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Abstract

It required all of the students to participate 24 hours as the rules do not only apply in class or at school, but also outside of the school and at home.Jones had told them to be liable for one another, that failing to salute a fellow member outside of the class is an offence and can get them reported. Soon, students from outside of the classroom started to notice their unique exchanges and decided to become a part of the movement, growing their size to 60.Jones added “Strength through action” on the third day and instructed his students to finish some tasks. Some were instructed to memorize everyone in the group’s names and addresses, while others were instructed to create Third Wave banners, armbands, and membership cards.According to a former student, banners were hung throughout the campus including a 20-footer in the library. By the end of the day, around 200 students from different classes were brought in to join the movement.“It was like walking on slippery rock…by the third or fourth day, there was an obvious explosion of emotion that I couldn’t control,” Jones said. Each participant in the Third Wave was given a membership card, three of which Jones marked with an X at random. Those in charge of the marked cards were instructed to keep track of who broke the rules.Several boys, wearing Third Wave armbands were assigned to ‘guard’ Jones as he strolled the school’s corridors. “It was a black band. When I went home, it got my parents worried,” said one of Jones’ former students. “They thought it was the equivalent of the SS.” Jones had to convince the students’ mother, who had called to express her anxiety, that it was just a class activity.By the end of four days, nearly half of the class had approached Jones with specific information about others’ misdeeds, ranging from incorrect salutes to schemes to overthrow him. “It was phenomenal. There was a whole underground of activity. People were assigning themselves as guards,” Jones says. Because of the sheer amount of reports he had received, he could make out the reality of what was going on in the class.There was betrayal among teens who had been close friends since childhood. A group of buddies could be sharing a cigarette in the bathroom, discussing a plan to “kidnap” Jones the next day and fulfil the exercise’s requirement for a top grade, but it wouldn’t happen because somebody of those two or three — would inform Ron Jones of their plot.This is exactly what happened to one of the students, who informed many classmates that he had brought a cap pistol to school to get an A by emulating an assassination.The student dropped the idea after Jones gave him a harsh look in class and reminded the group of the consequences of disloyalty. Jones had assigned some students to become some sort of a secret police force and from there he was able to convict the guilty during class.<p id="4b5b"

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No matter who was being pointed the finger at, the guilty would immediately stand up and be escorted to the library to be exiled. It created a sense of fear and people were starting to get even more paranoid and it was effective.The fifth day was when Jones had to put a stop to the experiment before it got violent. He had heard an alarming rumour from the students about beating up three of their most sceptical members. All three had informed their parents about the Third Wave; one family’s rabbi even contacted Jones at home with inquiries, but Jones’ vague responses were enough for him without asking any more probing questions.“I kept hoping someone would walk in and ask what was going on, so I could point to them and say, ‘That’s right, look what you’re doing, you’ve become just like fascists’ and end it. But it didn’t happen.”Even the school’s teachers were unconcerned about it. Although some parents did warn their children not to come to class, this simply fueled the students’ desire to participate. Other than that, the sheer number of students in Jones’ class was starting to disrupt normal school routines.To end the experiment, he had the three sceptics escorted to the library for their safety, and as for the rest of the members, they were told to attend a rally the following afternoon where a presidential candidate would be announced for The Third Wave.When the students arrived at the auditorium the following day, Jones had placed a TV in front of them and dimmed the lights. When he turned on the TV, it was only playing static. The crowd was starting to get uneasy after some time and some even ran to the door thinking it was a trap.After a few minutes, Jones returned to shut off the television and take a position at a microphone on stage and played a movie montage of World War II behind him. “There is no Third Wave movement, no leader,” he told the stunned audience. “You and I are no better or worse than the citizens of the Third Reich. We would have worked in the defence plants. We will watch our neighbours be taken away, and do nothing,” Jones said, referring to the three sceptics exiled to the library for the crime of disbelief. “We’re just like those Germans. We would give our freedom up for the chance of being special.”The students were horrified that they’d so neatly played out a transition to fascistic thought and behaviour. Others simply confirmed that their hunches about the creepy new classroom vibe were right. The pleasure of membership, the creeping thrill of exclusion, and the comfort of discipline and rules meant that the experiment was unquestionably a success.It vividly illustrated the chilling conclusion theorist Hannah Arendt came to at the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann: that most members of the SS were “neither perverted nor sadistic,” but rather, “terribly and terrifyingly normal.”</article></body>

Manipulation, The Third Wave Experiment.

Heinrich Himmler Video Thumbnail by Britannica

Rone Jones decided to take a more personal approach by experimenting in his classroom to teach his students, why the Nazis did what they did, because it’s hard to comprehend the amount of hate a person could possess, someone so ordinary like you and me, to be able to carry out such monstrosity.

It didn’t take long, only in 5 days and the experiment took a life of its own and he had to stop it before it became dangerous. Funny enough, Jones started the experiment by saying, “We’re going to experiment, a non-threatening experiment.” which he will soon regret saying in the first place.

Jones was the kind of teacher that was pretty laid back and quite popular with his students but, for the experiment to work he had to change his demeanour to convince his students to follow along.

Jones played Wagnerian music in the background as the students entered the class one by one and he rearranged their desks in a straight line. As the students settled to their desks, Jones told them that he’d like to share with the class the key to success and power and wrote “Strength Through Discipline” on the blackboard.

He said he was going to start a movement called “The Third Wave” aimed to eliminate democracy because he believes the emphasis on individuality is holding their growth as a society.

He began to introduce rules they had to follow from that day on and the very first rule was for them to sit straight with their feet flat on the floor and greet him good morning in unison every time he entered the classroom.

As incentives, all of the students were promised an “A” if they participated in the experiment. Any failed effort of a revolution would get them an “F” but a successful one would get an “A”.

Jones thought it wasn’t gonna work and it was only gonna last on the first day, but Jones was met with a surprise as soon as he entered the classroom the following day and saw all of his students sitting upright followed by a ‘good morning’ — exactly like how he told them the day before.

Since the first day of the experiment was going well, he might as well just continue and see where it goes. Jones added “Strength Through Community” on the 2nd day below the previous slogan.

A powerful sense of belonging had sprung among the students, and Jones admitted that he also became a part of the exercise. They were told they had to greet one another with a Nazi-like salute everywhere they met a fellow Third Wave member. This is perhaps the scariest rule of them all because this is where it started to become all too real. It required all of the students to participate 24 hours as the rules do not only apply in class or at school, but also outside of the school and at home.

Jones had told them to be liable for one another, that failing to salute a fellow member outside of the class is an offence and can get them reported. Soon, students from outside of the classroom started to notice their unique exchanges and decided to become a part of the movement, growing their size to 60.

Jones added “Strength through action” on the third day and instructed his students to finish some tasks. Some were instructed to memorize everyone in the group’s names and addresses, while others were instructed to create Third Wave banners, armbands, and membership cards.

According to a former student, banners were hung throughout the campus including a 20-footer in the library. By the end of the day, around 200 students from different classes were brought in to join the movement.

“It was like walking on slippery rock…by the third or fourth day, there was an obvious explosion of emotion that I couldn’t control,” Jones said. Each participant in the Third Wave was given a membership card, three of which Jones marked with an X at random. Those in charge of the marked cards were instructed to keep track of who broke the rules.

Several boys, wearing Third Wave armbands were assigned to ‘guard’ Jones as he strolled the school’s corridors. “It was a black band. When I went home, it got my parents worried,” said one of Jones’ former students. “They thought it was the equivalent of the SS.” Jones had to convince the students’ mother, who had called to express her anxiety, that it was just a class activity.

By the end of four days, nearly half of the class had approached Jones with specific information about others’ misdeeds, ranging from incorrect salutes to schemes to overthrow him. “It was phenomenal. There was a whole underground of activity. People were assigning themselves as guards,” Jones says. Because of the sheer amount of reports he had received, he could make out the reality of what was going on in the class.

There was betrayal among teens who had been close friends since childhood. A group of buddies could be sharing a cigarette in the bathroom, discussing a plan to “kidnap” Jones the next day and fulfil the exercise’s requirement for a top grade, but it wouldn’t happen because somebody of those two or three — would inform Ron Jones of their plot.

This is exactly what happened to one of the students, who informed many classmates that he had brought a cap pistol to school to get an A by emulating an assassination.

The student dropped the idea after Jones gave him a harsh look in class and reminded the group of the consequences of disloyalty. Jones had assigned some students to become some sort of a secret police force and from there he was able to convict the guilty during class.

No matter who was being pointed the finger at, the guilty would immediately stand up and be escorted to the library to be exiled. It created a sense of fear and people were starting to get even more paranoid and it was effective.

The fifth day was when Jones had to put a stop to the experiment before it got violent. He had heard an alarming rumour from the students about beating up three of their most sceptical members. All three had informed their parents about the Third Wave; one family’s rabbi even contacted Jones at home with inquiries, but Jones’ vague responses were enough for him without asking any more probing questions.

“I kept hoping someone would walk in and ask what was going on, so I could point to them and say, ‘That’s right, look what you’re doing, you’ve become just like fascists’ and end it. But it didn’t happen.”

Even the school’s teachers were unconcerned about it. Although some parents did warn their children not to come to class, this simply fueled the students’ desire to participate. Other than that, the sheer number of students in Jones’ class was starting to disrupt normal school routines.

To end the experiment, he had the three sceptics escorted to the library for their safety, and as for the rest of the members, they were told to attend a rally the following afternoon where a presidential candidate would be announced for The Third Wave.

When the students arrived at the auditorium the following day, Jones had placed a TV in front of them and dimmed the lights. When he turned on the TV, it was only playing static. The crowd was starting to get uneasy after some time and some even ran to the door thinking it was a trap.

After a few minutes, Jones returned to shut off the television and take a position at a microphone on stage and played a movie montage of World War II behind him. “There is no Third Wave movement, no leader,” he told the stunned audience. “You and I are no better or worse than the citizens of the Third Reich. We would have worked in the defence plants. We will watch our neighbours be taken away, and do nothing,” Jones said, referring to the three sceptics exiled to the library for the crime of disbelief. “We’re just like those Germans. We would give our freedom up for the chance of being special.”

The students were horrified that they’d so neatly played out a transition to fascistic thought and behaviour. Others simply confirmed that their hunches about the creepy new classroom vibe were right. The pleasure of membership, the creeping thrill of exclusion, and the comfort of discipline and rules meant that the experiment was unquestionably a success.

It vividly illustrated the chilling conclusion theorist Hannah Arendt came to at the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann: that most members of the SS were “neither perverted nor sadistic,” but rather, “terribly and terrifyingly normal.”