Changing the world

Been reading Opening Skinner's Box by Lauren Slater. A book about great psychological/sociological experiments. I really like the one by Stanley Milgram, about seeing what percentage/type of person will obey orders to continue shocking someone while they're begging you to stop. 65% continue to the end when they have an authority figure telling them to do so even when they know they won't get in trouble if they stop. What was very interesting was how apparently it changed the lives of some of these 'obeyers'. I guess they had this very clearly shameful incident seared upon their memories for their entire lives and many really tried to not be like that from there on out. Many sent letters of thanks to Milgram about how it changed their lives for the better...

I wish I could accomplish the same on a much larger scale.

Was thinking to try to do so through the writing of a book... LeGuin's short story 'Those who walk away from Omelas' is a very loose structure to work with.

Of course the problem is, is that people won't face what they do. It takes something so over the top like electroshocking someone as they beg you to stop, then finding out this was really an experiment to see who would continue to obey such a horrible order, for people to admit they really have got some issues that need addressing.

That's the first issue anyway. Many more unfortunately.

In Omelas, Leguin at first seems to be trying to justify, to get you to sympathize with this utopian city where they have just a single child locked up in a dungeon, malnourished, etc. Somehow the happiness of the whole city depends on accepting that this one child can't be helped. It's a very short story. This idea isn't sold very well. A longer version could be written where you really get to rooting for protaganists that are doing something like that. She does manage to sell the idea to an extent in this short story...

Then she pulls out the rug and very lightly suggests that actually there are people who refuse to take part in that and immediately leave the city... Her actual somewhat hidden preachy point is that of being an idealist, refusing to accept that the suffering of even one person can't be helped.

I want to expand on this idea to get one to have the rug really pulled out where they feel ashamed for what they were going along with. I think though, what would happen is that as it's not something so obvious as electroshocking someone, people would just dismiss it, say I was being tricky, get really angry with me, etc.

I don't see it as having much chance at being successful.

One could write a seemingly randian book, then pull out the rug at the end. That might go a little better. But issues of capitalism/communism don't really matter much compared to more fundamental issues of obeying; conforming mindlessly; especially not in a society where democracy has so little meaning.

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Huge improvements with my music lately... Vocals, drums, etc. Attack for drums, condenser mic plus chorus with lots of compression (I hate compression but for vocals, reaper compression sounds good. I sound like Peter Murphy in the low register. I can live with that. That was mentioned before to me before and I suppose I sort of sounded like him but now, it sounds "professional", just as good. Plus more. Yes! Will be a while I think before I have time... but loving what I'm working on... Yes!)