The Third Wave

There's a MeFi thread today about the "Third Wave" experiment - an attempt by a teacher to help his students understand how ordinary Germans during the Second World War were able to, essentially, ignore all that was going on around them, and fall into conformity with Hitler and the Nazi's fascist dictates.

According to his own accounting of the experiement, by instructing his students in the values of "Strength through Discipline", "Strength trough Community", "Strength through Action" and "Strength through Pride", he was able - in less than a week - to create a mini, fascist group who believed that it was their duty to spy on other members of the group and report any infractions of the "rules", who obeyed his instructions without question,  recruited others into the "movement", and showed little ability to think or act for themselves. 

Admittedly, there is room for some questions about the veracity of the account posted at the above link - as one MeFi poster pointed out, there seem to be some conflicts of the timeline and a whiff of implausibility to how some things were described.  I do, however, feel that the experiment happened and the events were at least reasonably close to what is described by the teacher.  Part of this comes from my own memory of an experiment done by my 6th grade class in discrimination.  When I look back on it now, I'm astonished how quickly the students chosen to be the "dominant" group took to their role as bigots, and the "subordinate" group took to their roles as victims.  I also recall that initially the teacher provided us with some specific examples of how the discrimination should be shown (separate water fountains, showing deference to the dominant group by letting them go through doors first, and so on), and it didn't take long for the students to expand the list of ways to oppress their fellow classmates.  The changes in behaviour were quick and nearly complete - and I recall being uncomfortable with how quickly what was intended as "role play" went from feeling like acting to being much more natural.

The Third Wave experiment - if it played out reasonably close to how it was described - showed how easy it can be for a group of people to accept fascism - to buckle to authority and conform to what is expected, and how quickly the mindset can spread.  Sadly, it is something that we can see happening to a certain extent here in America since the 9/11 attacks. 

At least, so far, it's been "to a certain extent".  The question, of course, is when it will stop.

In the last couple of weeks, the quote (below) from Hermann G?g has been posted on just about every blog I've visited, but it's a very important one for us to hear and remember...

"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

...especially when we recall this quote, from our freedom-loving Attorney General, John Ashcroft:

"To those who pit Americans against immigrants and citizens against noncitizens, to those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends. They encourage people of goodwill to remain silent in the face of evil."

One of the truly frightening lessons from the Third Wave experiment is that the students knew, when the teacher started his experiment, that they had been talking about Nazi Germany and how Hitler gained control over the populace.  One might think that such knowledge would serve almost as a vaccine - helping them be able to resist techniques designed to turn them into good little fascists themselves, but it didn't.  No one in the class opposed what was happening, and nothing was able to stop the transformation from occurring, until the teacher ended the experiment by providing a sharp lesson in what had happened.

Likewise, we might think that our civilization's knowledge of Nazi Germany, and our own horror at the things that happened during Hitler's rule, would make it that much harder for any leader to turn us into good little fascists.  Yet, all around us, there are signs that the transformation is well-underway. A story (brief excerpt below) published in Salon, and widely quoted by the blogging community tells of the reaction a couple received when mentioning that they were against the war, and that Iraq had not been a part of the 9/11 attacks.

When Dawn and I said we were against the war, the men's expressions tightened and they looked down at their steaks. They were huge supporters of the war. They argued that if America didn't disarm Saddam Hussein, no one would, and that America usually acts alone anyway, so who cares what those European bastards think. I'd encountered opinions like theirs many times before. Their attitudes reminded me of many of the men I grew up with -- fiercely patriotic, desperate to protect their families from terrorism, bursting with faith in the president.

But when we suggested that Sept. 11 had nothing to do with Iraq, the conversation immediately shifted. Their faces reddened, and they began to talk quickly at the same time, the businessman slapping his hand against the bar to punctuate his outbursts:

"At some point, you have to trust your president! You have to believe that he knows something we don't!"

"They attacked our country. Now we have to get them!"

"At some point, you have to trust your president! You have to believe that he knows something we don't".  Not exactly the most comforting words I've read.  No, I don't have to trust the president - especially when he has developed such a track record of lying, evasion, misinformation and otherwise misleading us in so many ways.

One way the new facism is reinforces is how, when confronted by people who do not agree with the war, rather than keeping their arguments to the actual assertions being made by the anti-war side, those who are in favour of the war frequently attack the speaker, or the anti-war movement, instead.  When someone points out that none of the evidence Bush has presented as justifying this war stands up well to scrutiny, rather than countering that claim with information showing how the evidence does hold us, the pro-war advocate is more likely to tell you that, if you love Saddam so much, you should just move to Iraq.

Today I was listening to the news on MSNBC, and Chris Matthews began talking about how, now that the war has started, there's much more support for the war.  He implied that Democrats who aren't supporting the war are somehow 'missing the point', and from his arrogant tone of voice, you could tell he considers those who support the war to be superior to those who oppose it.  He's not the only one.

With the media making snide comments and implications about anti-war advocates, and pro-war forces doing everything they can to both discredit the personal character of those who oppose the war and to question their patriotism, an atmosphere develops in which continuing to express opposition becomes a scary thing.

A few days ago, I posted a notice about MoveOn.org's Windowlight campaign.  At the time I posted it, I fully intended to participate, thinking that my husband had agreed.  Since the, however, he's become concerned that if we did have such a visible symbol of our opposition to the war on our home, we might be at risk for someone throwing a rock through the window or some other kind of vandalism.  He says that it's not so much the fear that's stopping him, but the simple fact that we can't afford to replace the glass if they did.  While I don't agree with him, its not the kind of thing I can do without his agreement.  Even though he denies that he's responding to intimidation, in a very real sense, he is.  Were it not for the fact that the pro-war forces have shown themselves willing to stoop to such measures, there's be no reason to worry about whether we could afford replacing a window or not.*

All of these tactics are the kinds of things that help create the repressive atmosphere in which fascism can flourish.  As with the "Third Wave" experiment, even though we know the signs to watch out for and the horror that can result when a fascist dictator gains control of a free people, we are not immune to tactics, and the country is in very real danger of losing it's vision and purpose as a land of liberty.

It took the teacher revealing to the student how far they had falling into fascism to shake them out of it.  It took much the same kind of revelation to bring the German people back out of it as well.  There has to be some way, however, to stop the slide in the first place.  The more of us that can speak out about the danger we are in, and the more people we can help see how far we've already come, the better chance we have of combating it as a whole.  It won't be easy to reach those who are committed to the path they're on, but we have to try.

*As it currently stands, he's agreed for us to pay attention to what happens over the next couple of weeks, and see if there is much reaction to the Windowlight campaign, and rediscuss the issue then.  Of course, the war proper may be over by that time, but I'm glad he's at least willing to consider it.  :)  Meanwhile, I have my "Virtual Windowlight" on this page, and a friend of mine has said she will add a light to her window for me -- thanks again so much!!