Photo: From "180": Steve -- an angry
Jew-hating, America-hating, Black-
hating, Hitler-loving neo-Nazi atheist
who does a complete 180.
A free DVD of the award-winning viral movie "180" may be coming to a high school near you. The creator of www.180movie.com, Ray Comfort, said "180 received over a million views in 22 days, because it's 'shocking.' It opens with 14 people (mainly college students) who have no idea of the identity of Adolf Hitler. One reviewer said, 'So, what's a pretty good documentary could have been even stronger without the fools early on.'[1] Perhaps those who are quick to call these students fools lack perception themselves. These young people are rather ignorant as to perhaps the darkest period of human history, because the American education system has failed them."
Late last month, between 180,000 and 200,000 copies of the 33-minute DVD were given out at 100 of America's top universities, and now the Jewish author and TV co-host is turning his attention to high schools. "No doubt some will say that Holocaust education isn't appropriate for high school kids. However, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum says that the appropriate age is '11 years of age and older.'[2] Nelly Silagy Benedek, Director of Education, The Jewish Museum (New York) agrees: 'From my experience, the best age to introduce students to the topic of the Holocaust is in high school.'"
In 2004, approximately 125,000 students visited the Washington D.C.'s United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Sixty-four percent were middle school students (ages 11-14), 35% were high school students (ages 15-18), and less than 1% were elementary students.[3]
The public school guideline for education says: "Given the repetitive nature of the teaching of history in the United States (i.e., U.S. history is taught at ages 10, 13, and 16), it can be assumed that students will encounter the Holocaust in both middle and high school."[4]
Education about the Holocaust isn't mandatory in the U.S. "In the United States, the 50 individual states, not the federal government, are primarily responsible for education policy. Therefore, there is no national curriculum or course of study on the Holocaust that has been created by the government of the United States. Five states have enacted laws requiring the teaching of the Holocaust."[5]
Comfort added, "It's evident that many of the States aren't bothering to teach kids about one of the darkest periods of human history. I am concerned that we may become like the U.K. where some schools dropped teaching about the Holocaust for fear of offending Moslems, some of whom deny that the Holocaust even happened.[6] This is more than a travesty, so we are giving hundreds of thousands of kids a free documentary that received more than a million views on YouTube in 22 days. We have already started locally, and they are going like hot cakes on a cold winter's day."
The "180" movie has been criticized by some because it compares the Holocaust to American abortion. Comfort said, "The amazing thing is that people who watch it, change from pro-abortion to pro-life. We have received thousands of emails from people, many of whom have changed while watching the movie." Here are some of many:
"We both voted for a pro-choice president the last election. After watching this documentary he said to me in tears that he was wrong. We have had our minds changed about who we vote for."
"THANK YOU! ... I'll be spreading the word about 180!! And I NEVER will vote for a candidate that is pro-choice or anything close to it."
"I have showed this to almost all my friends, and even the very atheist or very liberal ones have changed their views!"
"I have always been pro-life, but have voted for presidents that are not. When the part came up about standing up for the innocent, it opened my eyes. I will never vote like that again. Thank you so much."
"THANK YOU for changing my mind on how I view abortion and how I plan on voting in the future."
"I was always pro-choice and now I am pro-life after watching such a powerful video."
"It changed my mind and made me aware that I've got to make a stand on this issue."
"From someone that has been Pro-choice this video changed my view on life completely."
"This movie has changed my heart! I stopped after the movie and just repented [to] God for my forgiveness."
"I used to vote pro-choice. I will not ever do so again. EVER."
"Hey, my name is Aubrey and I'm a senior at a public high school in West Virginia. This past week in our civics class we were writing essays about laws that we wish would change in America. After seeing this video I choose to do mine on abortion, and how I wished it would be illegal. After I had finished reading my essay, a discussion arose in class (obviously) about how they thought abortion should be a choice, especially if the child is unhealthy or was caused because of rape. But once we started to compare it to Hitler and the Jews every ones minds started to change. I just wanted to let you know, and say thank you for doing what you do! Because of 180 I was able to turn around the entire class opinion about abortion and by the end of the class 25 of the 25 students and my teacher as well had all raised their hand agreeing that abortion should be illegal."
[1] ht.ly/7csRe
[2] http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/exhibit
[3] http:/www.holocausttaskforce.org/education/holocaust-education-reports/unitedstates-holocaust-education-report.html
[4] http:/www.holocausttaskforce.org/education/holocaust-education-reports/unitedstates-holocaust-education-report.html
[5] Ibid
[6] http:/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-445979/Teachers-drop-Holocaust-avoid-offending-Muslims.html
Contact: Trisha Ramos
