Comments on A Queer Situation OR The Power Of Prejudice Revealed

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HsanNedgo--- Clever name, by the way. Yes, I like the tale of the chimps.

Here's another: Growing up, a young girl watched her mother make pot roast every Sunday for the family. The mother always cooked the roast in two pots.

Years later, when the young girl was an adult, her mother came to dinner and noticed that her daughter was cooking the roast in two pots.

"Why on earth are you doing that?" the mother asked.

"Because you did," the daughter said.

"That's because I never owned one pot big enough," the mother said.

 

posted by Jazwolf on August 28, 2006 at 8:52 PM | link to this | reply

Sad but we are all only human or mostly human.

posted by Whacky on August 26, 2006 at 10:10 PM | link to this | reply

For some reason...

this piece reminds me of the experiment where five chimpanzees were put in a large cage with a bunch of bananas hanging from the ceiling. A stool was placed under the bananas so a chimp could easily step up on the stool and reach the bananas.

Of course, the first thing the chimps did when put in the cage was to head for the stool to get the bananas. As soon as the first chimp touched the stool, the researchers blasted all of the chimps with cold water. Before long, the chimps were trained: if anyone gets on the stool, we all get it with cold water.

Next, the researchers removed one of the trained chimps and replaced him with a new one who had never gotten the water treatment. Of course, as soon as he gets into the cage, he heads for the stool to get the bananas. What do the others do? They pull him back -- they know that if he gets on the stool, they'll all get blasted. He tries a few more times to get on the stool and every time the others stop him and pull him back. After a while he stops trying.

Next, another of the water-treatment veterans is removed and a new, untrained chimp is added. The new one goes for the stool. The others pull him back. Interestingly, the first untrained chimp is now "trained", even though he has never experienced the cold water, and he helps the others pull the new fellow away from the stool presumably without knowing why he should do so.

The process is repeated, one chimp at a time, until none of the chimps in the cage have experienced the water treatment but none of them will get on the stool or allow anyone else to get on the stool, although none of them know why.

I find it interesting to consider how many human traditions might have this kind of structure. They may have served a purpose once upon a time, but no one any longer knows the purpose. The social structures in place simply maintain them without considering whether they are still useful or might be profitably discarded.

posted by HsanNedgo_ on August 26, 2006 at 3:46 PM | link to this | reply

sounds like my mum.

posted by marieclaire66 on August 26, 2006 at 10:08 AM | link to this | reply

thanks for the tipssss

posted by naorem on August 26, 2006 at 6:02 AM | link to this | reply