>>> Dennis Menard on Therapist 
 DM> Yes; the "learner" was an actor.  Last summer, there was a documentary
 DM> re: Stanley Milgram's experiments of the 1950s.  In one scene, the
 DM> interaction between between Milgram and one of the "teachers" was
 DM> recorded; the teacher, receiving no response to a question after the
 DM> last delivery of a shock, was uncertain whether the subject was okay or
 DM> not, and suggested that maybe the guy had had a heart attack, or the
 DM> like; Stanley was calm, but firm, and ordered him to continue the
 DM> experiment - even though the teacher was clearly concerned.  The
 DM> teacher provided another jolt, and then another, though he protested
 DM> all the way.  A very disturbing picture of "authority." 
Rather intense.  Does this show how we idolize authority, that awe of 
celebrities is intertwined?  As for tracing it's roots, we visit notions of 
god-kings and almighty fearsome deities.  Then the tribal chief and home 
grown monarchies of husband and family.
... Agnostics have the benefit of the doubt.
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