The Future of Football???

[Big Al]

Watch this. Click on the CC button underneath the video pic to get subtitles!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... video.html

I couldn't find anywhere else to post this, but had to share it! It's hilarious!

[Cubster]

Really shouldn't be funny. It reminds me of a psychology experiment where ordinary members of the public were given buttons to shock subjects strapped into chairs behind a one-way glass. It was supposedly a test on the ability of the human brain to think logically when under severe stress and strain. The subject had to answer questions and if they got them wrong, the person was meant to shock them. Told it was merely a mild shock, the reaction of the subjects suggested it was a violent and even dangerous level ...

... the frightening thing was, most of the 'ordinary' members of the public were quite willing to keep administering these shocks to perfect strangers, sometimes even after the subject was apparently slumped unconscious in their chair and in need of medical attention.

The experiment was in fact on the member of the public. It was a study to see what level of casual cruelty normal people were willing to inflict on complete strangers if they felt they were following instructions from an authority. The 'subjects' were getting nothing more than a slight tingle, but were pretending to be in severe pain each time. Only a very small number of the members of the public refused to participate after seeing the effects of the first shock.

[Big Al]

Still funny, though. You have to realise that there was nothing to stop the players from removing the tags! And they were laughing at it as well, so there is a difference, which is why it's funny. In your example, there was no choice for the participants. They were strapped to their chairs!

[Cubster]

Still funny, though.

Damn straight. It's the way they start trying to use the shock 'correctly' - ie. to punish an error, but in the end they just do it for fun to see the reaction.

I remember in school there was this uber-nerd whose surname was Thomas (so inevitably he was known as 'John'). He was an absolute electrical genius, way ahead of not only us but also the physics master. As an example he built a cassette player and brilliant speakers from scratch.

Well this one time my mate and I were mooching about and found him pootling around with circuits and stuff in the lab and saw he had a car battery on the table next to him. I was amazed that this 14yr old kid had managed to get hold of a car battery and was asking him if it dangerous to have something like that lying about.

Like scientists everywhere who feel their methods are being questioned, he repsonded angrily and told me I was being stupid. When I persisted he pointed out that unless someone or something formed a circuit between the connectors, the battery was completely harmless.

So I asked if he would be safe then if he held a piece of wire across the connectors, with his hands outside the points (and thus not in the circuit). Tutting like he was talking to an imbecile (fair point) he picked up a thick piece of brass wire and held it at each end, then placed it across the connectors.

What followed was one of the great comedy moments of my life. From an expression of smug superiority, his face suddenly flashed into astonishment and then he threw back his head and let out a might roar of pain ... honestly, it was a roar, like he was an opera singer or something. He rushed to the sink and held out his hands as we quickly turned on the cold tap. He'd forgotten about how much the wire would heat up.

Guess that's what it's like to be a genius, huh?

[Big Al]

[zedeyejoe]

Really shouldn't be funny. It reminds me of a psychology experiment where ordinary members of the public were given buttons to shock subjects strapped into chairs behind a one-way glass.

Yes it demonstrates the side of human behaviour that allows us to switch off our responsibility if someone with 'authority' tells us to do something.

[mikeland]

Personally I'd be happy to see all footballers fitted with similar devices, on and off the pitch... just with a slightly higher dosage for bad behaviour...