Who killed Davey Moore? + the Milgram Experiment

I think Bob Dylan was a social psychologist in hiding.  Last week, I used "With God on Our Side" to explain attentional bias.  This week, I'm moving on... I'm now using "Who Killed Davey Moore?" to explain the results of The Milgram Experiment.

So, who is this Davey Moore?

Davey Moore was an American boxer that died at age 29 due to severe injuries during a match against Sugar Ramos.  The fight lasted 10 rounds in the Dodgers stadium where Sugar finished Davey with successive blows to his head until he fell against the bottom rope and injured his brain stem.  In the dressing room, he went into a coma and died 75 hours later.

Where does Bob Dylan come in?

He wrote a song about this "human cock fight" where all parties denied responsibility for Davey's death.

Here's the lyrics:

Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?

"Not I," says the referee,
"Don't point your finger at me.
I could've stopped it in the eighth
An' maybe kept him from his fate,
But the crowd would've booed, I'm sure,
At not gettin' their money's worth.
It's too bad he had to go,
But there was a pressure on me too, you know.
It wasn't me that made him fall.
No, you can't blame me at all."

Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?

"Not us," says the angry crowd,
Whose screams filled the arena loud.
"It's too bad he died that night
But we just like to see a fight.
We didn't mean for him t' meet his death,
We just meant to see some sweat,
There ain't nothing wrong in that.
It wasn't us that made him fall.
No, you can't blame us at all."

Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?

"Not me," says his manager,
Puffing on a big cigar.
"It's hard to say, it's hard to tell,
I always thought that he was well.
It's too bad for his wife an' kids he's dead, 
But if he was sick, he should've said.
It wasn't me that made him fall.
No, you can't blame me at all."

Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?

"Not me," says the gambling man,
With his ticket stub still in his hand.
"It wasn't me that knocked him down,
My hands never touched him none.
I didn't commit no ugly sin,
Anyway, I put money on him to win.
It wasn't me that made him fall.
No, you can't blame me at all."

Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?

"Not me," says the boxing writer,
Pounding print on his old typewriter,
Sayin', "Boxing ain't to blame,
There's just as much danger in a football game."
Sayin', "Fist fighting is here to stay,
It's just the old American way.
It wasn't me that made him fall.
No, you can't blame me at all."

Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?

"Not me," says the man whose fists
Laid him low in a cloud of mist,
Who came here from Cuba's door
Where boxing ain't allowed no more.
"I hit him, I hit him, yes, it's true,
But that's what I am paid to do.
Don't say 'murder,' don't say 'kill.'
It was destiny, it was God's will."

Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?

So, were they all bad people?

No, according to the Milgram Experiment, we are all very capable of doing bad things.

Here's how he tested it:

• Who: There were 3 individuals in the test:
• The Experimenter (the authoritative role)
• The Teacher (the role intended to obey orders of the experimenter)
• The Learner (a recipient of the stimulus of the teacher)
• What: (Wikipedia) 
• The "Teacher" was given an electric shock from the electro-shock generator (which went up to a 450 "severe" volt level) as a sample of the shock that the "Learner" would supposedly receive during the experiment. 
• The "Teacher" was then given a list of word pairs which he was to teach the learner. The teacher began by reading the list of word pairs to the learner. The "Teacher" would then read the first word of each pair and read four possible answers. 
• The "Learner" pressed a button to indicate his response. 
• If the answer was incorrect, the "Teacher" would administer a shock to the learner, with the voltage increasing in 15-volt increments for each wrong answer. If correct, the Teacher would read the next word pair
• Pre-recorded sounds (yelling / wincing) were played at each level to indicate the pain the "Learner."  At 135 voltages, the "Learner" banged on the wall, asked to be released and complained of a heart condition.  After 135 volts, the "Learner" went quiet.  
• If at anytime the "Teacher" asked to end the experiment, the "Experimenter" would give a series of verbal prods: "please continue," "the experiment requires you to continue," "it's absolutely essential for you to continue," and "you have no other choice but to go on"
• If the "Teacher" still wanted to halt after the 4 prods, the experiment ended.  If not. the experiment ended after 3 shocks at 450 volts
• Note: In reality, no shocks were given.  The experiment was on the Teacher, not the Learner
• Results:
• All participants asked the "Experimenter" if they should continue and showed signs of panic / worry
• 0% of participants checked on the health of the "learner"
• 0% of participants asked the experiment to be terminated
• 65% of participants gave the full range of shocks, up to 450 volts

What does this mean for old Davey & Bob Dylan?
Because boxing was a legal sport, the parties involved took no blame.  They were merely participating in a completely legal activity and "someone else" should have stopped it.

It also explains how 6M Jews died in the Holocaust 20+ years before Davey's death.  People are more obedient than you think... even to ghastly requests.