<The "Stockholm Syndrome" reference, however, is a step beyond those concepts. As I understand that syndrome, it refers to the tendency of those that are held under a threat of death or injury to identify with, and adopt the views of, their captors. Whether a milder form of it influences populations that are occupied or under the threat of military force seems less certain.>
Traditionally, that's how conquest worked. For eons, we've lived under conquest rules. We can see the remnants in the spread of broad cultural norms such as English, Islam, metrication [thanks to Napoleon's successes], Mandarin [kanji being used by nearly quarter of the world], Spanish, Christianity.
We get conquered and accept the rules and cultural norms of the conquerors. that's how Stockholm Syndrome works. Women seem particularly prone to it, tolerating violent men and going along with what they say. From Morocco to Indonesia, and now around the world, they kneel towards Mecca. They kneel down so that beheading of the recalcitrant is more simply carried out. Islamic Jihad wants us all looking like iron filings pointing to a magnetic pole.
Mqurice |
