The Second World War was the bloodiest, brutal and most terrible on Earth. It involved 62 states out of 73 that existed at that time. This is 80% of the world's population, three continents and four oceans. And all this bulk was raised in a gun only because Germany was possessed by madness - after all, what else can you call Nazism? When the war finally ended, the whole world breathed a sigh of relief: this will not happen again. Never!.. Alas: madness is contagious. Being captured by an idea, a person loses his mind.
ONLY GERMANS?
The entire history of mankind is an endless repetition of the past: diverging circles on the water. We do not know how to draw global lessons. And it's time to come to terms with this. Take the same Nazism. After all, most of us believe that it was only the Germans who could believe in their own superiority and begin to destroy other people along racial and ethnic lines. But is it?
It's just that at the beginning of the 20th century it was the soil of Germany that turned out to be the most suitable for the germination of Nazi ideas. The country, having suffered defeat in the First World War, was gripped by poverty. Despair lived in every home. And then Hitler appeared! He not only found the perpetrators of the disaster, but also offered people a super-idea that allowed them - at least inwardly - to rise from their knees. What happened next is written in the history books. But the trouble is - not everyone wants to read them. In any case, the students of Ron Jones, a history teacher from California, did not want to know anything about Nazi Germany at all. Moreover, they giggled - they say, since the Nazis were such bastards - why did all the people support them?
This question puzzled Ron. He didn’t know how to explain to these guys, living in 1967, why this happened. The curriculum allotted only one week for the entire Second World War. And Jones was a responsible teacher. And he figured out what to do.
WHAT IS THE STRENGTH IN, BROTHER?
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The next day he came to class and started a conversation about what makes a person human. What makes you achieve your goals and leads to success? Athlete - to spread one hundred percent? Ballerina - dance to bloody calluses? Only discipline! For the sake of lofty goals, you have to break yourself. Do you want to achieve anything in life? - Not a question, of course, we want. - Then let's learn self-discipline. To begin with, we sit straight at the desk. Together we leave the classroom, we go in - in the same way, in an organized manner. And yes, now when you want to answer, be sure to raise your hand and say, "Mr. Jones!" Learn to be short, to the point.
The guys really liked the whole idea.
They were looking forward to the next lesson, which Mr. Jones began by writing on the chalkboard, "Strength is in discipline!"
In the third lesson, the chalkboard read: "Strength is in unity!" High school students picked up these slogans, they rallied, felt like a single team. And Mr. Jones's fantasy knew no bounds. On the move, he came up with an original greeting gesture: his right palm, bent by a boat, is pressed against his left shoulder. The first wave is weak, the second is slightly stronger and, finally, the third is the strongest! We are the Third Wave organization. And by this greeting we recognize each other.
Every day gave birth to new slogans, among which appeared such, for example, as: "Strength is in pride!"
The game took over the entire school. Everyone grew old as they could: they came up with a banner for a new organization, symbols. The school chef came to consult with Jones - what should be the signature cookies of the "Third Wave", and the librarian hung out the flag of the organization for all to see.
Further more. Mr. Jones personally selected three students so that they would tell him about everything that happens at the school - about moods, conversations, reactions. However, dozens of volunteers themselves took over, who, on their own initiative, ran to report to him about those who were dissatisfied with the general school hobby. Several others volunteered to guard the history teacher - although there was no need to.
In general, all members of the "Third Wave" were happy and proud of themselves. At those who did not join them, they at first looked with bewilderment, then with superiority and poorly concealed irritation. This sentiment intensified when Jones announced that The Third Wave was part of a secret nationwide movement to renew America: Together, we will make our country great!
Here the director of the school himself wished to join the organization.
EFFECTIVE FINAL
Jones did not expect his venture to reach such proportions. He realized that things had gone too far and it was time to end the performance. And he prepared a spectacular ending. The teacher said that the "Third Wave" is throwing off the veil of secrecy: its leader will appear on television.
On the appointed day and hour, there was nowhere for an apple to fall in the school's ceremonial hall: everyone was ready to listen to the chapter of The Third Wave.
Ron Jones went on stage and turned on the TV - but there was nothing but interference. And then the teacher asked the audience if they understand why they came here? Are they aware of the changes that have occurred to them? What kind of new America are they going to talk about here? Is it necessary to have some kind of secret organization in order to improve the quality of one's life? Is it necessary for this to divide people into friends and foes? You asked what happened to the Germans in the early 1930s? - Yes, the same as with you now. And here is how it all ended. A movie projector started up and shots from Nazi concentration camps appeared on the screen …
When the film ended, everyone was silent. And Jones suggested once and for all to forget about the "Third Wave" - as a shameful secret. He himself was silent for 16 years and did not tell anyone anything about his pedagogical experiment. But one day he met a former student, who called participation in the "Third Wave" - the most exciting memory of his life. Then the teacher broke the silence. Now dozens of studies have been devoted to this experiment, documentaries and feature films have been shot about it. Alas, in all of them one and the same idea can be traced: the grain of Nazism can sprout on any soil. For its essence is selfishness and striving for domination. And together they constitute the essence of the person himself.
Blue-eyed and brown-eyed
You, of course, will be indignant: you say - not all and not everyone. You may be convinced by another experiment conducted in 1968 by Jane Elliot under the influence of the assassination of Martin Luther King, a prominent human rights activist and activist for the rights of black Americans. Like Ron Jones, Jane did not intentionally plan any experiments. It's just that when she spoke with her third-graders about racism, she realized that they simply did not understand the essence of the problem. After all, she did not touch them directly - they were all white children of white parents. It was necessary to somehow make the children feel: what is it like to be in the minority, and even despised? And then she simply divided the class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed. There were more blue-eyed ones - and Jane recognized them as the best: she seated them on the front desks, encouraged them with additional rest and lunch,allowed to linger on recess and in every possible way emphasized their superiority.
She obliged children with brown eyes to wear brown ties and forbade them to drink water from the same fountain with blue-eyed classmates. And when they began to grumble, Jane stated that melanin, which is responsible for blue eyes, is also responsible for intelligence, and therefore all blue-eyed are a priori smarter. And even the most successful brown-eyed students sank under the influence of this argument. By the end of the day, all those with blue eyes behaved like princes of the blood - not otherwise. Over the course of the week, their arrogance, imperiousness and hostility towards the "minority" only intensified. At the same time, their academic performance has also improved. While brown-eyed students, on the contrary, worsened their performance, they became timid and insecure.
A week later, the rules of the game changed: Jane recognized those whose eyes were brown as the best. Yesterday's outcasts triumphed - and displayed a sense of superiority towards classmates with different eye colors. However, their attacks on the former "majority" were less harsh and aggressive.
A week later, Jane Elliot announced that brown-eyed and blue-eyed children are equal. She explained why she needed this experiment and asked third graders to write an essay on racism: now they had something to say.
And Jane, based on their answers, published an article in the local newspaper "How Discrimination Feels". And soon she was called to NBC for the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The main question that the audience asked Jane was: "How dare you conduct such a cruel experiment on white children?"
In a word, everyone understood everything …
ULTIMATE SUBMISSION
Psychologists are scientists who do not discover anything new: they simply observe a person and comprehend his behavior in different situations. And sometimes they simulate these very situations. Stanley Milgram, a Yale University scientist whose loved ones fell victim to the Holocaust, was haunted by the question: How could the Germans participate in the extermination of millions of innocent people in gas chambers? Are they too inclined to obey? And so, in order to figure out how much suffering ordinary people are ready to inflict on others, if it is part of their official duties, Milgram conducted an experiment in 1963. For a start - in native land. Then he planned to go to Germany to be able to compare the results.
The essence of the experiment was very simple. A random person - a conventional "teacher" - under the control of an "experimenter" was asked to supervise the "student". He was sitting in a chair covered with electrodes. He was given an assignment. And if he answered incorrectly, the teacher pressed the button and the "schoolboy" was shocked. The blow could be symbolic, or it could be very strong - everything depended on what the "experimenter" allowed himself. And he allowed everything. No matter how painful the "students" were, the supervisors kept repeating, "The experiment requires you to continue."
And the "teachers" continued! Moreover, the students, as luck would have it, were stupid and made mistakes all the time. As a result, 26 people out of 40-60% of “teachers” have gone from a 15 V shock to a voltage of 450 V.
After this experiment, Milgram gave up the idea of going to Germany: in his own laboratory he found more submission than he hoped to find even among the Germans.
Milgam's experience was repeated many times - by different people in different countries. But wherever it was held, the results were unchanged: the overwhelming majority of its participants unconditionally obeyed some kind of authority and increased the tension to the limit. So what? They were just doing their job!
Max Maslin