Will I learn from their afflictions? Have I learned from my mistakes?

[sovay]

My poem "An Obedience Experiment" is now online at Rattle as this week's Poets Respond. There are notes included.

I am honored that the poem is being published in this fashion; I wish there had been no occasion to write it.

In 1961, Stanley Milgram found that 65% of his subjects complied all the way to the final supposed 450 volts. The percentages on a re-run in 2006 were nearly identical. Either we change the numbers or that 35% is going to burn out fast. I prefer Option A.

Comments

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Language as edged tool. I didn't know that "Milgram" meant pomegranate, or the seeds/mitzvot equivalence. So you've given me beauty with anger. Thank you.

Nine

[sovay]

Language as edged tool. I didn't know that "Milgram" meant pomegranate, or the seeds/mitzvot equivalence. So you've given me beauty with anger. Thank you.

You're very welcome.

There's a recurring interaction in Experimenter where people ask Milgram what kind of a last name that is; he always tells them first that it's Hebrew for pomegranate—"one of the seven fruits of the Bible"—and then that he's Jewish, which is what they're really asking. The word for pomegranate in Hebrew is rimon (רימון). I went looking after the film to see if that was an error on the screenwriter's part or Milgram's and found an interview with Almereyda which confirmed that Milgram always said Hebrew and no one knows why, because Hebrew-speakers, Yiddish-speakers would tell him he had it wrong. Maybe he was just seeing if people noticed.

Thank you.