Am I Nuts?

<p>Below is the post I made on a psychological message board about a British entertainer named Derren Brown. I, in part due to my ethics courses, find him to be extremely un-ethical and frankly he really infuriates me with some of the things he does. However, I was shocked (truly) when I found that some of my peers felt that this was fine and was "just entertainment". In my opinion I think they are forgetting why we have ethics (to protect people) and they fail to understand that this can harm someone psychologically. I also am extremely angry because he doesn't ask for permission from the individual most of the time... I wouldn't want this happening to me. Anyways, below is my post. If you have nothing better to do, read through it and check out the videos and tell me if you agree with me or disagree, either way, I will appreciate your feedback because maybe I am just too sensitive? </p>

<p>I was searching around <a href="http://www.youtube.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.youtube.com&lt;/a> and I came upon a magician/hypnotist/mentalist named Derren Brown from England. I strongly urge you guys to go check out his videos if you want to be angered, I know I am really livid right now. This guy says that some of what he does uses psychology, and it does (and hypnosis, and NLP, and others) but this guy is seriously lacking ethics and it is driving me mad! I am pulling together sources so I can submit a proposal to get human subjects permission as we speak and watching this and knowing that it is on national TV in England is sickening to me! Here are a few links to some of the clips which anger me the most. Also, one that I don't have a clip of is him playing Russian Roulette on TV, but you can read about that. The main problem I have is that there is no consent given beforehand and very little if any debriefing. I really makes me want to strangle this guy! If this ever happened to me, I would be more than upset. Anyways, check it out...some of it is cool stuff and fun to see, but it just infuriates me! I think these links will work but if not at least go see the Zombie video.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjRA...=derren%20brown%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjRA...=derren%20brown&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjwL...=derren%20brown%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjwL...=derren%20brown&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>There is also one involving people at a mall but I am not seeing it. At least look at the first one and tell me if anyone else is ****ed especially if it is real but also if it isn't because it gives us a bad name.</p>

<p>very well written</p>

<p>The Russian Roulette episode is an admitted fake (<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3169388.stm)%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3169388.stm)&lt;/a>, and I'm certain his other tricks are hoaxes as well. This guy is just a performer, a magician if you will. The only psychological manipulation he uses is reserved for the audience, not his "victims". Of course, the question of whether this dishonesty toward his viewers constitutes an ethics violation still stands.</p>