We, as a SPECIES, need to aspire to be better than we are!

[Dark Jaguar]

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.../510090392

Read this! Pathetic lowlife A pretends to be an authority figure over the phone to get a manager at some fast food restaurant to strip search an employee.

Pathetic lowlife B is the manager who actually decided to believe someone on the sheer basis that they claimed to be an authority figure, no need for evidence (I mean hey, if they ARE an authority figure, they don't need to provide evidence, or some idoitic "logic" like that).

Pathetic lowlife C is the rest of the employees who didn't do anything out of fear of defying the manager.

Even the victim of this showed signs of being too complient for her own good.

This is a natural part of the human psyche, but another part of our psychology is the ability to override this when we take the time to think about the situation. Just because we ARE this weak doesn't mean we shouldn't try to stop being like this. I wear glasses because I refused to accept my genetic limitations.

In other words, people are idiots but they don't have to be. This reflects badly on the entire species.

[Great Rumbler]

Studies have shown that people aspire to be controlled by authority figures.

[Dark Jaguar]

It's true! I forget the name of one of those studies in particular, but you are right.

However, it is well established as well that this is not an absolute of human behavior. What hasn't been confirmed as of yet is whether or not those few exceptions who seem able to apply some actual logic to a given situation are genetically dispositioned to behave that way or if it is a matter of the power of mental thinking (check your Becktionary!). This is mere anecdote, so take it with a grain of salt, but as for myself I've sort of drifted between "tool" and "not quite as much of a tool, or at least aware enough of my own mental weaknesses to be able to notice a lot more manipulations and counter them than in the past".