In this unit of the class we're going to be studying how it is that teams tap into our emotions. How do they motivate us as individuals and the big hint that I'll give you right away is, this has to do with symbols and rituals. Let's begin our exploration of this problem with an example. On Wednesday September 13, 1989, an interesting and for our purposes, informative event took place at the University of Pennsylvania. The University where I teach, in fact where I am right now. Caroline Marvin who is then associate professor in the Annenberg School of Communication at Penn, performed an experiment with our class. She burned the American flag. Flag burning had been a contested issue in the United States at that time, a 1968 law, the Federal Flag Desecration Law, had made it illegal to quote, cast contempt. On any flag of the United States by publicly mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning, or trampling upon it. The 1989 Supreme Court decision, however, had made flag burning protected under the right to free speech. Some individuals at the the time, including The US president then, George H.W. Bush, supported a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning altogether. Professor Marvin used the flag burning to get students to fully appreciate the meaning of free speech. Here it's probably worthwhile to pause for a minute and remember what we learned back in unit one. A part of American culture transmitted in public schools and other institutions is the Pledge of Allegiance. It begins with these words, I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. In performing the pledge, therefore, students are vowing allegiance to a flag. That's an amazing fact and I'd like you to stop and think about that for a second. So burning the American flag seems to go against the pledge. It seems a violation of what American citizens have learned, namely that they must be loyal to their flag. In the incident Marvin took the flag into the courtyard of the building. According to a report in the local college newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvania. One student in the class said afterwards, I was infuriated. The student reports that he got up and tried to take the flag away from her, because he thought what she was doing was wrong. What he called unconscionable, but Marvin persisted. She set the flag on the fire and let it burn for some time. Then she put it out with water. Afterwards, the students returned to the classroom where, as you can imagine, a heated discussion ensued, but the incident didn't end there. There were calls for Marvin to be fired from the university. Though her dean and the university president actually defended her. However the matter even came to the attention of the Pennsylvania state legislature. On Wednesday March 21st of 1990, almost six months of the flag burning incident the legislature voted overwhelmingly 189 to 4 to condemn Professor Marvin. The resolution states, the American flag is the symbol of our country. It referred to Marvin's burning of the flag as a, quote, outrageous act of desecration, concluding that Marvin's act, quote, should be condemned by all citizens of Pennsylvania. That's pretty strong language, and a nearly unanimous opinion. Had Marvin burned a towel, it is unlikely the incident would have attracted much attention or stirred emotion. It is the ability of the flag as symbol to stir powerful feelings, that is of interest to us here. In this class, we're talking about the power of team culture. The flag is a part of American culture. It is also an emblem of American culture, of America itself, of the We the People. The way a magnifying glass has the power to focus the rays of the sun on a single point. And thereby ignite a fire the flag seems to gather together the emotions of a group of people and focus them on the group.
