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| This is just wrong |
Itsdb |
03/02/06 |
Teacher's anti-U.S. diatribe caught on tape
America 'probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth'
Posted: March 2, 2006
2:00 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
A high school teacher caught by a student on audiotape in an anti-U.S. and anti-capitalism diatribe was placed on administrative leave after the recording was made public.
In the tape (website, or download here), Jay Bennish – teaching a 10th grade world geography class at Overland High School in Aurora, Colo. – called the U.S. "probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth" and described capitalism as a system "at odds with human rights."
Bennish told students Jan. 29 he found "eerie similarities" to Bush's statements in his State of the Union speech and things Adolf Hitler said, i.e., "We're the only ones who are right. Everyone else is backwards. And it's our job to conquer the world and make sure they live just like we want them to."
"Now, I'm not saying that Bush and Hitler are exactly the same," Bennish said. "Obviously, they are not. OK. But there are some eerie similarities to the tones that they use. Very, very ethnocentric. We're right. You're all wrong.
Twenty minutes of the class was recorded on an MP3 player by student Sean Allen, who can be heard at several points questioning Bennish's declarations.
Bennish has been with the school's social studies faculty since 2000, according to the Denver Post.
An Overland student told KUSA-TV in Denver Bennish's rant was "the usual thing in our school," the only difference being that a tape recorder was there.
"Three quarters of the teachers are anti-Bush – very much so," she said.
Cherry Creek School District spokeswoman Tustin Amole said officials are probing the incident but have taken no disciplinary action. The teacher was placed on leave "to take some of the pressure off of him" during the investigation, Amole said, according to the Post.
After listening to the tape, Superintendent Monte Moses told the Denver paper "a breach of district policy" occurred.
"Our policy calls for both sides to be present ... in the interest of intellectual discourse," Moses said.
The 16-year-old student told talk host Mike Rosen of KOA in Denver yesterday he had been disturbed by the "political rants" he heard in Bennish's class.
"If he wants to give an opinion in class, I'm perfectly OK with that," he said. "But he has to give both sides of the story."
Allen said he often has used a recorder to help take notes.
During the Jan. 29 class, the student argued that the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were responses to unprovoked attacks on American soil.
Bennish replied that to al-Qaida, 9-11 was a response to U.S. involvement in the Holy Land and to missile attacks during the Clinton administration in Afghanistan and Sudan.
In the mind of al-Qaida, the teacher said, the World Trade Center, the White House, the Pentagon and other buildings are "military targets."
At one point, according to the tape, Bennish asked:
Who is probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth?
(Unidentified student responds: We are.)
The United States of America! And we're a democracy.
Who has the most weapons of mass destruction in the world? The United States.
Who's continuing to develop new weapons of mass destruction as we speak? The United States.
So, why does Mr. Bush think that other countries that are democracies won't wanna be like us? Why does he think they'll just wanna be at peace with each other? What makes him think that when the Palestinians get their own state that they won't wanna preemptively invade Israel to eliminate a potential threat to their security just like we supposedly did in Iraq?
Do you see the dangerous precedent that we have set by illegally invading another country and violating their sovereignty in the name of protecting us against a potential future – sorry – attack?
On capitalism, Bennish said:
If you don't understand the economic system of capitalism, you don't understand the world in which we live. OK. Economic system in which all or most of the means of production, etc., are owned privately and operated in a somewhat competitive environment for the purpose of producing profit.
Of course, you can shorten these definitions down. Make sure you get the gist of it. Do you see how when, you know, when you're looking at this definition, where does it say anything about capitalism is an economic system that will provide everyone in the world with the basic needs that they need? Is that a part of this system? Do you see how this economic system is at odds with humanity? At odds with caring and compassion? It's at odds with human rights.
Anytime you have a system that is designed to procure profit, when profit is the bottom motive – money – that means money is going to become more important potentially than what? Safety, human lives, etc.
According to the Rocky Mountain News, the school district first learned about Bennish's lecture Feb. 22 when someone forwarded an online column by Walter Williams. The same day, Allen's father contacted the school's principal, who forwarded the complaint to the district.
The district says its investigation will be completed this week.
As WorldNetDaily reported in November, talk host Sean Hannity urged college students to fight back against left-wing indoctrination in class by recording professors' lectures.
"All you college kids out there, check your state laws, check your campus laws," said Hannity on his national radio program.
"Get your little tape recorders if legal, and I want you to start recording these left-wingers. Bring it to this program and we'll start airing it every single time on this program. I'm sick of this indoctrination. I'm sick of this left-wing propaganda."
Hannity's call to action came in the wake of the case of Rebecca Beach, a 19-year-old freshman at Warren County Community College in Washington, N.J., who, as WorldNetDaily first reported, was rebuked sharply by an English professor for her announcement of a campus program featuring a decorated Iraq war hero.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is this what we pay our public school teachers for? If I still had kids in school I would be visiting their classes. |
Clarification/Follow-up by jackreade on 03/02/06 10:53 pm:
I thought of another point. We call our efforts to deal with America's drug problems which generate all kinds of violence and other crime, a WAR! The WAR is not only a total failure, but it has caused horrific violence in the countries that produce our street drugs.
America has such a violence mentality, killing mentality. Violence of all kinds is in the heads of most America's men. NO doubt.
Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 03/03/06 3:02 pm:
Jackreade,
We also are fighting a "war on poverty" and a "war on illiteracy". Are these too violent for you also?
>>>Violence of all kinds is in the heads of most America's men.<<<
Violence of all kinds is in the heads of men EVERYWHERE. And the smart ones prepare themselves in order to protect themselves against it. The dumb ones just sit and hope it effects them. We call those people "victims".
"The essence of war is violence. Moderation in war is imbecility."
--- Admiral Sir John A. Fisher
"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property... Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them."
---Thomas Paine
Violent? Yes. But also realistic, rather than pie-in-the-sky utopian dreaming.
Elliot Clarification/Follow-up by Itsdb on 03/03/06 4:14 pm:
Elliot,
I was thinking about it this morning and you know, I'm tired of being told how conservatives just want to impose their morality on others - while moonbats like Bennish are trying to impose their guilt on me - and our children. I say no thanks, they can keep their guilt and angst to themselves. If they want to beat the hell out of themselves and each other then have it, but stop speaking for me. I did not and would not ask them to and it's entirely unwelcome. It amazes me how immature and selfish it is when a Bennish or an algore rants on and on - they're just little pansy a** tattletales throwing a fit they can't have everything their way.
Steve
Clarification/Follow-up by excon on 03/03/06 4:29 pm:
Hello Its:
Indoctrination by Bennish, or by anyone, is indoctrination, nonetheless.
What bothers me about him, is not his views, nor his stridency, but his way of impressing them upon his students.
What bothers me about the response is, it's just radically indoctrinaire the other way. He's simply dismissed, like I've been dismissed, as an America hater.
And, of course, the real discussion that we should be having, doesn't happen.
excon
Clarification/Follow-up by Itsdb on 03/03/06 4:54 pm:
ex,
I delved into the indoctrination issue in my comments to Mathatmacoat. Public school teachers should remain neutral, I wouldn't want them indoctrinating my kids any more than you would yours.
I can't comment on you being dismissed as an America hater other than to say I don't. Believe it or not you have my respect - even when we disagree.
Bennish however does not have my respect. If he responds appropriately then he might, but I don't foresee that happening. His views bother me, but he's entitled to them. His stridency can even be admired if appropriately channeled, but in this case neither his stridency or anything else about his manner of impressing his views on his students is remotely acceptable in a public school.
However, if you see it his being dismissed as an America hater you haven't been listening enough. He is, and that's perfectly obvious to even the less astute among us by looking at the content of his rant. But I believe most of us recognize his right to his views. Being an America hater is his right, but I dismiss him as an affront to education and parental rights. He can be an idiot all he wants, just don't force his radical views on our kids - that is not his place or his right.
Steve
P.S. So what discussion should we be having?
Clarification/Follow-up by excon on 03/03/06 5:22 pm:
Hi Its:
We should be talking about the war, and we are not. What we are talking about is, he said, she said..........
And, our boys continue to die.
excon Clarification/Follow-up by Itsdb on 03/03/06 5:35 pm:
ex,
Funny, but it seems almost all we've done is talk about the war for almost 3 years. In this case the war is not the issue.
Steve
Clarification/Follow-up by ETWolverine on 03/03/06 6:08 pm:
Excon,
I agree that a debate would have been a good thing. However, Bennish isn't talking about issues in his rants, he's just using left-wing rhetoric without any specifics, examples or facts. he never even mentioned the war, per se; just that the USA is the most violent, imperialistic, and least socially responsible nation on the planet. How do you debate rhetoric? You can't. I don't think Bennish is capable of arguing the facts, so he speaks in rhetoric. How could such an uneducated, ignorant teacher possibly have a debate in his class?
Elliot
Clarification/Follow-up by jackreade on 03/04/06 1:14 am:
ELLIOT, My comments are sophomoric?
Not appreciating a personal attack just because I am correct and you don't like the truth.
Jack
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