Boring but somewhat Effective

My initial reaction to the Wave experiment was that the acting was probably the worst showcase of talent that has ever been recorded. Because of this it was hard to concentrate and it was difficult to truly understand the point of the experiment. However, when the entire class is chanting the phrases, "Strength through community, strength through discipline, strength through action" it is hard not to be chilled by seeing such disturbing classroom behavior. Another point that I think is important to recognize is the fact that this group began to grow so quickly and the fact that people outside of the class did not ridicule it, yet they joined it. Truthfully, I believe that this scenario would be a likely failure at Menlo. Menlo parents, teachers, and administrators encourage my classmates and I to create our own thoughts and this idea of a class with a symbol and a salute would soon crumble. I do understand how if the entire class began to join into the experiment and if a respected teacher told us to partake in this group many people would likely join. The main difference I would expect with Menlo students is that they would be able to draw the line unlike these mid 1980s kids could not. The thing that is the scariest to me is that the Wave was a way out for insecure students such as Robert. We can truly see their commitment to the Wave when Robert says, "For the first time in my life I feel like I am a part of something great!" Then one of his fellow female classmates said, "This is like being born again." Both of those statements are deep from within and are very meaningful. To conclude, I will create an obvious connection between Adolf Hitler and Mr. Ross. They both are great public speakers and sometimes a good speech can convince anyone. Both Hitler and Mr. Ross often used the words change and hope to stir up the general public to gather more followers. I hope that our society has moved far enough along to avoid something like this from happening again.

Homework, Tuesday March 10th

Once you've read pages 702 through 707 in the text book, take a look at one (or more) of these videos. The first is footage from a TV special on the "Third Wave," an experiment carried out at Cubberley High School (in Palo Alto) in 1967. The teleplay, aired in 1981, reenacted the experiment. Recently, the story was remade in the German film Die Welle, which won two German film wards in 2008. The second, in the same vein (and the same grainy '80s PSA film) is The Children's Story, a short TV film based off of a story written by James Clavell in 1963. The story wasn't published until 1981; the TV adaptation was made the following year. The premise in a nutshell: life after the Soviet takeover (very much a document of the Cold War, this story). The final two vary in length, but both deal with the Stanford Prison Experiment of 1971. The first is a documentary, that includes interviews with participants and Dr. Philip Zimbardo, the Stanford psych prof who ran the study. The second, a bit longer, is the official documentary recapitulation of the experiment (available for sale at the experiment website, run by Zimbardo himself).

Emboldened, not Appeased

Check it out:

Christopher Hitchens' recent piece on Slate.com is little more than a synthesis of what many of you were saying about the Taliban presence in Pakistan's Swat Valley and the principle of appeasement as international policy. You can respond to the piece in the forum set up by Slate. I encourage you all to get in there, see what others are saying, and offer up your two cents.