Statistics show that 65% of the “teachers” continued to the highest level of 450 volts. All the participants continued to 300 volts. Milgram concluded the experiment with his paper “The Perils of Obedience.” It says, “The legal and philosophic aspects of obedience are of enormous import, but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete situations… Stark authority was pitted against the subjects’ [participants’] strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the subjects’ [participants’] ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not.” The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation.’” “Teachers” felt noticeable sympathy for their “learners,” which showed through pained facial experiences and even pleas to stop the test. However, the vast majority of participants continued to give into pressure, their own morality of resigning under authority more important than their supposed “moral” obligation to help others.

Of course, Himmler and Huckleberry Finn aren’t the only people that suffer from the multidirectional pulls of philosophical dilemmas. Many people feel the pull day-to-day as they struggle between the sympathy to help others being persecuted and their personal morality that demands that they fit in with society. Multiple tests have shown that individuals will go along with the crowd, even if it means going against what they believe to be correct. There also have been tests that shown that members of a society will submit to authority even if they feel as though they’re doing something wrong. Both of these tests can be shown in respect to our sympathy versus bad morality debate, and in the case of people such as Nazis. Next, we will look at the newest generation: fraternities.

In 2017, Penn State student Timothy Piazza died after repeatedly sustaining head injuries, ending with him falling down a flight of stairs in the Beta Theta Pi frat house.The fraternity was supposed to be alcohol free after an incident in 2009, and after this incident, the house was shut down. According to CNN, “As part of the ritual, Piazza consumed 18 drinks in 82 minutes on his first night of pledging. His blood-alcohol level went “from a zero to as high as a .36,” a grand jury report said, almost five times the legal limit.” (Simon and Rob Frehse, 2018. Emphasis mine) Several of the members of Beta Theta Pi pled guilty, and memb