Hacker News Reader

Your comment made me Google 'Stockhold Syndrome' and I spent the next 30 minutes reading about the [1] Kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard. The human mind is absolutely fascinating and scary at the same time.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Jaycee_Lee_Dugard

View on HN

The really scary thought is this:

All governments function on the basis of active citizen cooperation. If citizens don't cooperate, no government can stand.

Maybe what we call Stockholm Syndrome is just a more pronounced pattern that makes possible all of the social control structures that we take for granted all around us every day.

I'd say that's spot on: YOU didn't form the government you live in, you have been coerced (by force, if necessary) to follow the laws and rules of society since the day you were born.

I suspect it's an ancient instinct. There is evolutionary utility in joining whatever one perceives as the winning side, and adapting yourself to the tribe.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com