There is a general thinking that Nazism could only have arisen in Germany because of some unidentified deficit in their culture that leaves their society vulnerable to such a thing. Apply whatever mystical basis you like as the reason for it as the thinking it could only happen in Germany is fairly common.
Ron Jones wanted to demonstrate to his students that Nazism could arise anywhere and embarked into a sociological experiment in Palo Alto High School in 1967. During the course of the exercise he and the students created a movement called The Third Wave and it manifested precisely the type of behavior that had been shown in Nazi Germany. When the students were informed the exercise had been a sociological experiment, they were profoundly shocked at the news. (Wiki: The_Third_Wave)
The story was presented in a book and I'm told there is an English-language movie on which the book was based but I haven't been able to find it. The point of this article is not that movie which is said to be an accurate reflection of what happened but rather a second movie made in Germany in 2008 entitled "Die Welle" (The Wave). I have watched most but not all of the movie and this was against the advice of Cat who considered it a poor piece of work. Even without seeing it through I agree.
"Die Welle" is an over-dramatised telling of the story which makes it very difficult to tell what is accurate to what happened and what is moviemaker fluff. In my view, it also misses the point of the exercise as to do it in Germany only re-emphasises the generally popular premise that such a thing could only happen in Germany. Telling the story from a German perspective will likely result in a reaction in at least some percentage of the viewers of, "Well, of course it happened there. Where else?"
Moreover, dramatisation of the story takes it away from the fundamental sociological exercise and transmogrifies it to just another piece of pop culture but the exercise is much more important than that. Examples of 'third wave' thinking are all over the place and one of the most unfortunate is that of the Fox News conservatives of America. They're not stupid and they know a great deal of what is presented on Fox News isn't true but they derive a sense of community from the following and they stay with it. Fox News is also very highly-skilled in presenting propaganda.
That people fail to recognise the relationship between The Third Wave, Fox News, and other such massively-manipulative movements is a generic deficit to society and part of the vulnerability is due to the thinking such things can only happen in Germany. As my ol' Dad said, Americans don't care about the issues, they just want to be on the side that's winning. Just as with the idea that Nazism could only happen in Germany, that desire to be 'on the side that is winning' is not limited to America.
People thirst for freedom but they are being controlled by precisely the mediums that proclaim it. Any threat from government is secondary to the tyranny created by the news and this goes all the way back to Goebbels. If you control the broadcast media, you own the people.
I realise my opinions are not popular and I'm not part of any particular community at all. I would enjoy community as much as anyone but only if that community is held together for the common good rather than through fear of some external threat. An example of the former is the way farmers will often help each other through tough times. These are communities that are very healthy and have a general history back to when humans first started farming. However, the artificial communities created through the news media are very destructive and it's paramount to recognise the threat from them is vastly greater than any threat they claim is presented by some external force.
The first way to be free is to turn off the television.
Ron Jones wanted to demonstrate to his students that Nazism could arise anywhere and embarked into a sociological experiment in Palo Alto High School in 1967. During the course of the exercise he and the students created a movement called The Third Wave and it manifested precisely the type of behavior that had been shown in Nazi Germany. When the students were informed the exercise had been a sociological experiment, they were profoundly shocked at the news. (Wiki: The_Third_Wave)
The story was presented in a book and I'm told there is an English-language movie on which the book was based but I haven't been able to find it. The point of this article is not that movie which is said to be an accurate reflection of what happened but rather a second movie made in Germany in 2008 entitled "Die Welle" (The Wave). I have watched most but not all of the movie and this was against the advice of Cat who considered it a poor piece of work. Even without seeing it through I agree.
"Die Welle" is an over-dramatised telling of the story which makes it very difficult to tell what is accurate to what happened and what is moviemaker fluff. In my view, it also misses the point of the exercise as to do it in Germany only re-emphasises the generally popular premise that such a thing could only happen in Germany. Telling the story from a German perspective will likely result in a reaction in at least some percentage of the viewers of, "Well, of course it happened there. Where else?"
Moreover, dramatisation of the story takes it away from the fundamental sociological exercise and transmogrifies it to just another piece of pop culture but the exercise is much more important than that. Examples of 'third wave' thinking are all over the place and one of the most unfortunate is that of the Fox News conservatives of America. They're not stupid and they know a great deal of what is presented on Fox News isn't true but they derive a sense of community from the following and they stay with it. Fox News is also very highly-skilled in presenting propaganda.
That people fail to recognise the relationship between The Third Wave, Fox News, and other such massively-manipulative movements is a generic deficit to society and part of the vulnerability is due to the thinking such things can only happen in Germany. As my ol' Dad said, Americans don't care about the issues, they just want to be on the side that's winning. Just as with the idea that Nazism could only happen in Germany, that desire to be 'on the side that is winning' is not limited to America.
People thirst for freedom but they are being controlled by precisely the mediums that proclaim it. Any threat from government is secondary to the tyranny created by the news and this goes all the way back to Goebbels. If you control the broadcast media, you own the people.
I realise my opinions are not popular and I'm not part of any particular community at all. I would enjoy community as much as anyone but only if that community is held together for the common good rather than through fear of some external threat. An example of the former is the way farmers will often help each other through tough times. These are communities that are very healthy and have a general history back to when humans first started farming. However, the artificial communities created through the news media are very destructive and it's paramount to recognise the threat from them is vastly greater than any threat they claim is presented by some external force.
The first way to be free is to turn off the television.
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