Obedience to a Figure of Authority and the Point at Which It Becomes Dangerous

I was born and raised in Poland where the Holocaust took place. It has been a long time
now since those events occurred, but I will assure youit is still a very sensitive subject in
Europe. There are several concentration camps throughout Poland (as well as the rest of Europe);
they serve now as museums and a bitter reminder of human cruelty. Many times in the past, I
heard the question how far would I go to obey the authority (Nazis) given, it was me to execute
an order. The answer is not easy to give, considering the circumstances of the war. I know I am a
lucky one to be born long after those events took place. When asked about the problem of
obedience to a figure of authority, I cannot help but think about concentration camps and choices
people were forced to make. Aside from this, being obedient is necessary to function in society,
and we all need to live by the rules. However, there are situations when a person not only should
but must disobey the figure of authority. People should disobey in situations when: obedience
causes a physical harm to another human being, goes against work ethic or faced with a peer
pressure. There are plenty of situations and choices we have to make each and every day. The
most important thing to do is we must stay true to ourselves and harm no one.
In a situation when a figure of authority requires us to cause physical harm to another
human being, we should disobey. I cannot think of a situation when anybody would
possibly ask anything like this from us, unless we are in the situation of war. In this case, we
learn to adjust to different sets of rules. Most of the time, we try to survive. We do everything
that needs to be done; we need to stay alive and protect our families, even if it means to kill the
enemy. Events that occurred during the Second World War show us that there is a line which we
should never cross. There are many lessons that the Second World War taught us. It is one thing
when we kill or hurt someone in self defense, another thing when we kill Jews and other

minorities with a purpose of ethnic cleansing. Erich Fromm says, humanistic conscience is
based
on the fact that as human beings we have an intuitive knowledge of what is human and inhuman,
what is conducive of life and what is destructive of life. This conscience serves our functioning
as human beings. It is the voice which calls us back to ourselves, to our humanity (Fromm 685).
After the war, many people who were being tried for war crimes blamed higher authority for
every evil act they executed: Adolf Eichmann is one of many war criminals who never felt guilty
for war crimes that he committed. Stanley Milgram says The essence of obedience is
that a person comes to view himself as the instrument for carrying out another persons wishes,
and he therefore no longer regards himself responsible for his actions (702). The fear of getting
killed was a way daily life during war. My Grandmother told me about a situation she witnessed,
when she was 15 years old. At the time, they were honored to be chambermaids in the hotel for
German Luftwaffe Officers. One day, they were ordered to prepare a chicken for a dinner.
Unfortunately, due to the stress and confusion, the chicken got burned. Everybody in the hotel
stuff was so afraid of getting killed by German officers, and they had to come up with a new
plan. They didnt have another chicken to make, so they decided to kill a cat and prepare it as
chicken. The plan worked out well, and officers congratulated the staff on a wonderfully
prepared meal. My Grandmother still laughs when she tells this story, and I was the first person
to whom she told the story. She said it was a secret and nobody was supposed to say a word
about it. So she kept it quiet for 61 years. This personal example show, how terrified people were
during war. They knew that for any act of disobedience, they would have to pay the ultimate
price-their lives.
In a work environment, it is a common place for us to obey the orders from supervisors.
However, there is also a lot of stress and pressure associated with getting the task done. The
point at which obedience becomes dangerous is when the work ethics are being violated. Every

working person at some point in life, experienced stress and the pressure at work. Also, some
places of employment are aligned with our beliefs and morals and some operate totally against
them. Most believe that work ethic comes from within. Our morals and values tend to determine
how we behave in the workplace. Allan J. McDonald is a former director of the Space Shuttle
Solid Rocket Motor Project for the engineering contractor Morton Thiokol. He refused to sign a
paper allowing NASA to launch the space shuttle Challenger 7. According to McDonald
Twelve-foot-diameter rubber O-rings in the shuttle's booster rockets were made stiff and
inflexible by the cold weather in Florida that morning. (Becker). The pressure to launch the
shuttle was great, and McDonald had to argue with many NASA managers. Despite his
warnings, NASA decided to launch the Challenger and that led to a destruction of the shuttle,
causing the death of 7 people. Allan J. McDonald is now trying to influence other young
engineers and impress on them that they take on a very professional ethical requirement when
they receive their degrees and go out into the world. "They need to stand on their feet and defend
their opinions and not be afraid to do that (Becker). Allan J. McDonalds actions show strong
work ethic and for that reason he became an icon and a great example to follow. Unfortunately, it
didnt help to save lives of seven people.
The desire to be accepted and belong to a group is an undeniable human need. When
individuals abandon their own freedom for the benefit of the larger group, they are no longer
individuals, but products of conformity. This is when obedience becomes dangerous. Groups
have the tendency to generate norms, or standards for behavior in certain situations. Not
following these norms can make you stand out, and therefore, groups have the ability to
influence our thoughts and actions in ways that are consistent with the groups. According to
Doris Lessing People who have experienced a lot of groups, who perhaps have observed their
own behavior, may agree that the hardest thing in the world is to stand out against ones group, a

group of ones peers. Many agree that among our most shameful memories is this, how often we
said black was white because other people were saying it(Lessing 725). It becomes tragic, when
people give up everything they have for the benefit of a religious cult. They become
brainwashed, and more often than not, they obey their leader without questioning anything.
Janet was only 19 years old when she joined the Scientology church. She joined because she had
no family nearby, and she felt lonely. She worked her way up higher and higher in the
organization, and eventually became an auditor. You go in this room, and they are telling you
the reason why the Earth is like it is, Janet says (Martin 2) After almost 10 years of being
a member of the Scientology church, she was able to escape from the house she was residing at,
and eventually become a free person again. Janet is only an example of a person who joined the
group out of the loneliness, and was lucky enough to realize that she is not her own person, but a
slave of ideology and another human being for whom she was working.
Whether obedience has positive or negative outcomes, it is one of the largest and most
overlooked factors our society deals with on a daily basis. In certain situations that include
violence, peer pressure, and lack of responsibility, most people are likely to throw common sense
aside and follow the orders of a higher authority figure. Peoples common sense is influenced
when they are in a situation that gives them power to control others, when they are under
pressure by people in a group atmosphere, and when they are not forced to take responsibility for
their actions.

Work Cited
Fromm, Erich. Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem. Milgram, Stanley.The
Perils of Obedience. Lessing, Doris.Group Minds. Writing and Reading
Across the Curriculum. 11th ed. Ed. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. Boston:
Longman, 2011. 683-687. Print.
Becker, Michael. "Engineer Who Warned of Trouble before Challenger Disaster to Sign Books
Today." Montana State University. N.p. 08 May 2009. Web. 08 Apr. 2013.
Martin, Christa. One former Scientologist recounts her experience.Cult Awareness and
Information Library. Volume 32, No.26. Web.5 Oct. 2006