How Behavior Modification Has Polarized America
To save our union, we must focus on finding solutions that rest on common ground.
My kids have taken a shine to the movie, Turning Red. It’s a rite of passage movie for girls. My girls have watched that movie over and over again. I’ve lost count. I’ve watched it with them a few times, too. But there was something about that movie I could not shake.
While I found the movie funny and moving, I noticed the prevalence of behavior modification throughout the movie. Scene after scene suggested that our nation lives on a steady diet of reward and punishment. That’s behavior modification.
I have come to believe that, more than anything else, behavior modification is the root cause of the division of our nation.
If you have not seen Turning Red yet, I will try to keep the spoilers to a minimum. It’s a great Disney movie with plenty of comic gags, luscious cinematography for an animated film, and fantastic symbolism. It is a good reference for American culture. Here is the storyline from the Internet Movie Database:
Mei Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang) is a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. Her protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming…
