Mark Twain once brilliantly said, "History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes." Putting the philosophical interpretation aside, is it possible for a past episode to repeat itself? Speaking of a larger and more sensitive topic, is it possible for the Holocaust to happen again? Most, if not all, people would surely think to themselves, “No, I sure hope not.” Hoping that something doesn't happen doesn't necessarily mean that it can't happen. Stanley Milgram created an experiment to understand how people ultimately end up doing something they wouldn't normally think of doing. Milgram raised some good questions and ultimately provided substantial evidence for why people blindly obey authority. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay As a Jewish boy, Milgram worried that the Holocaust might happen again in America, but people often told him "that was Nazi Germany, that was then and this is now. He challenged people by asking them "would you kill what if an authority figure, like Hitler, challenged you to do it?" Of course, they answered "no," but Milgram finally asked "how do you know if you're not in the situation?" Milgram decided to test this theory. In his famous study “Obedience” he took 40 males between the ages of 20 and 50 and separated them into two groups. They were told that it was a test to improve memory. The “teachers” were responsible for administering it to the “student " a simple test of pairs of words. If the "student" got a question wrong, the teacher administered a shock that started at 15 volts, which increased for each wrong answer, until ending at 450 volts. The volts varied from "slight shock" to "DANGER: severe shock". Milgram would be the "authority figure" par excellence, dressed in a lab coat and acting as an "agent of influence". His aim was to understand the unthinkable: "How can the German people allow the extermination of the Jews without any limits of conscience?" The experiment was rigged without the knowledge of the "teachers", the "student" reactions were pre-recorded, and the "teacher" sat behind a wall with the electroshock machine. If the teacher disobeyed or questioned what they were doing, Milgram would tell them to continue the experiment regardless of the outcome, ultimately Milgram would take full responsibility. Ultimately 60-65% made it up to 450 volts. According to Milgram, one of the things that are a prerequisite for carrying out evil acts is "getting the responsibility off your shoulders and handing it over to the person responsible." The Nazis blindly obeyed Hitler, while 60-65% of the participants blindly obeyed Milgram. Over the course of 19 different experiments and small variations on one aspect of the situation, Milgram achieved up to 90% obedience. Milgram demonstrates here that humans are inherently obedient. I believe Milgram's experiments, although unethical due to deception, made an interesting comparison to what happened in Nazi Germany. Because the responsibility "fell" on the authority figure, participants were much more likely to comply since they would not be punished for not continuing. Something that struck me about the Milgram experiment was that there were no consequences given to the "teachers" for not obeying the authority figure. I wondered if the percentage of people who obeyed would have been different if there had been a punishment for the teacher for not obeying. While this would add to the unethical nature of the experiment, it is an interesting concept in my opinion. One thing Philip.