Member-only story
Taking A Buzz Saw to the 3-Legged Stool of Our Elephant Training
We’ve been trained like elephants, but we can actually take the whole circus tent down.
I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s a good story. Circus elephants (back when there were circus elephants), were trained to be helpless despite their impressive size and strength. Young smaller elephants were held down by tying them to a small stool which was attached to an extremely heavy metal ball. The elephant could not move.
The elephant understood he was stuck. He would struggle and struggle…and give up. Movement was impossible as long as he was tied to that stool. He learned that and never struggled with it again.
Trainers then stopped using the heavy metal ball. The tiny 3-legged wooden stool was enough to hold down the elephant. The elephant’s mighty strength was defeated by a mind trick. He was conditioned to NOT TRY.
The Elephant Who Brought Down the Tent
What if the elephant saw with his own eyes another elephant shake off the flimsy stool, crush it and then take down the whole circus tent? What if he personally witnessed an event exposing the lie of the stool?
Would he learn? Or would he remain captive?
