Episode 126 - The Secret Alchemy Of Transforming Humiliation Into Humbleness

How is it some people are utterly crushed by humiliation, whereas others use it like Miracle Growth for personal development?

Humiliation, as an emotion, seems to be a design flaw in our human makeup. How did evolution not remove such a volatile emotion that can potentially twist us for life? Or, in the case of our subject today, send us spiraling away from society as a whole? And while we’re talking about humiliation, has the internet exacerbated our sensitivity? How can we spin humiliation into a positive when teens are using Facebook to bully each other, and college frat boys are hazing each other to the point of injury or death?

Today we take a good long look at humiliation. Why it exists in humans (from the perspective of the tribe) why it’s so dangerous for some, and how we can transform humiliation into its productive cousin - humility. We also talk about two very different cases of humiliation. One story of a man who was the subject of a college experiment that broke him so hard, he became national news for decades during a Joker-like reign of terror. Then we explore the story of another humiliated man, Doug Hegdahl, who was degraded by the guards in a Vietnam prison daily. Then we try to tease apart what made our terrorist crack under the pressure of humiliation, whereas that same experience hardened Doug like steel.

History Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXeak1BVh-w&ab_channel=NuttyHistory

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/06/harvard-and-the-making-of-the-unabomber/378239/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/impromptu-man/201205/harvards-experiment-the-unabomber-class-62

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHiThRa8mb0&ab_channel=SimpleHistory Science

Links

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/sexual-masochism-disorder

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2017/01/25/how-being-humiliated-can-make-you-a-great-leader/?sh=17630b5ebb73

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Episode 127 - How Large-Scale Humiliation Could Become Society’s Duct Tape

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Episode 125 - Bonus Episode: Walmart’s Anti-Union Training Video (And Our Reactions)