Project Alpha and "Who is America: Building a Mosque in Kingman Arizona" - A Comparison
Project Alpha is termed as an elaborate hoax which lasted from 1979 to 1983 when it ended with a deliberate disclosure. Concerning this, the project was orchestrated by James Randi, and generally involved using two fake psychics among them Michael Edwards and Steve Shaw also referred to as Banachek into what can be termed as a parapsychology research conducted at the Washington University (Carroll).
The two being investigated in a scientific setting were able to fool all the scientists in more than 160 hours of experiments over a period of four years on their paranormal powers. On the other hand, Baron Cohen’s satirical show termed as “Who is America: Building a Mosque in Kingman Arizona", explores Cohen’s hoax when he pranks a number of residents from Kingman, Arizona about a $385 million project involving the construction of a mosque in their city (Spoilers).
Perhaps one of the major similarities between the two Randi’s and Cohen’s is the fact that apart from the two experiments being hoaxes, both Cohen and Randi proved that no matter how intelligent or rather well-intelligent people are, they are always susceptible to not only deception but also self-deception. Moreover, the two social experiments also show that for some reason, human beings also like to deceive each other (Spoilers).
Other similarities of the two hoaxes are the fact that the participants are portrayed in a negative light. Concerning this, while Cohen’s participants are portrayed as racist, the Parapsychologists in Randi’s hoax were depicted as easily deceived. Therefore, in both hoaxes, Cohen and Randi discredit the residents of Kingman, Arizona, and the Mac-Lab staff in an effort to prove their points, consequently, raising ethical issues.
Despite the numerous similarities, some of the obvious differences between the two hoaxes are with regard to their settings or rather their nature. Concerning this, while Cohen hoax, to a great extent, is a social experiment, Randi’s experiment takes place in a somewhat scientific setting involving scientific-based experiments. Another major difference is with regard to the themes. Regarding this, while the deception theme is present in both hoaxes, the theme of racism is only depicted in Cohen’s hoax only (Spoilers).
Conclusively, although both hoaxes to a great extent both hoaxes raise ethical issues, both of the hoaxes can be considered as justifiable due to a number of reasons. One of the major reasons why they are justifiable is based on the fact that all the individuals participated in the hoaxes consent to taking part. Moreover, although in the Cohen and Randi’s hoaxes the participants were discredited, the two hoaxes expose the true nature of human beings.
Works Cited
Carroll, R. “Project Alpha”. The Skeptics Dictionary, (2015). Retrieved from; http://skepdic.com/projectalpha.html
Spoilers. “Who Is America | Building a Mosque in Kingman Arizona | Sacha Baron Cohen”. YouTube,
(2018). Retrieved from; https://youtu.be/KHJlZyFxp88
