Steve Conigio was a high school student like any other. One day, in the course of history he had with Professor Ron Jones, he asked an interesting question: “How was it possible for the German people, ordinary citizens, to pretend to ignore what was happening to the Jews?Your master was ruminating; I don’t know how to answer him. This was the beginning of a disconcerting experience with the human spirit, which was called “The Third Wave”.
Ron Jones decided to take a week of his classes to teach students how it was possible for a free society to become a fascist regime. He followed a cautious plan and thus managed to prove his point: under constant pressure, many human beings end up accepting totalitarianism as a standard of life.
- The teacher began the process using persuasion.
- First he tried to convince students of the beauty and grandeur of discipline.
- Ordered them to adopt a very rigid body posture in their wallets and severely corrected even the slightest defect.
Students quickly assimilated the new parameters and Jones wondered how far he could take them. He then introduced new rules, such as the requirement to address him as “sir” or the obligation to stand up and retire before speaking to the class.
The funny thing is that the group’s productivity has increased considerably, the most passive students quickly became more interested and participatory, all seemed to respond positively to authoritarianism.
On the second day, Professor Jones wrote a slogan on the board that summarized what he learned the day before: “Force through discipline. “He added a new phrase: “Force through the community. “Then he told them about the importance of being part of a group. I was making up stories to reinforce the idea.
Then, he had each student repeat the two coins he learned, twice, they were very satisfied and seemed to feel more and more the feeling of belonging to the group, in the end the teacher invented a greeting with his hand so that members could recognize themselves. Was that when other students heard this news?Community, and they asked to come in.
On the third day a compulsory card was launched to belong to the group of the third wave and more than 200 students applied to be admitted; an initiation ritual has also been defined, in which new members must swear allegiance to the principles of the group. Everyone was also warned of the need to keep an eye on others so as not to break the rules.
Soon after, the accusations began to arrive. The “informants” proliferated, but the idea was growing at full throttle. The students who stood out the most have now found the the most disoriented and passive. Who was previously isolated suddenly joined the group without major problems. Even the dean of the school began to use the length of the “third wave”.
The next day, Professor Jones came to his class and met a group of 80 students, completely silent and attentive to what he had to say. The professor spoke of national pride, of the importance of making the country the best nation on the planet. He then invited them to a public meeting, exclusively for members of the third wave, in which a presidential candidate would announce a government program for the nation, all of them got excited and began preparing for the activity without any change.
On the last day of the experiment began with preparations for the demonstration, in the auditorium Jones greeted the students who responded with the agreed gesture, they were also asked to repeat the mantra (Force through discipline!) And they did it several times, with full conviction.
Soon, Jones turned on a television so everyone could meet the expected leader. The image was empty. Gradually, the anguish spread and a long silence prevailed.
That’s when Jones picked up the microphone and said these words: “Listen carefully, I have something important to tell you. There’s no leader. There is no national movement called third wave. They’ve been used, manipulated, and they’re no better than the German Nazis who studied. ?
Then there was a film about the Third Reich. Some wept; others simply got up and went silently, disappointed.
Image courtesy of James Vaughan.