ERIN Digital & Phone net Tuesday May 14, 2024; Go HERE for Current SOI
Some of you with a background in psychology and the social sciences (or just a lot of daytime TV) might be familiar with the Jane Elliot?s Brown vs Blue eyes exercise which she started in a classroom beginning in the late 1960s. I could go off on a long tangent how doing the same thing today would get a teacher fired and the school sued in a New York minute. However, timing is everything and the original teacher who was able to shrug off the need for an IRB was able to make a long career out of repeating this stunt. When this is replayed on TV today, the thing of most interest to casual observers is how easily a group of adults can be divided and polarized. What I find more interesting, though, is how easily the same ruse is used again and again over the past 4 decades within the same country. There is no generational memory. I remember first seeing a video tape of this technique from the Phil Donahue show which was probably recorded in the early 1980s. However, it has been used on other shows in the 1990s and more recently on a college campus. I?ve posted some segments from youtube....I like the stated premise behind the motivation for doing these exercises which is to use a ridiculous topical difference to illustrate the dangers of racism, negative group dynamics, etc. I?m definitely one of those people who believe in each person?s individual merits, content of character, goodness of heart and spirit and all that. One of my concerns is not only does that lack of memory thing keep creeping back every 15 years, but many longstanding perceived stereotypes still remain hidden not far beneath the surface. However, I don?t think old racism will be a major factor in dividing America in the future. It will remain a tool to some extent, but the key method for dividing the American people will be to accentuate the differences in how they think.
