The Irrational Season 2 Episode 14 Used A Chilling Social Experiment To Explore The Problem Of Unchecked Power

Apologies in advance, because I’m about to geek out.

The Irrational Season 2 Episode 14 centering around the Milgram Experiment is the coolest thing ever. I’ve been fascinated with this social psychology experiment since I first learned about it in high school.

Alec performed an experiment of his own against the backdrop of a case involving deepfakes and real corruption. The case was as compelling as the social science it was based on.

The Irrational Season 2 Episode 14 Explained The Milgram Experiment Appropriately

The real Milgram experiment was pretty much what Alec said it was during the episode.

The scenario was exactly as described, and the purpose was to determine how likely people would be to torment their fellow humans if someone in authority said so.

As I recall, Milgram wanted to find out whether the atrocities performed by Nazi soldiers who claimed they were just following orders were an anomaly, and sadly, he found that they were not.

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However, most people believe they would NOT follow such orders, which is why the Milgram results are so shocking.

People don’t consciously choose to follow authoritarians off a cliff — they’re overconfident about their ability to resist and disgusted when they realize what they’ve done.

This is important to remember, given the current political situation in the US and the world, but The Irrational presented it without being preachy or obnoxious.

I Guessed That Alec Was Rerunning The Experiment On The Irrational Season 2 Episode 14 — Did You?

As soon as Alec told the students to create their own version of the Milgram experiment but make it ethical, I knew he was performing his own experiment.

Alec seems to be a fan of ethical deception — white lies that can be told to facilitate the experiment.

He’s done it throughout The Irrational Season 2, so why should this episode have been any different?

Incidentally, the problem with the Milgram experiment isn’t that participants weren’t told the real purpose — that’s fairly common in psychology studies.

The problem was that people felt overwhelming guilt and shame over what they agreed to do, and there was no way to inform them of this risk without ruining the experiment.

I loved Alec’s conclusion that when people talk to each other, they reduce the risk of doing inhumane things because someone else has said so.

It’s the opposite of the bystander effect.

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Instead of assuming someone else will stand up for what’s right so we don’t have to, we see that someone else did stand up, and it makes us want to be courageous, too.

Authoritarianism’s worst enemy isn’t revolution, violent or otherwise.

It’s community, and The Irrational Season 2 Episode 14 made that point beautifully.

Olivia Mirrored The People In The Original Experiment

Olivia didn’t set out to harm anyone. She only wanted her father to give up his Senate career and become the good guy she’d known him as her whole life.

In her case, things didn’t spiral out of control because she followed immoral orders. Like many young people, she didn’t foresee the consequences of her actions.

She thought the deepfake video would only hurt her father and that he would drop out of the election, but her plan failed because of one simple mistake.

She didn’t realize she’d left the source video attached or what it signified. Her accidental broadcast of a real scandal caused far more violence and chaos than her fake one could ever hope for.

Despite being forced, Olivia’s relationship with Kylie was one of the best parts of the hour.

I loved that Kylie took on that mentor role, encouraging Olivia to handle the situation with her father the right way, by talking with him instead of sneaking around.

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Ironically, Kylie needed to take her own advice since she kept ignoring Angelica’s calls and complaining to Alec and Marisa about them rather than maturely asserting her boundaries.

Alec: Look, I can’t tell you what to do. But Rose forgave me. Olivia’s father forgave her. So maybe you could forgive Angelica. Or block her. One or the other.

Alec was right that if Kylie wasn’t going to forgive Angelica, it was best to block her number so that she would stop receiving calls from her.

In the end, Kylie chose forgiveness. I’m not sure that’s the best idea.

Look, I’m all for forgiveness, but it doesn’t have to mean letting the person back into your life, especially if you can’t trust them to avoid further harm.

Still, if Kylie didn’t want to fully eliminate Angelica from her life, it was best to talk to her, even if it was only to clear the air before parting company forever.

Continually ignoring Angelica’s calls and then complaining about them seemed to be creating extra drama for no reason, so Kylie was right to finally pick up after Alec encouraged her to.

I also wonder what Angelica wants.

She rejected Kylie after realizing Kylie was working for the FBI — what reason does she have for reaching out now, unless she’s in more trouble and wants Kylie’s help?

Communication Was The Theme Of The Evening

Alec didn’t know what to do after Rose got mad at him on The Irrational Season 2 Episode 14.

Rose was upset because Alec tried to show her that blindly following her boss’ orders wasn’t any different from anyone who succumbed to authoritarianism in the Milgram experiment.

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I’m not sure how that became Alec experimenting on her — I didn’t see it that way — but the incident ended badly, with Alec unsure what to do to fix things and Rose not talking to him.

Of course, his solution was the same one he gave Kylie.

He had to communicate with Rose and give her a chance to work things out with him.

It was interesting how Alec and Rose’s conflict tied into the theme of community being the solution to authoritarianism.

Relationships grow stronger when people communicate, and Alec, Kylie, and Olivia needed to learn how to do that.

Over to you, The Irrational fanatics!

What did you think of The Irrational Season 2 Episode 14?

Please comment with your thoughts, and remember to vote in our poll to rank the episode.

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