Torture TV show Game of Death 'like Nazi Germany', critics say

[alienlovechild 75]

GAME show contestants turn torturers in a new psychological experiment for French television, zapping a man with electricity until he cries for mercy - then zapping him again until he seems to drop dead.

The Game of Death has all the trappings of a traditional television quiz show, with a roaring crowd and a glamorous and well-known hostess urging the players on under gaudy studio lights.

But the contestants did not know they were taking part in an experiment to find out whether television could push them to outrageous lengths, and which has prompted comparisons with the atrocities of Nazi Germany.

"We were amazed to find that 81 per cent of the participants obeyed" the sadistic orders of the television presenter, said Christophe Nick, the maker of the documentary for the state-owned France 2 channel.

"They are not equipped to disobey," he added.

"They don't want to do it, they try to convince the authority figure that they should stop, but they don't manage to."

Nick and a team of psychologists recruited 80 volunteers, telling them they were taking part in a pilot for a new television show.

The game: posing questions to another "player" and punishing him with up to 460 volts of electricity when he gets them wrong - even until his cries of "Let me go!" fall silent and he appears to have died.

Not knowing that the screaming victim is really an actor, the apparently reluctant contestants yield to the orders of the presenter and chants of "Punishment!" from a studio audience who also believed the game was real.

Nick said 80 per cent of the contestants went all the way, zapping the victim with the maximum 460 volts until he appeared to die.

Out of 80 players, just 16 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 they (the Nazis) did it," contestant Sophie said.

"How could they obey such orders? And there I was, obeying them myself."

"I was worried about the contestant," another contestant said.

"At the same time, I was afraid to spoil the programme."

The experiment was modelled on an infamous study at Yale University in the 1960s, which used similar methods to examine how obedient citizens could come to take part in mass murder.

http://www.news.com.au/world/torture-tv-show-game-of-death-like-nazi-germany-critics-say/story-e6frfkyi-1225841813390

[scandal 951]

It's a thin line between humanity and barbarism.

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

so is this gonna be on french tv or not?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Anyone seen that movie - Das Experiment?

[Nagishkaw 510]

Edited March 17, 2010 by Nagishkaw

[NickD 202]

For what's on TV today, we find ourselves watching Leave it to Beaver, Happy Days, and I love Lucy reruns. Gosh, over 60 years of TV reruns now, can always find something to watch.

[Peikko 1,575]

I Love Lucy is a great show

There is good tv still, but reality tv is not it - it's mindless and this psychological experiment has proved it.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Sounds a lot like the Milgram experiment.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

They do come up with some horrible ideas for TV shows - the nadir, I thought, was that show Fear Factor - people doing ever more disgusting things to win $50K. The only way it would have been worse is if they had to bend over and take it up the bum on national TV!

Seriously though, this show sounds stupid as is the complaint. Yet another trite reference to the Nazi era. And we all know of course that if nothing else, that WW2 was one big gameshow

[Nagishkaw 510]

The only way it would have been worse is if they had to bend over and take it up the bum on national TV!

[mawilson 2,133]

Why wouldn't they obey - you get to torture someone for free, and you don't have

to worry about any consequences of your actions.