Derren Brown: Pushed to the Edge

Episodes like White Bear (2013) and White Christmas (2014) of Black Mirror (2011) portray a dystopian society in which people convicted of crimes are punished by harsh methods, Derren Brown: Pushed to the Edge (2016) is a kinda of a similar idea for an episode where people who end up "pushing" are prosecuted to ensure the public safety.

Just watched this captivating and amazingly executed scenario.

Many skeptics say that this can't be real, without really saying why they think it's fake. They can't seem to imagine that this is how people act. However, it looks like this is how all kinds of people act. Don't take it from me or Derren Brown, just look up the Milgram experiment or one of many testimonies of people who went through civil war. It is eery how people seem to get along fine, until the system breaks down and authority figures pop up, telling you what to do. Suddenly these kinds of acts start happening everywhere. Just because you can't imagine it, doesn't mean it's not real. It seems good to be reminded of that.

Others object to the ethics of this show. Indeed, it seems borderline unethical, and I hope the participants were properly supported after the show. However, it is encouraging that the participants who pushed are clearly told that their behaviour was not at all 'strange' in this setup.

It has to be shocking to experience this. However, maybe we, the audience, could use a little shock to keep us on our toes. I know next time I make a mistake and I am deciding whether I admit it or cover it up, this show is going to play in the back of my mind.

So I've just watched Derren Brown: The Push... For my fellow social psychology enthusiasts, I can only describe this "documentary" as a 'Thrill-Seeker-Reality-TV show by a modern day Stanley Milgram'.

Seriously, this was a border-lining ethical nightmare. There is such a massive potential of residual psychological distress/damage for the participants... particularly if there is no on-going support or counseling to combat guilt and/or doubt of their core morals and character.

All this under the guise of teaching society to think before blindly following (or believing) the "Man"?

Hmmmmmm.

I see many people questioning it's reality and how this affects the contestants psychologically. But i assure everyone that an episode of this scale will not cause any psychological trauma as long as they know it's not real.

This was shown on Channel Four in 2016... poor Netflix play :/