Redshirt recently ran a post referencing the Stanford Prison Experiment, which turned students into prisoners and guards, with the expected resulting shifts in psychology. (The rapidity and degree of change is stunning, however, as seen in the documentary.) I had never heard of this experiment, but it reminded me of "The Wave," a class experiment originally run in 1967 (interestingly enough also in Palo Alto, although at the high school level). There was one stand-out teacher in my seventh grade, Mr. Link, and he spent a few days (it may have been just a couple, but it seemed like it went for a while) running the experiment with us. He may have used the original slogan, "Strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action, strength through pride." I remember it was very appealing. There was also a salute, cribbed from the Nazis. We were only 12 or 13 , but old enough to have some awareness that we were toying with fascism. It was amazing how quickly people built allegiances in getting caught up in the game. I remember being disappointed when the experiment abruptly ended -- I had been making some progress climbing the ranks.
2 comments:
It's scary how under the right conditions most people can be turned into most anything. We're very malleable in mob form.
Also, do you own that jacket?
I do own that jacket. But not a frog named Vomit.
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