Posts : 6723 Join date : 2009-08-11 Age : 58 Location : Wet Beaver Creek
Subject: 'Game of Death' Torture Game Show Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:49 am
A French television experiment where unwitting contestants were encouraged to torture an actor has drawn comparisons with the atrocities of Nazi Germany
Out of 80 players, all but 16 shocked the 'player' until he appeared to die
The Game Of Death had all the trappings of a traditional television quiz show, with a roaring crowd and a glamorous and well-known hostess.
But contestants on the show did not realise they were taking part in an experiment to find out whether television could push them to outrageous lengths.
The game involved contestants posing questions to another 'player', who was actually an actor, and punishing him with 460 volts of electricity when he answered incorrectly.
Eventually the man's cries of "Let me go!" fell silent, and he appeared to have died.
Not knowing that their screaming victim was an actor, the apparently reluctant contestants followed the orders of the presenter, as well as chants of "Punishment!" from a studio audience who also believed the game was real.
The programme's producer and a team of psychologists recruited 80 volunteers, telling them they were taking part in a pilot for a new television show
The contestants on The Game Of Death were actually taking part in a documentary
Producer Christophe Nick said 80% of contestants went all the way, shocking the victim with the maximum 460 volts until he appeared to die.
Out of 80 players, just 16 refused to shock the victim and walked out.
One contestant interviewed afterwards said she went along with the torture despite knowing that her own grandparents were Jews who had been persecuted by the Nazis.
"Since I was a little girl, I have always asked myself why the Nazis did it," she said. "How could they obey such orders? And there I was, obeying them myself."
"I was worried about the contestant," said another player. "At the same time, I was afraid to spoil the programme."
Some observers were sceptical of the manipulative way the participants were handled.
"There are elements of manipulation from the start," said Jacques Semelin, a psychologist and historian who studies genocide and totalitarianism.
"They are obedient, but it's more than mere obedience - there is the audience, and the cameras everywhere."
But for the film makers, the manipulative power of television was exactly the point.
"The questioners are in the grip of the authority of television," said Jean-Leon Beauvois, a psychologist who took part in the documentary.
Mrs-G Admin
Posts : 3052 Join date : 2009-08-11 Age : 53 Location : Stoke On Trent
Subject: Re: 'Game of Death' Torture Game Show Wed Mar 17, 2010 2:49 am
It just goes to show you how animalistic we really are as humans!
In truth it really does not surprise me, people don't tend to have their own minds any more, the majority, if told to go jump off a bridge would! "I didn't want to spoil the game"......even if it means killing someone? Sorry that's a lame excuse. Morals it appear don't exist any more.
TK Trooper Lifer
Posts : 1541 Join date : 2009-08-20 Age : 48 Location : Scouseland
Subject: Re: 'Game of Death' Torture Game Show Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:25 am
Quite frightening what we are happy to view as entertainement. Although i would rather watch something like this than them idiots who do such things as fox humting and says it's fun. At least if something like this was real the contestant knows what they are getting into, where as with real blood sports the poor animals don't