"You gave up your freedom for the luxury of feeling superior."That is perhaps the most powerful line in the whole movie.  What you may ask am I talking about.  I'm talking about the 1970s movie The Wave, which is based on a true story that happened in Palo Alto, California.  The effect of this simple experiment had such enormous effects that no one spoke about it for nine years after.  I recently just watched it in government class and although the quality is poor and the acting is on the corny side, the message is more powerful than ever. 

Synopsis:  Mr. Ross's history class is studying Nazi Germany and one girl, Lorie, asks "how could the Germans just sit back and watch while all this was happening, why didn't someone try to stop it?"  That is a question many people ask about that period of time.  Mr. Ross couldn't answer it and so he went home and did some research and decided to run a little experiment on his class.  The next day he came and just asked them to sit up straight, claiming it would help them pay attention because they were able to breathe easier.  The outcast, Robert, plays an important role.  Even though he cannot compete with the other students academically and is shunned by the "popular" people he is "the best" at sitting up straight or so Mr. Ross points out.  Mr. Ross does various other things until he has people chanting "Strength through dicipline, Strength through pride, Strength through community,"  and doing almost Nazi like hand signals.  Lorie is caught up in it until she goes home and her mom says "we taught you to be an individual and think for yourself..."  Lorie realizes what is going on and speaks out against "The Wave" which is what the group has become known as.  She is not liked by  The Wave and she is to be "taken care of."  Well ironically her ex-boyfriend David is "taking care of her" he throws her to the ground and at that moment he sees what he has become and what the other people have become. 

This movie is so great.  The United States of America was set up so that people would be critical of the government, always asking questions always checking on the people we put in office to run our country.  Mr. Ross had them all brain washed, and it spread.  At the end of the two weeks there were more than 200 followers.  It went from a history class of maybe 25 people to 200 people in two weeks and the only 2 who tried to stop it and saw what was happening couldn't.  Robert, the outcast, was so prone to being sucked in because he felt like he was part of something great, he was no longer an outcast within The Wave.  Fascism is made for the outcasts, they will willingly trade their freedom for feeling superior becuase they have felt so inferior for so long.  Every move Mr. Ross and Hitler made was so precisly calculated.  They knew exactly what they were doing and exactly who to pick.  They started out small, becuase who is going to object to sitting up straight and what not.  Big deal right?  Not worth getting in a fight over, but thats just how it starts and then it escalates in to Nazi like ways.  Pressure from a group is so huge, doing the "popular" thing, following what other people do.
"Doing what is 'popular' is not always right." I hope you see the urgancy in all of this, we must be carful, we must be watchful, we must do whatever we can to stop corruption from going to this point.  You need to watch this movie, get your hands on it anyway you can and watch it.  The ending is so powerful and still the line rings in my ears "You gave up your freedom for the luxury of feeling superior" You think it can't happen, but thats denial, and that denial is the foundation for all of this.  Be careful, and Be Watchful
Here is a website on "THE WAVE" if you would like to read more about it.  Please do.
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