The Nature of Evil

So, I'm reading this book by Deepak Chopra called "The Book of Secrets" and in it he talked about this 1971 Stanford University psychology experiment (read all about it here, it's very fascinating) that attempted to answer the question, "What happens when you put good people in a bad place?"

They created a prison environment, and randomly assigned students to either pretend they were a prison guard or a prisoner.

Ultimately, what happened in the two-week experiment, was that it had to be ended after only 6 days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, the guards became sadistic ("repeatedly stripped their prisoners naked, hooded them, chained them denied them food, put them into solitary confinement, and made them clean toilet bowls with their bare hands") and the prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress. The guards who didn't descend to the behavior did nothing to stop the ones who did.

(The parallel with infamous acts by American prison guards in Iraq in 2004 prompted them to bring the Stanford experiment back to light after more than 30 years.)

So, anyway, Deepak went on to write about conditions that release these "shadow" energies:

• Removing a sense of responsibility
• Anonymity
• Dehumanizing environments
• Peer examples of bad behavior
• Passive bystanders
• Rigid levels of power
• Prevailing chaos and disorder
• Lack of meaning
• Implicit permission to do harm
• "Us-versus-them" mentality
• Isolation
• Lack of accountability

Now, here is where it gets really interesting for me...

Deepak writes:

"Leaving aside prisons, where one might expect the worst in human nature to emerge, as a physician I've seen similar abuse in hospital settings. Certainly, hospitals are not evil; they were established to do good in the first place. But the shadow isn't about who is good or bad. It's about sealed-up energies looking for an outlet, and a hospital is rife with the very conditions listed above: Patients are helpless under the authority of doctors and nurses, they are dehumanized by the cold mechanistic routine, isolated from everyday society, made more or less anonymous as one 'case' among thousands, and so forth."

Just thought I would share that with you.

Chicken and Bacon Stuffed Pizza

As some of you know, I am a HUGE fan of the Grilled Chicken and Bacon Stuffed Pizza from Papa Murphy's. So, my family (namely my son), decided to make it for me for Mother's Day.

Here is the recipe:

Crust:
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flours
2 tsp dry yeast

Mix and knead for 10 minutes. Note: Make two of these, one for the bottom and one for the top.

White Sauce:
1 cup mayo (here's the recipe for the homemade mayo that I used)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp dried chives
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dillweed
1 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Toppings:
Chicken - I used two of my little packets of frozen cooked chicken, which is the equivalent of 2 chicken breasts
2 - 8 oz. mozzarella, shredded
16 oz turkey bacon, cooked
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 white onion, diced
Green onions

Spread one of the crusts on the pizza pan. Top with most of the sauce, and all of the ingredients (but save some of the bacon and tomatoes). Put on the other crust. Put the rest of the sauce and the remaining bacon and tomatoes on that.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Some notes on this: It was super good, but there really is no point in making it when you can just pick one up at Papa Murphy's instead. It was more expensive making it homemade (especially if you're using organic ingredients like I was), and a lot more trouble (even though it was Mother's Day and I did none of the work). Sure, it's healthier, but whatever.

Now, if you want a really good pizza that you CAN'T get at a restaurant, try our recipe for a Macaroni and Cheese Pizza instead. That is super awesome as well, and a lot easier and cheaper to make.

Macaroni and Cheese Pizza

This pizza is freaking awesome. Try it.

Crust -
Dissolve 2-1/2 tsp dry yeast and 1 T sugar in 1 cup warm water. Let sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 3 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, and 2 T olive oil. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

8 oz shredded cheese - Put 1/2 on the crust, then top with macaroni and cheese mixture (see below), then sprinkle the remaining 1/2 on top of that.

Macaroni and Cheese -
16 oz noodles, cooked
8 oz cheese, shredded
3 T butter
1/2 cup milk

Melt cheese, butter and milk together, and then stir in the cooked noodles.

Does this make sense? It really is easy. Easy enough for a 6-year-old to make, as a matter of fact...