Posted on 03/04/2006 1:39:56 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Sean Allen is a 16-year-old in Aurora, Colo., who couldn't take it anymore. Sitting day after day in Jay Bennish's 10th-grade geography class had become too much.
Though Bennish teaches students to identify which continent Tokyo appears on, and what the climate of India is like compared to Tibet, Bennish had taken it upon himself as the geography teacher to begin teaching his view of political science (a course not presently offered at Allen's Overland High School).
Following the president's State Of The Union address, Bennish boiled up a bit, until he could no longer take it. Marching into his classroom – preceding what was supposed to be a lecture on geography, Bennish opened his remarks thusly:
He [Bush] started off his speech talkin' about how America should be the country that dominates the world! That we have been blessed essentially by God to have the most civilized, the most advanced, best system, and that its our duty as Americans to use the military to go out into the world and to make the world like us.
Sounds a lot like the things Adolph Hitler used to say. We're the only ones who are right. Everyone else is backwards. And its our job to conquer the world and make sure they all live just like we want them to ... There are some eerie similarities to the tones that they use. Very, very – ethnocentric.
Deciding he had had enough of Bennish's rubbish, he taped him on his IPod, played the tape – for his parents – who took the matter to the school administration who then put Bennish on paid leave. Yesterday, ignorant students walked out of Overland protesting the teacher's paid leave.
But what did Bush say in the beginning of his State Of The Union addresss? Indulge me ...
Abroad, our nation is committed to an historic, long-term goal – we seek the end of tyranny in our world. Some dismiss that goal as misguided idealism. In reality, the future security of America depends on it. On September the 11th, 2001, we found that problems originating in a failed and oppressive state 7,000 miles away could bring murder and destruction to our country. Dictatorships shelter terrorists, and feed resentment and radicalism, and seek weapons of mass destruction. Democracies replace resentment with hope, respect the rights of their citizens and their neighbors, and join the fight against terror. Every step toward freedom in the world makes our country safer – so we will act boldly in freedom's cause.
Far from being a hopeless dream, the advance of freedom is the great story of our time. In 1945, there were about two dozen lonely democracies in the world. Today, there are 122. And we're writing a new chapter in the story of self-government – with women lining up to vote in Afghanistan, and millions of Iraqis marking their liberty with purple ink, and men and women from Lebanon to Egypt debating the rights of individuals and the necessity of freedom. At the start of 2006, more than half the people of our world live in democratic nations. And we do not forget the other half – in places like Syria and Burma, Zimbabwe, North Korea, and Iran – because the demands of justice, and the peace of this world, require their freedom, as well.
No one can deny the success of freedom, but some men rage and fight against it.
And, according to Bennish, this kind of language is directly comparable to Adolph Hitler:
If at the beginning of the War and during the War 12 or 15,000 of these Hebrew corrupters of the people had been held under poison gas, as happened to hundreds of thousands of our very best German workers in the field, the sacrifice of millions at the front would not have been in vain.
These tactics are based on an accurate estimation of human weakness and must lead to success, with almost mathematical certainty, unless the other side also learns how to fight poison gas with poison gas. The weaker natures must be told that here it is a case of to be or not to be.
We should all applaud Sean Allen for standing up to a lying liberal teacher. Oh that more young people are steeled with the courage to charge headlong into the battle for all that is true, just and good!
And as for the ignorant kids who pulled the "walk out"?
Come on, its a public school – what they miss can't corrupt them!
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Kevin McCullough is heard daily in New York City, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and New Jersey on WMCA 570/970 from 2-5 p.m. He blogs at muscleheadrevolution.com.
"But in the context of what FREE SPEECH is about, there always should be a level playing field. No one should be stifled from voicing, or forced to adopt an opinion..."
1) I agree that 'free speech' means 'No one should be stifled from voicing, or forced to adopt an opinion' and i agree its an ideal to support overall.
2) The term 'level playing field' is an inapt term in the context of free speech. It raises the bugaboos of things like 'equal time' and 'fairness doctrine' and other true enemies of free speech. Free means Freedom - no restraints.
You cannot enforce equality without impinging on freedom.
Freedom often creates un-level playing fields as those with more resources can exercise freedom more robustly (again, Dan Rather vs me).
3) I think you are getting lots of feedback that this is far from a 'free speech' issue. It's about the appropriate role and responsibility of a taxpayer-paid teacher in the classroom. Had this lunatic been doing his ranting on his free time, there would be no issue at all.
OK, I got ya. I see where your going. Good points you have brought up.
See reply #81 for explanation.
When I said:
"all your logical errors stem from an acceptance of phony egalitarian ethical claims that are not really true"
What I meant was:
The 'level playing field' is the same term used by the supporters of the 'fairness doctrine', the most pernicious attack on the first amendment in the last 50 years by the Federal Government. To 'level the playing field' they forced 'equal time', in effect stifling radio stations from daring to have an opinion. It was the repeal under Reagan that allowed for the rise of talk radio - freedom at its best.
I doubt you'd want to force Rush off the air and deny his 1st amendment rights in the name of a 'level playing field'.
This, 'level playing field', a term of egalitarians, is an inapt term to you when you are exressing support for free speech.
If you want to know why this is a sensitive and serious issue, read this, and expect hairs to stand up on your back:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1556044/posts
"This is TAXPAYER-PAID speech, which instead of paying for education, pays for indoctrination into liberal psycho-babble."
"I understand and agree with your point to a certain extent. But are you saying that there is a point where speech should no longer be free?"
Yes. Taxpayer-paid speech in a classroom is subject to limits based on the fact that we are paying a teacher to teach, not to indoctrinate kids into leftwing drivel.
"I could care less what this prick spews as long as someone else is able to opine equally."
I just dont see how two wrongs make a right.
Excessive political rants in a geography class are not appropriate.
Question: If the teacher got up and gave a recitation
of a bible-thumping 'Jesus is Lord' sermon to the classroom,
would he get to stay? No.
"There road you're heading down is very dangerous my well meaning friend because it dictates what others can say and when they can say it."
Asked and answered on the thread. He is free to say what he
wishes outside the classroom, but in the classroom he needs to fulfill his responsibilities as a teacher, and excessive politic rants are an abuse of his privilege.
"Equal speech for everyone in this country!"
That statement is gibberish.
Did you know women say on average twice as much as men each day? How do we fix that? :-)
"Good points you have brought up."
Thanks for saying that!
Geographically, it doesn't appear on a "continent" at all, kind of a trick question, one supposes...
the infowarrior
"I wonder how much of the "No Child Left Behind" money this school receives."
I don't wonder that Jay Bennish is the Infant Terrible/Bad Seed that should be LEFT BEHIND. Afterall, why should the disdained profits from a dispised captialistic America support his parasitical tenure?
I doubt if the kids who left school gave a damn about the teacher, one way or another. As I remember high school, any excuse to cut class would do just fine.
This liberal nutbar is lying on every show he is going on. This morning Matt Lauer acted as his friggin PR agent.
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