The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

An Exploration of Theme:

Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Suspicion

Created by: Ms. Ariel Warden

What does Rod Serling mean when he says…

“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices-to be found only in the minds of men.For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and the thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children...the children yet unborn.”

A stereotype is a too-simple and therefore distorted image of a group of people.

What stereotypes do you have?

What is a STEREOTYPE?

What comes to your mind?

What is a PREJUDICE?

A prejudice is a preconceived NEGATIVE notion about a person, simply based on a characteristic or their “belonging” to a certain group.

Prejudices typically lead to some type of action towards that person, whether it is a comment, exclusion, or violence.

How are stereotypes and prejudices related?

What prejudices do you have?

What do you think of him?

What damages have prejudices caused throughout history?

Let’s look at a few examples…

How did the Nazis gain control?

“One People, One Nation, One Leader!”

Why were the Germans pleased with Hitler and the Nazis?

Why do you think most people did nothing to stop the Nazis?

What prejudices did the Nazis have?

Has the US ever been involved in systematic, acceptable prejudice?

List as many instances as you can.

Why were the Japanese Americans sent to internment camps?

How were the internment camps similar to Nazi concentration camp?

How were they different?

IS IT RIGHT? Is it OK to take away citizens’ freedoms

in order to protect others? Is it acceptable to do this simply because there is a possibility that they may cause harm to others? (Ultimately, which is more important: freedom or safety?)

YES or NO?

Has there ever been a Holocaust in the United States?

Poll Everywhere

Is all this prejudice in our PAST?

Why do these teenagers embrace “white power”?

Do you think they should be allowed to share their racist views? Why or why not?

What would you do if you met these teenagers or other kids like them? Explain.

(5 minutes)

Is it ok to be prejudice if you don’t act out on it?

Have stereotypes or prejudice ever influenced how you have acted?

(2 minutes)

Who are these men?

Timothy Mcveigh—

Okalahoma City bomber

Dr.Jumaa Khalfan Belhoul—Medical doctor

Do you think of them differently NOW?

“They came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;

And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

--Pastor Martin Niemöller