As a psychological experiment, The Quiet Rage showed us how mental conditioning plays a vital role in how we view our lives and how people treat one another. It shows how us how we can lose sight of ethics and legalities once given the power to exercise over our fellowmen. This experiment did not originally set out to violate any legalities or ethical boundaries but it did happen simply because the rules and boundaries were not clearly defined for the participants.
Ethically, it was an experiment that was begging for the participants who played the role of prison guards to violate the rights of the so-called prisoners over time. By giving the guards more access to weapons such as nightsticks, they feel empowered to demonstrate that they control the situation. Their power allowed them to view the people more as mere prisoners than experiment participants, which they all were.
Legally, the psychological experiment asks us to consider how prison inmates are actually treated behind bars. This experiment makes it clear that mental and physical abuse is a harsh reality that real prison inmates have to deal with because there is no way out for them. How much of a prisoner’s human rights are actually violated in the guise of prison discipline? How much torture does a prisoner endure even though it is not required? Such were some of the legal violations that I found distrubingly depicted in the film. The experiment could have used more supervision and boundaries in my opinion. The guards, although entitled to weapons should have been constantly reminded that the weapons were mere props and not there for actual use. The prisoners on the other hand could have used more guidance in dealing with the mental anguish that began to set in later on during the experiment.
In the end, such experiments are a dangerous thing. It brings out the dark side of a person even if the person does not seemingly have a dark side.