STOP THE RIGHT-WINGERS' LYNCHING OF COLORADO TEACHER

Submitted by arnie98683 on March 7, 2006 - 7:22pm

The Today Show had the young teacher Jay Bennish on this morning to explain how the controversy started with the Overland High School student,who secretly recorded his teacher's discussion, where Bennish made some controversial comparisons of Hitler's rhetoric and tone in his speeches to those used by Bush in his State of the Union speech to promote nationalism. In the tape that Matt Lauer played on Today, Bennish clearly states and emphasizes that he is not saying Bush is just like Hitler. A student, Sean Allen, who recorded the 50 minute lecture, under his father's guidance, took the tape to conservative talk radio stations and played the most controversial sections of the tape. Allen did not play the parts of the tape where Allen asked Bennish questions to, as Matt Lauer of Today put it, "seemed to egg you on to make more comments about Bush and Hitler." Of course, the school district suspended Bennish, and now his students have been demonstrating against the school district saying they are censoring his free speech. Bennish on Today said he discussed many controversial subjects in his classroom to encourage the kids to think critically about what is going on in the world. Here is the story in the local newspaper:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_45086... .

Research this more and if you think this teacher is possibly being crucified by rightwingers in the area, as I do, write the school's principal and superintendent at their e-mails below. If we do not support this teacher, you can imagine what a chilling effect it will have on teachers all over the country who use creative means to promote critical thinking. The superintendent and school board will decide whether to fire this teacher tomorrow.

Here is the Superintendent's e-mail address (Dr. Monte Moses): rmcintire@cherrycreekschools.org

Here is the Principal's address (Jana Frieler) jfrieler@cherrycreekschools.org

PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO OTHER LIKE-MINDED INDIVIDUALS WHO BELIEVE TEACHERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO TEACH CRITICAL THINKING. LES

arnie98683's blog

My Letter re the Lynching of Jay Bennish

Submitted by Ginny Ross - DFO on March 8, 2006 - 8:27am.

Dr. Moses,

It's come to my attention that you and your school board are actually contemplating the firing of Jay Bennish for a comparison of rhetorical styles of GW Bush and Adolf Hitler. Have you and your board completely lost touch with the meaning and purpose of education? It is precisely to learn to evaluate and make comparisons, to learn from history, to free one's mind from rhetorical and psychological control by those seeking power over us. This is the very treasure of education -- the enlightenment and liberation of the mind to explore our current world and our history without fear. The lynching you are contemplating here for your teacher, Jay Bennish, can only be seen as an extension of the rule by fear, division, and manipulation that is the ugly hallmark of the Bush regime, a shady and corrupt administration with numerous, documented parallels with the fascist regimes that have stained human history.

The lynching of Mr. Bennish also has many sad parallels in history, such as the jailing of Gallileo for exposing scientific truths unpopular with theocratic leaders, and the firing of Dan Rather for exposing truths about the deplorable conduct of GW Bush during his National Guard service.

Will you be a henchman of an extremist movement that seeks to plunge us into darkness and fear through propaganda? Or will you be a champion of courage, enlightenment and free thought? Your action concerning Mr. Bennish will forever be viewed according to this paradigm. As an educator, you must not give in to fear and manipulation by this regressive force. Please do not dismiss Mr. Bennish, but rather commend his excellence for upholding free thought: the essential ideal of education and ultimately of our democracy.

Sincerely,

Virginia L. Ross, Attorney
Portland, Oregon

Debate

Submitted by Don (not verified) on March 12, 2006 - 11:24am.

First of all, the kid should have debated the teacher with his views instead of bringing a tape recorder to school. Sneaky Brat. This is the kind of person I personally would not want to work with. He would be the typical snitch who would run to the boss. Someone you would NOT hang around the water cooler with. It's called, "He can't be trusted"

Don