Browsing a bass-discussion site yesterday, I came across a random link to the Stanford Prison Experiment – a very famous sociological experiment into what happens when you take 18 ordinary men, divide them arbitrarily into 9 prisoners and 9 guards, and monitor their behaviour.
The site is brilliant, in that it walks you through the stages of the experiment, and even draws parallels with the abuse in Abu Graib Prison in Iraq.
And, especially with the abomination that is Big Brother back on UK TV for it’s 6th (sixth?????) series, it shows us how bizarrely people can behave when new social heirarchies are imposed upon them, and how abusive the BB experiments can be, when BB decides to be ‘evil’ just to up the ratings a bit.
So, boycott it, and read the stuff on the Stanford Prison Experiment website instead.
Soundtrack – Prefab Sprout, ‘Jordan – The Comeback’; Juliet Turner, ‘Season Of The Hurricane’.