Syria's Torture Machine

http://touch.dailymotion.com/video/xnahdx_syria-s-torture-machine-exclusive-film-by-channel4_news

A chilling documentary that provides a glimpse of reality. This only includes the torture that was captured on video. This only includes testimonies of those who were brave enough to speak to journalists. Take what you see in this documentary and amplify it hundreds of times -- that is everyday life for the Syrian people.

This past weekend two of my American (non-Syrian) friends were asking me why Assad's soldiers act like monsters. Why are they so brutal, and why do they act so inhumane? I related it to the famous study that is taught in every Psychology classroom - the Stanford Prison Experiment. In 1971, psychologist Philip Zambardo gathered 24 psychologically stable volunteers with no criminal backgrounds. The researchers set up a mock prison, randomly assigning 12 students to be guards and 12 to be prisoners. Long story short, when the guards were placed in a position of power, they began to abuse it. Reinforcing the idea that this is their new identity, they started torturing and degrading the prisoners. This analysis of human behavior is analogous to the roles the soldiers are playing in Syria. They are merely Assad's puppets, enthused by this power they have been granted.

- Iman