Mark Buchanan: Wrong About Torture at Abu Ghraib

In Mark Buchanan's essay "How People Turn Monstrous" he argues that given enough social pressure anyone could easily do something horrific. The focal point of his essay revolves around the abuse prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison endured because of Staff Sgt. Ivan Fredrick II and several other American Soldiers. Buchannan believes Fredrick was just an average person thrown in to a situation where he had no control over what he was doing, which leads Buchanan to ask the question, "Can a person be guilty of a crime if almost everyone [...] would have done the same thing?" (384). Put simply the answer is yes, a person should be accountable for their actions not matter the situation.

Buchanan shows through Phillip Zimbardo's testimony at Fredrick's trial, that Fredrick was a normal, average, person. According to Zimbardo, "[Fredrick's] psych assessment reveled no sign of any pathology, no sadistic tendencies, and all his pysch assessment scores are in the normal range, as is his intelligence" (385). So what would make a normal person do the terrible things Fredrick did to his detainees in Abu Ghraib?

Buchanan believes that the social pressure caused Fredrick to act the way he did. He uses one of Phillip Zimbardo's experiments to back up this theory. In the 1970's Zimbardo performed his infamous experiment involving average college students portraying the positions as guards and prisoners. After several days the student guards began acting sadistically toward the prisoners much like the tragedy that occurred in Abu Ghraib. From this Buchanan draws a conclusion simple; we cannot put the guilt on Fredrick because none of us know how we would have handled the situation in his place. Instead Buchanan believes the higher ups in the white house, that set up prison to become a disaster that it became, should be the ones to get punished not Frederick and the soldiers under him.

In Junior High School, everyone is taught from our teachers and parents to never cave into peer pressure because not thinking for your self can have bad results. This concept can easily be applied in the case of Fredrick and Abu Ghraib. The social pressure that he was feeling was great, but that does not mean he had no choice. Fredrick had the choice to do the right thing but chose the easier way out and caved to the pressure upon his shoulders.

The "average person" as Buchanan calls them in his essay, is not someone who commits acts of violence and hate towards others. The average person has at least some values and knowledge of right and wrong clearly none of which Fredrick possessed. Most people will agree the shocking of prisoners, making them wear ladies clothing, and even forcing them to masturbate is over the line even if they are guilty of the crimes they committed. Buchanan says there is no way we could know if we would have acted the way Fredrick had, however Buchanan has no way to justify that the average person would have acted the same way. He presents little evidence showing the average person would have done the same thing.

Even if the average person would have acted the same way, does that mean they should not be found guilty? Should we just try and find a higher power to blame? Just because the average person would have done it does not mean they should get off scot free. In a recent study of speeding in school zones over sixty-five percent of cars drove higher than the posted speed limit within a school zone (Taft, Kane, Mickalide, Paul, 2). So according to Buchanan's theory since the majority of people speed in school zones, the police should no longer write these speeders tickets should find someone else with more power to blame for the speeders actions? Obviously that would be rather risky to the school children's safety and lacks common sense. It cannot go unpunished. The punishment is there as a reform so that people stop breaking the law. If Fredrick goes unpunished what would stop this monstrosity from happening again? Now maybe the "average person" will think before committing a crime as heinous as Fredrick's.

In Buchanan's essay he makes many hasty generalizations about the average person and how they would act in Fredrick's shoes. People are free-thinking and have the ability to do what is right, no matter the social pressure put on them. Also, you cannot judge how a person would act in a certain situation unless they are actually put in that situation. Saying everyone but "a few heroic types" would do the same is an over the top statement considering Buchanan provides little evidence to back it up in his essay (385). Even still, just because the average person or the majority does do something does not mean it should go unpunished or we should find someone else to blame for our mistake.

Sources:
Buchanan Mark, . "How People Turn Monstrous." Perspectives on Contemporary Issues. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Print.

Taft CH, Kane BE, Mickalide AD, Paul, HA. Child Pedestrians at Risk in America: A National Survey of Speeding in School Zones. Washington, DC: National SAFE KIDS Campaign, October 2000.