WEBVTT

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- You don't know what you would do

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unless you're in that situation.

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That's not the conclusion
of Stanley Milgram

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or Phil Zimbardo based on our research,

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that's a conclusion

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from an assistant manager
in McDonald's in Kentucky,

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Donna Summers, who was trapped
in what has come to be known

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as an authority hoax.

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A stranger calls up, pretending
to be a police officer

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saying that one of the
employees has stolen something,

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has contraband and that what she has to do

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is bring the woman to the
security room in the back,

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strip her naked and search
for this contraband,

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it sounds like it's drugs or something.

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And then at that point,

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the guy on the phone, who she
believes is a police officer

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begins to tell her to do more
and more outrageous things.

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Finally he asks her to bring in a male

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to take care of the situation

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'cause she's gotta go back to work,

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and this authority hoax guy

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this guy pretending to be a police chief,

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tells this man to do something

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which is horrendous.

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We could say this is
what's wrong with this guy,

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what's wrong with this woman,

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if it didn't happen in over 60 other

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fast food establishments
throughout the country.

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So here is the power of authority

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to get good people to do bad things.

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Not an experiment but in everyday life

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throughout the United States.

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(ominous music)

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- [Narrator] A series of strange events

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recently confirmed Milgram's
theories about obedience.

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Targeting fast food
restaurants across the country,

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the con man telephoned restaurant managers

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and convinced them to strip search

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and sometimes sexually
abuse their employees.

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The mystery is not in the
con man, but in the victims,

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why would they obey?

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- This person was so convincing

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that people saw him as
a legitimate authority.

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I think we have probably the closest thing

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that we have to a Milgram experiment today

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in these strip searches.

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- [Narrator] The most
famous of these incidents

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took place at a McDonald's in
Mount Washington, Kentucky.

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- There was a videotape
security camera had found,

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we didn't hear what the instructions were

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but due to the actions
that had taken place,

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what the victim was doing in the video

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and stuff, it was pretty evident

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what each instruction was.

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- [Narrator] An anonymous caller

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pretending to be a police officer

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told the assistant manager

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that an employee had stolen some money.

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- He said "I'm Officer Scott,"

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and he said "I'm with
the police department

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"I'm investigating a complaint."

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It went directly from a
theft into a drug thing.

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So I was asked to search her clothing.

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You know he would tell me,
take her shoes, click them,

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take her shirt, shake it out.

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I know how it seems to people,

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but you weren't on the phone with him.

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The man has convinced
70 to 100 other places

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the very same thing.

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He's very good at what he does, very good.

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(thunder rolling)

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He sounded like a police officer,

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and I'm thinking okay, I'm
doing what I'm supposed to do.

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- He was getting some kind of satisfaction

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about being an authority figure

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and telling people what to do

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and then realizing by
the phone conversation

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that they were actually
doing what he said.

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- He's telling me

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that I needed to get
someone to sit with her

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while he goes and gets somebody to come in

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to pick her up.

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- The caller then asked the manager

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if she was married or had a boyfriend,

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she said she had a fiance,

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then the caller asked if
she could have her fiance

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come to the restaurant

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and assist her with the
strip search of the victim.

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- He says, "Well, why
don't you have him come up

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"and sit there, I mean you can trust him."

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So I called Wes, my fiance,

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we were gonna get married,

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and asked him if he would come up.

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- The manager goes about

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doing her duties of running the restaurant

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and leaves the fiance there in the office

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and then the caller
starts giving instructions

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over the phone of things

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that he wants the victim to do

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and what he wants the
fiance to tell her to do.

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Have her remove her apron

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and instructed to do jumping
jacks and jog in place

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and several more things.

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She was still in high school,

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the kind of person she was,

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she was actually graduating
the top 10 in her class

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and she was scared of being
in trouble with the police

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so she sort of just went along

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and did whatever the fiance told her to do

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because she didn't want to
be in trouble for anything.

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- During all this time, I'm working.

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I'm running the floor, I'm getting change,

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and then when I would walk into the office

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to get the change or
whatever I had to get,

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Wes would be sitting
where he was when I left

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and she was sitting where she was,

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and no one said anything.

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- [Narrator] After over
two and a half hours,

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Summers' fiance Walter Nicks,

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did something that was unthinkable.

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Complying with the
instructions of the caller,

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he ordered the employee
to perform a sexual act.

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- And there was no way
that I could take away

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from what happened to her.

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A lot of people you know look at you

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and go, "Well you're a nut,
you should be strung up."

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I've had it even said to me,

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God it's really hard
because you weren't there.

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- The Milgram study showed us

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that most people would do that.

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If you structure the environment

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such that you provide all the authority

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and the commands, just
anybody might do this.

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- But I do think this sounds worse.

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- You think this is worse
than what Milgram did?

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- With the Milgram there was
somebody sitting right there

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and instructing them if they
hesitated they could turn

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and then somebody could encourage them

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and they could sort of
maybe psychologically

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leave that responsibility
on that other person.

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But in this case, the police
officer's on the phone,

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he's not standing there.

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- And that is a very good point.

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- You know you look back on it,

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you say I wouldn't have done it,

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but unless you're put in that situation,

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at that time, how do you
know what you would do?

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You don't, you don't.

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- [Narrator] Over 60 other people

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did exactly as Donna Summers did.

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Why is it so easy for us to obey orders,

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even when we know they are wrong?

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Why are we willing to
inflict pain on others,

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if someone else takes responsibility?

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- There's nothing more difficult

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for people to violate a social structure,

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which all participants
have initially accepted.

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It reminds me of a situation

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that once occurred in South America,

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I was in an airplane,

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the pilot came into the
plane, he was drunk,

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he was reeling toward the cockpit.

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Passengers looked at each other,

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but no one got up, no
one said to the pilot,

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"You're drunk, we can't
fly on this plane."

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There is a set of pressures

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that keep you in the role
you've initially accepted.