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Talk to Each Other
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: November 19, 2009
Latest Update: November 19, 2009
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
- Introduction
Think of something that will scare people about the issue under discussion. Repeat that scary thing as often as you can. Admit of no complexity or situational differences. Admit of no range of positions. Stick to your dichotomous danger/no danger explanation. Sooner or later, if people hear your message enough, and if they have no other message either that they can supply themselves or that someone else supplies to counter your danger message, they may well end up believing you. This is what happens when prisoners of war or kidnap victims are brain-washed by their captors: the Stockholm syndrome.
"Stay on message." Don't allow "them" to hear any other message. This kind of advice is given today to those who place more vlaue on "selling" their product, their position, their strategy, than on presenting facts and arguments to let you make up your own mind.. It isn't really communication. It's using the social-psychology of learning theory to unteach, to obfuscate, to direct your natural questioning to acceptance of the ever so oft-repeated message.
Both, or all sides do this. It's easier when your side or group takes the sound-bite position that goes with some shared value such as patriotism, change, motherhood, children, love and caring, equal opportunity, etc. Passions are more easily whipped up by the flag, apple pie, happy kids, the color red, etc. If you can lay claim to some of these images, it's easier to get your message across than actually making an argument.
- Discussion Questions
- How could this proposed concept of societal Stockholm Syndrome operate within the criminal justice system.
Consider that most discussion of criminal justice is of corrections (cops and jails and prisons) and/or of criminals and/or of courts and trials. There's lots more to criminal justice, and art can help us express new icons and images that might get us to more realistic assessments of the problems of living together with all peoples in one world. The image drawn for this file might be applied to all the fear invoked by child molestors, or by bullies, or by overcrowded prisons, etc. Consider that art, which is not "prison art," not the balance scales of justice, could help to alter the context in which we see problems as hopeless or manageable. jeanne
- How do you suppose Jane Golden's mural arts program in Philadelphia changes the context that matters in dealing with young people in our current budget crisis?
Consider that having a means to learn skills and use those skills can go a long way to making up for no jobs after school or in the summer. Some of you might want to explore this program further to see what results Jane Golden's program might report. Wouldn't Philadelphia make a fun trip over winter vacation if you could afford the gas and knew someone in Philadelphia you could stay with? jeanne
- References:
- Exclusive: Attacks On Health Reform Orchestrated By Yet Another Shadowy Corporate Front Group — ‘CMPI’ Article is on the Think Progress site, visited on November 29, 2009, by jeanne, following a link on Rachel Maddow's site on MSNBC.com
- The Societal Stockhom Syndrome Ms.Kathleen Trigiani's website follows "Psychologist Dee Graham, [who] has theorized that Stockholm Syndrome occurs on a societal level. Since our culture is patriarchal, she believes that all women suffer from it--to widely varying degrees . . . " I would like to suggest here that a "societal Stockhom Syndrome occurs on a much broader level in the general field of communication. Whenever one group systematically voices its message as a "true perspective," while denigrating another group's version of that message, we have efforts of control through language, image, behavior. There are experts who, for very big bucks, teach politicians and ideologues how to most effectively "control" the messages that go out to their audiences.
This broader aspect of societal Stockholm Syndrome concerns me much more than the more recognized concern with feminism and other "-ism"s. Regardless of whether we are trying to guard against sexism, racism, classism, elitism, or any other "ism" the real enemy here is the insistence upon substituting our view of the world for that of another, with no emphasis on facts and argument. This pattern merely continues the problems our educational system has encountered through focusing on banked learning of "what is known," with little emphasis on questioning, thinking things through, daring to think out of the box. jeanne
- Mural Arts Program Description of Jane Golden's Mural Arts program in Philadelphia. Consulted by jeanne, November 19. 2009.
- Art Saves Lives: Profile of Jane Golden Note that Jane Golden took great risks in finding creative ways to adapt her skills and what she loved doing to criminal justice. Consider the possibilities that suggests. Consulted by jeanne, November 19. 2009.
- The Wall Ball 2009 - Jane Golden & Jane Seymour Jane Gordon has gone from Graffiti to Mural Art in Los Angeles and in Philadelphia. Cite consulted by jeanne on November 19, 2009. Jane Golden has done extensive work with art as an alternative to graffiti. Consulted by jeanne, November 19. 2009.
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