don't judge anyone, I don't dare. I only condemned their actions. 

Unworthy Of Love

We meet with different kinds of people every day, who have different personalities, characters, agendas and ambitions. some of them would do whatever it takes to make things go their way, including manipulating you into believing something you shouldn't believe especially about yourself and your good traits.

A friend of mine was crying today explaining me how she couldn't believe how many of her friends attended a special occasion of her, she was surprised how many people actually love and respect her and came to celebrate with her .
When i inquire about her surprise, she explained how her husband keep telling her that no one actually love her because she is a private person and doesn't like to mingle so much with his family. He was doing that for over twenty years!!

See how people can manipulate you into believing something this bad about yourself. believing that you are unworthy of love by others would make you weak, hostile and a sad person.

It's not you the problem, it's theirs. But they are smarter and know how to make YOU feel bad.

The same friend told me before about the verbal abuse of her husband. Could this be his way of being sure she wont get a divorce knowing that she is not loved enough !!.

Abuser do that, they wreck your life and make sure you wont get any chance of a better life without them. And they are all around us. They could be members of our family, friends, colleagues.

Let's have faith in ourselves and abilities. Tell people that they are good, show them that they are loved and respected. Who knows, you might be saving one by being kind.

World Teachers' Day

World Teachers' Day, held annually on October 5th since 1994, commemorates teachers’ organizations worldwide. Its aim is to mobilise support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers.

According to UNESCO, World Teachers' Day represents a significant token of the awareness, understanding and appreciation displayed for the vital contribution that teachers make to education and development.

Education International (EI) (the global union federation that represents education professionals worldwide) strongly believes that World Teachers' Day should be internationally recognized and celebrated around the world. EI also believes that the principles of the 1966 and 1997 Recommendations should be considered for implementation in all nations.

Over 100 countries observe World Teachers' Day. The efforts of Education International and its 401 member organisations have contributed to this widely spread recognition. Every year, EI launches a public awareness campaign to highlight the contributions of the teaching profession. ( source )

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More about it: 

http://www.5oct.org/2011/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=300001&lang=en-GB

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/education-building-blocks/teacher-education/world-teachers-day/

http://www.teacher-appreciation.info/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teachers%27_Day

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We're More Alike Than Different

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People all over the world are just more alike than different, no matter what color, ethnicity, religion or disability we are .

Let's celebrate our differences before our similarity :)