I believe that you would be surprised at how many people "will go way over the
top".

I am reminded of Stanley Milgram's psychology experiment performed in 1963.
People were paired up and one individual was considered to be a "learner" and
the other was considered to be the "teacher". The "learner" had a set of tasks
to master and the "teacher" had to present the stimuli, record answers and to
administer punishment when the "learner" made mistakes. The "learner was
strapped into a chair and had shock electrodes attached and the "teacher" got
to sit in front of the shock generator. The shock generator had 30 levers and
each lever increased the electrical shock from the proceeding lever (from 15
to 450 volts). Written descriptions were below most of the switches and
included things like "Slight Shock" to "Danger: Severe Shock" The last 2 had
"XXX" beneath them.

The "learner" was required to memorize a list and the "teacher" was instructed
to deliver a shock of increasing intensity (starting at 15 volts). Just to
make things a little fair prior to having the "teacher" administer punishment,
the "teacher" received a jolt of 45 volts. The "teacher" and "learner" weren't
into visual range of each other but could hear each other over an intercom
system.

No real shocks were delivered to the "learner" (an actor) who was cued to give
responses to the various levels of "shocks" that the "teacher" was supposed to
be delivering when the "learner" made a mistake. At 120 volts, he was supposed
to say that the shocks were too painful; at 150 volts, he was demanding to be
let out; at 180 volts, he was screaming that he couldn't take the pain; at 300
volts, there was only screaming; and, at 330 volts there was supposed to be
silence.

Most subjects would ask the experimenter what to do once it appeared that the
"learners" were in pain. The experimenter was instructed to tell the
"teachers" to continue with the experiment and that he would take full
responsibility and that the shocks wouldn't cause permanent damage.

The predictions were that 2% of the "teachers" would go to 450 volts. The
reality was that 65% of the "teachers" went to full shock intensity. In one
experiment, the "learner" even had to say that he suffered from a minor heart
ailment. This statement had no affect on the final outcome.

The "teachers" didn't bite the bullet and follow orders without some visible
signs that they were upset. Just the opposite, in fact. But they still obeyed
the experimenter!

And an atmosphere of fear certainly doesn't help the issue.

I agree that "out of the ordinary" is very relative (though I think that I
would be extremely amused to see "...the local church senior ladys quilting
group entering a topless-bar"). But I do think that in an atmosphere of fear
it is easy to start to believe that he "ordinary" starts to become "out of the
ordinary" without much justification.

Ever see the episode of the "Twilight Zone" where a group of aliens wants to
invade the Earth and they cause a series of power outages and strange events
to occur in one particular neighbourhood? In a very short period of time, the
people in the neighbourhood start to get upset and paranoid over each other
and the situation descends into anarchy.

Regards

John Barnard


{snippage}

To be sure, there are always, in any society, going to be some in the
citizenry who when asked to "do their part", will go way over the top with
it just as there are also those who will assume the worst possible effect
and intent. The rest of the citizenry, those who are neither paranoid nor
complacent, recognize it as a call to simply stay alert, be aware of your
immediate environment, and pay attention to things out of the oridinary.
If you see something out of the oridinary that concerns you, be an
effective witness and let someone know. "Out of the ordinary" is certainly
relative and most people recognize it when it occurs. Doesn't matter if
it's an intoxicated gang-banger strolling through an elementary school -
or the local church senior ladys quilting group entering a topless-bar.
Out of the ordinary catches alert people's attention. There's nothing
"sinister", repressive, over-reaching or irresponsible that I can see by
asking folks to stay alert and be ready to be an effective witness.

-=jd=-
--
My Current Disposable Email:

(Remove YOUR HAT to reply directly)

John Barnard wrote in message ...

Ever see the episode of the "Twilight Zone" where a group of aliens wants to
invade the Earth and they cause a series of power outages and strange events
to occur in one particular neighbourhood?


"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" From the first season. I'll bet
you can't find a single bad episode from that season.

http://www.scifi.com/twilightzone/episodes/index.html


The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ron Winston

A mysterious power failure causes paranoid suburban residents to
suspect one another of being disguised creatures from outer space.
CAST: Claude Akins, Jack Weston, Barry A****er, Jan Handzlik, Burt
Metcalfe, Mary Gregory, Anne Barton, Lea Waggner, Ben Erway, Lyn
Guild, Sheldon Allman, William Walsh.

"Beloved Leader" wrote in message
om...
John Barnard wrote in message
...

Ever see the episode of the "Twilight Zone" where a group of
aliens wants to
invade the Earth and they cause a series of power outages and
strange events
to occur in one particular neighbourhood?


"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" From the first season. I'll
bet
you can't find a single bad episode from that season.

http://www.scifi.com/twilightzone/episodes/index.html


The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ron Winston

A mysterious power failure causes paranoid suburban residents to
suspect one another of being disguised creatures from outer space.
CAST: Claude Akins, Jack Weston, Barry A****er, Jan Handzlik, Burt
Metcalfe, Mary Gregory, Anne Barton, Lea Waggner, Ben Erway, Lyn
Guild, Sheldon Allman, William Walsh.

Jack Weston! Too bad for him they never gave acting awards for
"sweatiest" or "most disheveled" performance.

"T. Early" wrote in message ...

Jack Weston!


Without checking, I'm going to guess he was in several episodes of
"The Twilight Zone."

checking

Gee, only two?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0922967/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052520/

"Beloved Leader" wrote in message
m...
"T. Early" wrote in message
...

Jack Weston!


Without checking, I'm going to guess he was in several episodes of
"The Twilight Zone."

checking

Gee, only two?


Both of Jack Weston's Twilight Zone episodes were recently remade into
Twilight Zone radio shows.

The Twilight Zone radio shows don't seem quite as good as the classic radio
shows of the forties and fifties, but they aren't bad. The radio shows are
played on several stations. They can be heard starting midnight Saturday
night, central time, on WGN AM 720.

Frank Dresser

The two Twilight Zone remakes will show up on WGN radio in the next few
weeks:

6-19-04
"The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street" starring Frank John Hughes (Catch Me
If You Can / Band of Brothers).
Plot: Inexplicable events cause the residents of a quiet town to erupt into
rioting. The residents suspect that an alien invasion has occurred and that
one of their own is a monster living among them.

7-24-04
"The Bard" starring John Ratzenberger (Cheers / Monsters Inc.) and Stacy
Keach (American History X / Mike Hammer).
Plot: Jack Weston is an untalented would-be TV writer whose career takes off
when the ghost of William Shakespeare writes his scripts for him.
Shakespeare is appalled by the sponsor's changes, including the casting of a
"Marlon Brando" type actor to play the lead.

http://wgnradio.com/shows/twilightzone/episodes.htm

I've heard both of these, and I'm sure the late Jack Weston is in neither of
the radio remakes, despite his name's appearance in the second plot summary.

Frank Dresser

Yes, very Creepy, akin to " Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers"
-
I forget how the Twilight Zone episode ends..

In article ,
(Beloved Leader) writes:


Ever see the episode of the "Twilight Zone" where a group of aliens wants
to
invade the Earth and they cause a series of power outages and strange
events
to occur in one particular neighbourhood?


"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" From the first season. I'll bet
you can't find a single bad episode from that season.

http://www.scifi.com/twilightzone/episodes/index.html


The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ron Winston

A mysterious power failure causes paranoid suburban residents to
suspect one another of being disguised creatures from outer space.
CAST: Claude Akins, Jack Weston, Barry A****er, Jan Handzlik, Burt
Metcalfe, Mary Gregory, Anne Barton, Lea Waggner, Ben Erway, Lyn
Guild, Sheldon Allman, William Walsh.