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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (9720)	1/25/2006 11:07:11 AM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541521

I'm reading The Unknown Darkness, a book by a former FBI profiler and crime scene analyst who was involved in the Waco fiasco. In that particular chapter he discusses the concept of groupthink, a maladaptive form of decision making. When he arrived on the scene during the long siege, he found that some of the teams involved saw the problem as a tactical challenge and wanted to use force, while he felt that this would send Koresh to the extreme (as it did). What resulted he saw as an example of groupthink. I couldn't help but see some strong similarities to Bush and Iraq. But also it may be part of what has us so stuck in this partisan quagmire. The impasse occurs when the sides have no ability to look beyond the group's own view and results in entrenched thinking. Both sides think of themselves as good and moral, and anyone not agreeing as "the other". Groupthink creates an insular perspective and exaggerates the stress from external threats. The group leader implies that there is no better solution than his and he pressures the others for agreement. Anyone who questions or argues with the leader and his prevailing theory is vilified and mocked. This was obviously the case both inside the Davidian compound and in the FBI command post. Koresh was God and Jamar(the agent) was the infallible SAC. For example, Jamar supported the use of tactical force and pressure. Those who suggested that this strategy was counterproductive were treated with derision and even replaced. Some tactical agents even referred to their fellow dissenting agents as "Davidians". I have no doubt that people inside the compound who questioned Koresh were tagged with similar labels. When groupthink dominates decision making, there is a low probablity of a successful outcome. When both groups are ensnared in this dynamic, disaster is within reach.