Jane Elliot: The Angry Eye – Reaction Essay

I thought The Angry Eye was an excellent experiment. Jane Elliot clearly has a lot

of knowledge on the subject and has figured out an effective method of presenting to

people who are not in the minority. It was interesting to see the people who never face

oppression in their everyday lives face oppression for the first time on that scale. It was a

great experiment as you were able to see direct immediate results. You saw results on

both sides as well. It was interesting to see the reactions of the blue-eyed group and how

angry they were. The brown-eyed group has formed a protection against this kind of hate

that the blue-eyed people have never had to deal with.

I’ve heard of an experiment like this to do with eye color, but I never saw the

video or read in depth about the experiment. I am glad I was able to view this video in

class. It makes me want to know about Jane Elliot as a sociologist and as a teacher. I want

to learn more about her work and how she is helping to end racism in the country.

It makes you think how someone can hate someone for something so simple as

the color of ones skin or eyes. It’s such a trivial basis for hatred. People are all the same,

and it has been scientifically proven time and time again. We all have the same bone

structure and our brains are all developed the same. The color of our skin does not

determine our intelligence level or anything that is a reason for discrimination. I can see

viable reason other than ignorance that someone would hate another based on skin color

alone. I encourage those people to go out into the world and meet other people who are

different from them and grow. It is the best medicine for hatred based on ignorance.

I hope this experiment and experiments like it will someday end racism and

hatred in the United States and in the world. The world would be a wonderful place if

everyone would be able to see an experiment like this and learn from it.