Page 15 - Failed Experiment

A Failed Experiment

6. But why were you held in such low regard? This seems gratuitous.

Sociological studies have indicated that people like to rationalize
what they do. The theory of cognitive dissonance would indicate
that people do not like to gratuitously mistreat others. Principally,
this is because people like to think of themselves as being good,
just and fair. So the behavior of mistreating others is rationalized
by claiming that the objects of mistreatment are somehow
deserving of the mistreatment. Hence, 1-Ws were thought of as
worthless and naturally occupied the lowest rung in the AC
hierarchy.

But in relating the anecdotes above, I have failed to really
communicate what it was like for a 1-W on the AC Big Sandy
campus. The atmosphere there was surcharged with a kind of
vague malevolence that is hard to capture precisely in words. East
Texas is hot, humid and dank. Everywhere is the smell of mold
and decaying vegetation. The sun sets early on the Big Sandy
campus because of a tall, dense stand of trees to the west that
obscures the setting sun. On cool autumn days, when the sun
would set, it was as if a blanket of melancholy had fallen over the
countryside. The atmosphere was thick and pollen laden and at
times hard to breathe. The surrounding dark forests and the
tangled, clutching underbrush were a home to snakes and other
vermin. But the overwhelming feeling was not that there was only
a baleful geography to struggle with but that there was something
terribly wrong spiritually. There was something there that
watched with a patient, silent, evil smirk.

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