The Wave that Went Too Far
I came across
this Tumblr post, someone mentioned about this social experiment conducted by by California high school history
teacher Ron Jones in 1967, called The Third Wave. Recently it has
gained a decent amount of popularity. It tries to explain how the German
population could have accepted the actions of the Nazi regime during the rise
of the Third Reich and the Second World War. It was social experiment conducted
over 5 days since he found it difficult to explain his senior level
Contemporary World History class how the German people could have accepted the
actions of the Nazis. He imitated a
fascist regime within his class, calling it The Third Wave.
It was as real as it got, there was a banner, modes of
conduct, ranks and a motto
"Strength
through Discipline! Strength Through Community!
Strength
Through Action!"
Within the third day
there were about 200 followers from other classrooms. Initiation methods
followed, the dissenters were banished from class and a student even
volunteered to work as the teacher’s bodyguard. The fourth day he convinced the
members to attend the nationwide telecasting of the Third Wave presidential
candidate who was going to announce the movements existence to the public. As
the last day approached the teacher showed them an empty screen telling how the
movement was only an experiment that had to be terminated since it was getting
out of hand. Students could not believe it; they were in tears and disbelief. He
explains how the movement had influenced the members to develop a feeling of
superiority, sidelining the others, which could be what might have happened during
the Third Reich.
Looking around us we
realize that we Gen Z have almost nothing to look forward to. We live in a
constant fear of climate change, unemployment, the incoming economic crisis, mental
health issues, the radical cultural changes and so on. It is funny how easily
we are influenced by what we see on a glass screen. We are keen to pick sides,
hell we are even forced not to think regarding sensitive subjects. Just 5
minutes on an Instagram comment section we see how senseless factions fight against
each other without an original thought.
Amidst all this it is
easy to be influenced by an ideology that seem convenient to us, and the rest
who disagrees can be brushed off in a second. Like every social ideology, as
ideal as it gets, its easily used a weapon against anyone who questions it. For
instance, look at any disney movie released today. If
you dislike the movie due to your own reasons, you are automatically branded an evil to the society but that’s
a different blog. Thing is as enlightened as we claim ourselves to be, we are
still under our own biases and beliefs, standing on our artificial pedestal of self-righteousness.
The solution? Self-reflection, taking a moment to check where your thoughts
come from, whether what you do is consciously right or if you’re just following
the crowd. Free thinking is a right which we should exercise always.
Dear reader, I do apologize
if this has become too political. If you do feel so feel free to convey your
ideas, tell me how right or wrong I am.
Have a great day!
Cheers
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