Jane Elliott

[Galen]

Former schoolteacher and current activist against racism, perhaps most well-renowned for her Blue Eyes vs Brown Eyes classroom experiment in the late '60s.

[Galen]

E1 seems apparent to me. Can't decide between the Ti-IXTjs. halp

also this experiment is really fucking interesting and I want a dialogue about it

[Pa3s]

also this experiment is really fucking interesting and I want a dialogue about it

It's very similar to the Stanford Prison Experiment. Both groups assume roles which have certain privileges and duties, whereas one of them is distinctly superior to the other. I think that at the start, every participant simply feels obliged to act according to the assinged role. They do as they're told and don't break the rules of the simulation. But once a little time has passed, the role slowly becomes their actual identity and the experiment develops strong internal dynamics. This process probably doesn' take much more than a few days, as the SPE was cancelled after just two weeks because everyone was so immersed in their roles that it almost got out of control.

To me, the most disturbing fact is that people forgot their true identity. Yes, they're kids, but the SPE shows that it's exactly the same with adults. It's like brainwashing or a mental disease caused by our society's demand for submission. You shouldn't forget that not only the inferior group submits to the "new standards", even the ones who benefit from them accept them without opposition. Sure, it's the more convenient thing for them to take advantage of their superior status, but solidarity would suggest not to accept this clearly unfair situation.

Everyone is actually born to assume a certain role, which is determined by the wealth, race and location of their family, the situation of the people around and many other factors. Those variables determine the consciousness and behaviour of the people to a certain degree, the rest stems from the individual personality. We're all humans after all, yet we assume that inborn factors rightfully determine our value in society.

This experiment is interesting because it's truly a completely arbitrary, superficial fact that divides both groups. Suddenly, your societal value is reduced to the colour of your eyes. If you belong to the inferior group, you can whine but nobody cares. But if you belong to the superior group, you sit back and enjoy. If it's so hard to free yourself from limitations which are caused by such a shallow difference, imagine how complicated it is to establish poor people as "humanly equal" to rich ones.

[Absurd]

Something akin to that was done by a nun at some Summer camp, although there was no differentiation between blue vs. brown eyes. I think two other eye colours were the area of focus. It was a really long time ago but if my memory serves me right the purpose of her teachings was to enable people of given nationality to recognise foreigners.

[silke]

Ti-ISTj so/sp 1w? would be my guess.

"Racism is racism wherever you find it. White ignorance is the problem, and we white folks have now managed to export that problem all over the world." - These types of statements have earned her some criticism. Most people understand that racism isn't specific to white population, that it has been practiced across many different ethnicities and cultures. It's rather strange that she attempts to pin it to the white people, completely ignoring the ethnic conflicts that have occurred in other parts of the world.

[Beautiful sky]

xSxj