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[–] 327 points 10 months ago (36 children)

It went beyond that. In an attempt to ferment discontent in the group he started reading their reports out loud. Airing all their dirty laundry. Instead of getting them mad at each other he basically forced them to settle all their issues and form together, closer than ever. After that didn't work he started trying to usurp authority from the captain that he selected because he thought as a woman she would crumble under the pressure of command. His greatest accomplishment as the new captain was damaging a fuel line and failing to fix it by swimming in the fuel and water.

If I remember correctly they had to rescue him and distract him while they fixed it themselves and after that he basically sulked in the corner of the raft. Only getting the balls to try something near the end of the experiment, trying to Shanghai the raft and expand the experiment to try and force his theories into reality. After they finally got back the subjects would get together every few years to relive the good old days without him.

It's ironic, by trying to get them to hate each other he accidentally became something for all of them to rally against.

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  • [–] 154 points 10 months ago (11 children)

    ferment discontent

    I'm stealing this typo.

    (It's "foment", but I love the imagery of rotten, festering discontent)

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  • [–] 56 points 10 months ago (7 children)

    You know, you reminded me of a vague memory. Making that same mistake in school, being corrected, and deciding that I liked it better my way. I was a stubborn child.

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  • [–] 36 points 10 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    Fermenting is usually when you make something rot in a specific way that makes something delicious. In that vein I propose it be applied to the exact sort of situation on the raft where someone tries to forment a discontent raft and accidentally fermented a friend ship.

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  • [–] 57 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    After they finally got back the subjects would get together every few years to relive the good old days without him.

    The linked article in the post claims that the crew never met again until the person filming the documentary tracked some of them down.

    They had not met since the Peace Project docked in Mexico 43 years earlier, so the reunion was poignant.

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  • [–] 51 points 10 months ago* (5 children)

    That's awesome. Like he was really hoping for some dismal and dark exposé on "savage human nature" a la "Lord of the Flies", and at every turn, proven wrong by people who were happy to just get along and cooperate for mutual benefit...

    ... Which should come as a complete shock, social species that we are! /s

    I think these desperately dark tales of people turning on each other in sociological contexts is another propaganda tool to put this idea in our heads that without "qualified leaders" we'd all just be grunting and beating each other over the head with rocks.

    Nah, someone with something to gain has to motivate us to fight each other. What if we just said "lol, anyway" and kept getting along on the raft?

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  • [–] 8 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    That social bond doesn't scale and it is why have had to invent government, police, schools, hospitals, etc. The guy's idea was right (imo), he just had the wrong scale.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    Lord of the Flies was also a direct answer to a book that was really popular during England's colonial hey day(?) called the Island, I think.

    Basically, English colonial culture wasn't as good as we might have thought.

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  • [–] 17 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 child)

    I mostly agree with the other *homey about “foment.”

    I just want to add that all of the social experiments I’ve ever seen, *participated in, and/or ran nothing brings people together like a common enemy.

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  • [–] 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    It’s ironic, by trying to get them to hate each other he accidentally became something for all of them to rally against.

    Like reverse Stockholm syndrome.

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  • [–] 13 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    So... did this scientists great grandchildren invent reality TV?

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  • [–] 19 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Fun fact a lot of people, including myself, believe the invention of reality TV was actually the writer strike in early 2000s. Basically TV writers went to the producers and said "you make all these millions and only pay us this small amount when we are the reason people watch these shows". The producers basically said "fuck you we will make TV shows without writers"

    That created reality TV in America and panel shows in the UK.

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