I still remember some of the things I learned in high school and college—and that was a long time ago.
For instance, our professor from Introductory Psychology class told us a story about an experiment that had been conducted in another psychology class. (Actually, I would call it a trick, but I’m no professor.)
The professor of that class instructed all of the students except one, who was not in the room at the time, to, when asked, identify a picture of a skunk as a cat. When the isolated young man came into the room and class began, the professor pointed to the picture of the skunk and called it a cat. No one in the room objected. The test subject looked around the room quizzically and wondered why no one objected to the false nomenclature. After several misnomers, the young man spoke up and said, “Are you sure that’s not a skunk?”
The professor asked several students what the picture represented and they all confirmed that it was a cat. Fellow students even laughed at the poor subject of the experiment. Finally, the professor asked the young man what he now thought the picture represented. “Well, maybe, it’s a cat,” he said.
Peer pressure can be a powerful thing. If you tell a lie often enough people will start to believe it. If you lie, I’ll swear to it.
I believe that is happening in our country today—in the media, in “anti-”social media, in our schools. People who learned things that were scientifically proven are subject to theories that are just that. Common sense might be able to prove otherwise, but common sense isn’t as common as you might think.
It takes a lot of courage to speak out against falsehood, injustice and power grabbing. Americans were once known for their courage. It’s what inspired ordinary people to hack out a living in the forests decades ago. It’s what impelled early citizens to break away from tyranny and establish a new nation. It’s what encouraged families to leave everything behind, get into a covered wagon and travel across this wide country, making their road as they went.
Many of us have become tyrants, many have become wishy-washy and many have become complacent. Perhaps, we need to set our feet on a firm foundation—like our local church, for instance.
Dorothy is the author of two books—“Miles and Miracles” and “Getting It All Together “. You can purchase a book or send a comment by emailing her at dorothybutzknight@gmail.com
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