In the early 1980’s I saw a movie on tv that I never forgot. It was certainly not an “Oscar-film” in any way. That is not why I remember the movie.
It was the content, the message, the lesson about human behavior that got stucked in my head.
This memory of the film has helped me through the years to recognize bad structures, that can go very wrong when the wrong leaders pull the strings.
I re-saw (is that a word?) the film couple of years ago and it strucked me how up to date the film message is. I didn’t regret at all not to participating in any kind of closed social media that requires registration to enter.
If I want to join something I want to know what I join and I never join things that cut some people off from participating.
Today many social media plattforms requires registration before you can make yourself a picture of what you are about to join. Oh, then you say, you can always regret and do an unregistration. No, I will still be there in case I should regret again and want to re-join the group. (At least people that tried to exit forever say that’s how it works)
I have no possibility to examine what I’m about to join before I join. I don’t join such groups and when people tell me “oh, you’re not on fb, then you don’t get our news…bla bla bla” as if I’m stupid being outside such great communtiy, I just get even more suspicious of the structures this kind of platform are building.
But wp requires registration, you might say. Yes it does if you start a blog or want to comment and like posts. But if you just want to read and follow blogs everyone can do it without registration. Everyone online is welcome to read open blogs on wp. Everyone has a possibility to explore what wp is about before a decision to open an account.
That’s how I ended up on wp. I read friends blogs and thought it was a nice place, so I decided to open a blog of my own and thanks to that I met all you my wp friends. I haven’t regret it so far.
In Sweden very many people live their lives through fb and that scares me. They think it’s a natural way to live and communicate. Every one that’s not on fb don’t exist in their minds.
I don’t mind being outside that fb madness myself, but I wonder how our future society will be if we cut people out from daily life just because you’re not in the same sorority as the fb’s?
We are still excluding, categorizing people and killing people because of who they are. We are still stuck in the same structures that made it possible for dark forces to rule the world.
If you got three quarters of an hour, please look at this movie and tell me if you don’t understand what I’m trying to say, when I say that the movie tells a story about us today and not some history dark force idiots.
You can also just skip this post and move on.
I just wanted to tell why I’m not on any other social media than wp.
Things that’s not open to everyone is suspicious to me. The things we must hide from people is trollish, if Trolls comes out in the open sun, they burst. Think about that for a while 🙂
And to be clear, I don’t mind if you joined social media, it’s your choice and mine is to not enter that area. We are all different and we all have different reasons to make choices. That is how it should be.
Have a great day ya all!
Anna
I haven’t watched the video, but what you say is sound.
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Thank you. Then I’m not a complete idiot 🙂
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Of course not. I’m only on FB to learn about my offspring 🙂 But if I hadn’t gone on it I would not have found WP. I now just have a link to FB to alert friends on there that I have posted.
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🙂
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I agree completely with all you’ve said. And I’ll leave it at that. Great post.
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Thank you 🙂
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this is exactly what facebook is about. I was on it for a short time. After a few months I started seeing posts about things that were completely made up and proven to be false but everyone passed it around and thumbs up and like and shared it. I started making fun of them and outright put them down but they kept liking and sharing that, too. after several days of deleting everything I posted I was able to google the process to delete the account. Even getting their computers infected by the third party data mining apps people think are part of facebook they still continue to go back to it. They post everything about their lives, they post pictures of everything they do, they post pictures of children, the worst part is they have no concept of personal online security. They sign in on public computers and never thinking to remove their password after they log out, not like thats much help after the fact. I’ll hear people talking about something thats outrageously bizarre and find out they read it on facebook. I’ll tell them it’s not true and they turn their backs on me to continue their discussion. They stick to these closed off groups, always online, closed off from everyone else. They call this “social media” while being the most unsocial people of society.
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Yes that world is really weird one and I’m glad I don’t participate. When you describe it I have no regrets staying out of that crazy world 🙂
I’m both weird and crazy, but not in that way!
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It’s been a while that I watched that film and didn’t make that connection – fb didn’t exist back then. But it is an interesting perspective.
I’m not socially integrated either – i. e. I’m not on fb, twitter, instagram you name them. And I like it that way.
Basically it is for the same reasons that you explained, I just could not have expressed it that well. And one additional thing: you give up your right on every picture and text that you post on fb. It will belong to fb from the very moment of posting. Nope!
So far my live was a happy live without social media 🙂
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I totally agree!
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Different strokes for different folks. It’s never easy being different Anna and you have every right to be who you are. Your art is wonderful and i enjoy reading or sometimes just looking at your art form. Have a great weekend.
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Thank you and have a great weekend you too. I like your art and your words too 🙂
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You’re welcome.
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I know what you mean… its all scary
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Agree 🙂
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I’ve actually seen this film and it is frightening. Even more so when recalling it is based on reality. I’m not on other social media for a variety of reasons; time being one of them and other concerns. My experience here on WordPress has only be positive and the opportunity to make friends and share thoughts.
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We share the same experience of wp. It’s a nice place to be. Time consuming, but very nice 🙂
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I agree with you. Here’s a poem about fb:
“You have more friends… than you think”:
Social media, attention grabbing
“you have more friends…”, oh really?
“than you think”, that’s nice, isn’t it?
Except, the ‘more friends’ is just
Social media itself, constant repeat
How can you ever forget! The same line
Persistently monotonous
Flooding your inbox
Drilling into your brain
Wanting you to believe
Despite evidence
To the contrary
That…
Of course you do:
“you have more friends… than you think”
“you have more friends… than you think”
“you have more friends… than you think”
Ad infinitum, for ever and ever
Delete
Delete
Delete
You could do without ‘friends’ such as this
(c) 2015 Lesley Saine
Interesting film ‘The Wave’… the consequences of people getting involved in group behaviour that can alter their behaviour. Groups can tend to divide people, whether religious, political or whatever. Sometimes you can be in a group, without realizing that it is altering your behaviour. Even if you like music: many different types of music lovers also have hated or fought each other such as mods/rockers, punks/teddy boys. I could never understand why ‘music lovers’ would hate or fight someone for liking a different kind of music/dressing in a different way.
Social media has people saying that unless you have at least 5 real friends on social media… that you are not a ‘real’ person… the reality could be that you are actually not that bothered about using social media.
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I agree. Very interesting and thoughtful aspects. Scary with the “friends” categorization. Great poem!
Yes, musiclovers that fights, are they really musiclovers then? I think music is one of the best way to speak to people with different languages. Music only has one language, or at least that’s what I thought!
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Excellent post Anna! 🙂
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Thank you! 😀
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Well said Anna, I agree.
Leslie
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Thank you 😀
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Social media to me is a tool that I use for my business. I have a Facebook, Instagram and Twitter but other than business purposes I am not on to socialize. I have a life with family and friends. The only socialization I do is with two good friends that live in other states.
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Social media in the connect over the world purpose is good 🙂
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That’s certainly a big part of why I use FB. So may friends near and far. Real ones. The sort i hug when i see them. Being a visual person, I find FB really useful because images are easy to post and see what others are doing. To be honest, i love FB!, even knowing deeply that it is a sinister tool of information gathering. I held back for years but now I don’t. I have a really rich ‘real’ life with friends every day, walking, talking, sharing food, dancing, playing and I also have friends far away and so grateful that i can easily keep in touch with them. Anna, i have also lived so remotely from people, 3 hours away from shops and only shopping once a month, without tv or computer and i love this so much. There are many ways to live and i totally respect your decision to be FB free. Wonderful! It’s always useful to have this discussion. Thank you.
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Thank you for telling about a bright side of fb 🙂
I will stay out of that world anyway, but it’s interesting hearing about positive experiences too.
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Yes Anna, you don’t need it. And did I say how much i love WordPress? It has changed the way I do things. I am much more collaborative than before and make more efforts to be consistently creative so I have things to share. I never imagined how much I would learn from other people here. We have a wonderful community. Enjoy the slushy snow! 🙂
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I totally agree with you about what a wonderful place wp is. So much creativity and so many nice people in the community. I too have change the art making during my time on wp. I constantly try to find something to make posts about that can get readers to enjoy the blog reading 🙂
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I’m glad you found wp!
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And I’m glad I found you on wp!
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Love this gif!
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Thank you Anna a million times over! When I lived in NYC, I had several friends who survived the camps and knew many who had lost loved ones. In another part of the states I knew others…
For reasons you mentioned and the film which I had not seen despite growing up in California and for numerous other reasons, I have no interest in ‘social media’.
Here are some other links that might interest you:
http://tkam.wikia.com/wiki/Jane_Elliot_-_Brown_eyes,_Blue_eyes_experiment
https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=aaplw&p=brown+eyes+blue+eyes+experiment
http://www.prisonexp.org
As a young child, I stumbled upon a book called BLACE LIKE ME. It was written by a reporter who shaved his head and went to his doctor for something to darken his skin. Undercover he went to America’s deep south and reported on how differently he was treated. It had a profound impact on me.
My degrees are all in Psychology and that is where I came across the above links. I am disappointed that it was not until now that I discover The Wave and I thank you!
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Thanks for the links. I will check them out.
I think your comment is great, so interesting.
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in 1971 my history teacher Mr.Mooney showed us this video…
after watching it today…I see its more relevant today…
we live in a world where no one has to take responsibility for their actions
we reward bad behavior and mediocracy more than original thinking ..I could go on, but the bottom line is, ,,today a charismatic person could come in and manipulate a scenario just like these…and we wouldn’t know until it was too late…
Good post…I was unnerved today as I was way back whenwatching this film…hopefully history won’t repeat itself
Take Care…You Matter…
maryrose
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Thank you. You matter too. I agree with what you’re saying. Too many people don’t see how blind we are today. When I try to bring it up they think I’m overreacting. They listen to airheads instead. They make lots of noise but they have nothing to say. Still people listen to them.
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Here in the US, people are also addicted to Facebook, spending hours a day on it. A lot are never off, and grab their smart phone if notified by FB to see who has liked and commented or tagged them in a post.
I joined Facebook years ago, and at first was all into it, but over time realized it’s all the same old stuff circulated over and over again. I rarely sign on anymore, and have been seriously considering deleting my account– if the powered that be at FB will let me.
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Thanks for sharing an interesting experience of fb. I think you should do what your sharp mind tells you 🙂
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I may just do that. 🙂
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😀
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Wow… I’ve never seen that film before, but it is impactful! 🙂 ♥ ❤
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Yes it is. I’m glad I saw it the first time I did. Learned a lot from seing that film.
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Yup, and I’m so glad to have seen it here! We as individuals must all guard against “gang” mentality! ♥ ❤
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I totally agree 🙂
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I don’t do fb, and have no desire to do so, especially the hell she went through. She ended deleting her account, and never looked back..
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Nice to hear that I’m not alone staying away from fb 🙂
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I am not on FB either. I don’t want people to know every thought or action I have, nor do I want to know theirs. Just as we should not say every thing we think, we should not reveal it on FB. As for folks publishing untrue and stuff out of context, source of information matters. Folks need to verify what they are sharing has a basis for truth and is conveyed within context.
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Wise words. Thank you 🙂
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Oh, you’re so right! I use to hear that remark since I don’t have any telly! How can you keep up with what’s happening around you? So what! Am I really missing anything of real importance? Mostly it seems to be shallow, sad or cruel things.
I havn’t watched the video. I intend to do so, but want to go for a bike ride first. Hopefully I wont be blown away into the bushes.
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You don’t miss a thing not having tv. I seldom watch tv, but when I do I find mostly crap. The video is worth seeing. I thought it was old, but it wasn’t. It tells us a lot about how we behave today. Have a good bike ride!
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Reblogged this on PenneyVanderbilt.
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Thanks for reblog!
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Men gud- här har jag också varit….???
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Det är ett gammalt inlägg som jag har postat igen. Det kanske är därför?
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ingen aning…men latjo är det allt!
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Ja, det är mysko.
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I remember that movie – it was shown to us in our 8th-grade class, but I had also seen it on television as an after-school special.
Too many people want to belong to something, so badly, that they sell their intelligence, bodies, and souls to do so…to the detriment of themselves and everyone that they know.
I’m not on Facebook either…the last ‘social media’ that I used was Myspace, and I’m more than happy to keep it that way.
🙂
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It’s exactly like that. Even our local newspaper use fb as a news source. That’s not reliable at all.
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Wow – your local newspaper uses FB as a news source? That’s certainly not reliable, nor is it real journalism…I think that many newspapers and television reporters do the same thing, here in the United States, and have been doing so for over a decade.
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I’ve told them that’s why I don’t read their paper so often. They don’t do their work. That’s sad.
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https://breadomlette.wordpress.com/
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no FB here. it’s too invasive of personal privacy as far as I’m concerned. “pling”
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I totally agree! “Pling”
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Jag använde filmen då jag undervisade i socialpsykologi som ingick i både samhällskunskap och psykologi på gymnasieskolan där jag var lärare för ca 30 år sedan. Filmen fick mina elever att tänka till, åtminstone en del av dem. Vissa sa sig att de aldrig skulle kunna hamna i en situation som den i filmen… Men experimentet gjordes om vid en av idrottshögskolorna i Sverige och lärarna fick sina klasser att agera exakt som på filmen. Blivande idrottslärare. Det krävdes mycket höga betyg för att komma in. Som avslutning visades just The Wave. Lärarna, tillika psykologer, hade avsatt flera veckor efter experimentet för att fånga upp alla de elever vars världsbild och självbild totalt rasade samman. Men år efter kom fd elever och sa att det var bland det bästa de fått göra. De skulle aldrig glömma. Idag har kanske dessa idrottslärare passerat pensionsåldern eller är nära, men jag är säker på att de minns. Jag minns fortfarande filmen efter 30 år!
Tack Anna för att du lyfter fram den – den är särskilt viktig i år då vi ska rösta. Vilken ideologi tror jag på? Och som du skrev i ditt inlägg om demokrati. Det är kanske inte alldeles självklart och handen på hjärtat – visst är det lätt att följa strömmen och ta den lätta vägen och låta andra tänka åt mig?
//P-L
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Jag kommer inte ihåg så himla mycket från min ungdom i detalj, men denna filmen från åttiotalet, den minns jag mycket starkt och den har hjälp mig att hålla mig undan från att bara följa strömmen utan att tänka efter själv.
This is a google translation of Piia-Liisas comment
“I used the film when I taught social psychology that included both social sciences and psychology at the upper secondary school where I was a teacher about 30 years ago. The film made my students think of, at least some of them. Some said they could never end up in a situation like that in the movie … But the experiment was done at one of the sports colleges in Sweden and the teachers got their classes to act exactly like the movie. Future sports teacher. Very high grades were required to enter. In conclusion, Just The Wave was displayed. The teachers, including psychologists, had set aside several weeks after the experiment to capture all the students whose worldview and self-image totally collapsed. But years after, old students said that it was among the best they had to do. They should never forget. Today, these athletes may have passed retirement age or are close, but I’m sure they’re remembering. I still remember the movie after 30 years!
Thanks Anna for highlighting it – it is especially important this year when we will vote. What ideology do I believe in? And as you wrote in your post about democracy. It may not be obvious and the hand on the heart – is it easy to follow the stream and take the easy road and let others think for me?
// P-L”
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Thank you Anna for translating.
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You’re welcome. Jag tyckte din kommentarer var värd att läsas av så många som möjligt.
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I quit and rejoined Facebook so many times since joining in 2006. But after the last two years of so much political opinions from both sides, I had to finally just leave for good. It was addiction that was very hard to quit, but I get far more satisfaction on WordPress than any other social media outlet.
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I also like wordpress. There’s so many nice people here 🙂
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Beautiful
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Thanks.
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I haven’t watched the movie yet, but I agree with you with respect to social media, especially Facebook. They are also controlling who can access your posts.
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I just watched the video. That was a hard lesson, and I am sure that they all needed therapy afterwards. Was that worth it?
It reminded me a bit of ”Lord of the flies”.
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I’m hope they all remember and think twice next time. Thanks for mentioning Lord of the flies. I read that book a long time ago in my school years. I should read it again as a grownup.
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