Page 1 of Did anyone watch the Experiment on BBC 2?

The experiment was taking 14 mentally balanced normal men from all walks of life and seperating them into prisoners and guards in a mock-up prison for 2 weeks. The gaurds had the power to carry out punishments such as bread and water diets and could also put them in solitary confinement. The purpose was to see how inequality leads to tyranny. Reality TV at it`s finest.

l saw it, much better than Big Brother, Survivor etc! lt was fascinaing to watch the whole thing.

It shows we are all primal to the core!

The best bit was Edwards (complete twatt) getting his comeuppance from Dawson in the cell.

Interesting show, although I doubt its scientific significance to us mere viewers (seeing the edited, fit for 1-hour slot version). It did develop an intriguing argument for the development of fascism, although unfortunately it is a development forged entirely within an utterly artificial setting. Still, watching the `characters` in this programme made it even clearer how far off the mark most TV shows and films are in terms of portraying real human beings and their interactions (or at the very least, male human beings.)

--Mike

PS: (lazarou) do you really think Edwards got his comeuppance in the cell with Dawson? I felt the exchange placed him in intellectual promenance as always as he cunningly placed his opponent on the defensive at every turn, leaving Dawson as a simpering neurotic. Although I agree with you that his was a deeply disagreeable personality.

This item was edited on Friday, 24th May 2002, 01:00

Mike,

I agree that Edwards appeared to get the upper hand in the incident with Dawson, but I think it may have been more to do with his physical prescence than his mindset. I agree that the psychologists tried to shoehorn the hours programming to connect with their hypotheses. It just shows though that those who have power thrust upon them are sometimes the better option than those who sieze it.