The Wave (2008 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 1 views
-
Ron Jones's "Third Wave" experiment, which took place at a Californian school in 1967. Because his students did not understand how something like national socialism could even happen, he founded a totalitarian, strictly-organized "movement" with harsh punishments that was led by him autocratically. The intricate sense of community led to a wave of enthusiasm not only from his own students, but also from students from other classes who joined the program later. Jones later admitted to having enjoyed having his students as followers. To eliminate the upcoming momentum, Jones aborted the project on the fifth day and showed the students the parallels towards the Nazi youth movements.[3][4]
-
“Therein lies the great danger. It is an interesting fact that we always believe that what happens to others would never happen to us. We blame others, for example the less educated or the East Germans etc. However, in the Third Reich the house caretaker was just as fascinated by the movement as was the intellectual.”[10]
-
I think this experiment is very interesting because it shows a flaw in human thinking that we are always progressing. However, just like the quote says: "Barbarism is not the inheritance of our pre-history. It is the companion that dogs our every step." The film "Die Welle", based on this experiment, is also very interesting and worth-watching. --Sissi (Sept 17, 2016)