The other day while driving I was listening to NPR and they were telling about a controlled experiment. I think it was probably at a college.
They strapped a man in a chair and hooked up electrodes to him. They were to ask him questions of what was going on in the current news. If he answered correctly he got an “attaboy”. On the other hand, if he got it wrong, he got an electric shock.
There was an audience involved. I think maybe each one of them had a remote control and they got to press the button to shock the person when he/she was wrong.
This was a stimulus test. The guinea pig was not the person answering the questions and getting shocked but the audience with the power of pressing the button to zap him. They thought were teaching him a lesson, so to speak.
At one point the man in the “hot” seat got go many shocks he passed out. Or so it appeared. Actually, the guy was receiving no voltage. He was just good acting as if he had.
They even sent electrical currents to him after being brought back conscious. Only a few felt sorry for the man and refused to continue to shock him. Most of them continue to shock him with some kind of indicator showed that he answered a question wrong. They had no mercy on the poor guy.
The group that designed the experiment concluded that the majority of people respect authority and will obey, even if instructed to do something immoral and/or inhumane; which might explain the group-mind-set of the Nazi followers.
Isn’t that a shame?
What may have been overlooked and is also bad is that I think some people pressed that button for the entertainment of it.; to see some one suffering. That is why the Coliseum was built, to hold all those spectators to see gladiators tear each other to pieces and eaten by lions.
… and today what about auditoriums with boxing events with full houses?
And why do they zoom in for a close up view of someone face’s when receive bad news on a reality TV program?*
*a CEO of a large company insisted that when laying off downsizing reason or firing someone, a secret video recorded the person at close range for the CEO amusement. Cookies anyone?
I think some producer is missing a market. Sort of like the program COPS they should allow a cameraman ride around with a sheriff’s deputy who delivers foreclosure and eviction notices.
Tch tch.