11 of the most shocking moments shown on television

Television shapes our perception of the world perhaps better than any other invention of the 20th century. Thanks to television (and now the Internet), millions of people at home can see what is happening on the other side of the world. And sometimes what they see is so shocking that you want to turn off the TV.

Let's look at 11 of the most incredible moments in human history that were captured on television.

American football legend and actor OJ Simpson became famous not for his professional success. He was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her lover Ron Goldman. Things became even more complicated when evidence against Simpson was found and the football player tried to escape from the police in his car on the roads of Los Angeles.

He was eventually acquitted in 1995 despite the evidence and was able to avoid the death penalty. Then the court ordered Simpson to pay a fine of $33.5 million. Despite the sad experience, the athlete ended up behind bars in 2007 on another case and is still in prison.

In 2010, there was a high-profile hostage incident in the Philippines. Armed with an M16 rifle, former police officer Rolando Mendoza hijacked a bus carrying mostly tourists and tour guides. Long and emotional negotiations were captured by television cameras.

Afterwards, the brother of the terrorist Mendoza appeared at the crime scene and tried to talk to him, but the police arrested his brother, saying that he entered the fenced area with a weapon on his own initiative. After seeing his brother arrested, Mendoza snapped and shot 12 people.

A symbol of conflict and tension between the Soviets and NATO, the Berlin Wall has divided Germany since the end of World War II. In 1989, the world rejoiced as the wall was torn down and Germany reunited.

In 1972, terrorists took 12 people hostage, 11 of whom were Israeli athletes. In exchange for the release of the hostages, the criminals demanded the release of political prisoners in Israel. After negotiations failed and attempts to rescue those captured failed, all 12 people were killed.

In 1991, a black man named Rodney King was arrested for drunk driving. During the arrest, the police brutally beat him, and a passer-by managed to film everything on video. Four police officers were tried but acquitted, which led to riots in Los Angeles in which 53 people died.

In 2011, news cameras captured images of the terrible tsunami that swept through Japan. The tsunami, which was caused by one of the strongest earthquakes in history, killed 13,000 people. The waves then reached a height of 40 meters.

In 1993, the 51-day Waco ranch siege left 86 people dead. ATF agents surrounded a ranch where the Branch Davidians, a religious sect that preached polygamy and stockpiled weapons, had settled.

A terrible end to the space race, the space shuttle Challenger was to lead the United States into a new era of galactic exploration and spaceflight. Instead, an engineering error led to an explosion that killed all crew members.

American society was already shaken after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. After the arrest of the alleged killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, the country did not expect another brutal murder to be caught on camera: the murder of Oswald himself, carried out by Jack Ruby.

Shocking moments don't have to be tragic. Humanity saw the lunar module "Eagle" touch the surface of the Moon. It is believed that about 600 million people could have seen this moment live.

Multiple television channels around the world showed how two passenger planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York in 2001. More than 3,000 people died then.