Freedom of Speech.....

So, the Libs and Radical Left feel that this High School Teacher in Colorado, Jay Bennish, has the right to compare President Bush to Hilter. That's his freedom of speech they say. No, I say it's not. It's language that can incite problems, as we're seeing. Obviously, it was something that bothered at least one student, Sean Allen who taped the lecture where Mr. Bennish goes on to say that in his State of the Union Address, President Bush stated that he wanted Iraq to be "just like us". Mr. Bennish then made the comment that "that sounds like something Hitler would say". Hitler, of course, wanted everyone to be like them, White.

Mr. Bennish, however, failed to put the quote from President Bush in context. President Bush was referring to his wishes for Iraq, and other countries, to be just like them, Democratic. He wanted Democracies around the world. People living in freedom. So, since it appears to be clear that Mr. Bennish is against what President Bush said, I guess then he must be against Democracy. There you have it, someone on the Left that hates America. What other conclusion can one draw. He doesn't like the fact the President Bush wants other countries to be "just like us", which is to say, Democratic. So, I can only conclude the Mr. Bennish hates America, because we are a Democracy.

Now, rightfully so, this teacher was suspended. Had Mr. Bennish presented both sides, in other words, discussed the good that President Bush had done and only criticized President Bush for what he didn't like, I would have had a problem with Mr. Bennish being suspended. However, since he only presented one side, the Liberal side, then, he should have been suspended. If it had been a Conservative Teacher calling Bill Clinton a modern day Nixon in terms of having a list of enemies and going after them, and talking about how so many of Clinton's critics had their reputations attacked, then surely the teacher would have been suspended. There would have been no discussion of freedom of speech whatsoever. But, since it's a Liberal teacher comparing Bush to Hitler, then it's freedom of speech.

Let's look at one thing though. Just because you have the freedom to say something, doesn't mean you should. The founding fathers didn't create freedom of speech to "say whatever you wanted to". Nope, they created it so that you could say what you wanted, but they thought that people would have enough knowledge and brains to say something reasonable. Morons!

Nope, they didn't expect that a president, who's liberated two countries mind you, would be compared to a dictator that systematically killed 6 million Jews. Yeah, cause that's a valid comparison.

Another thing to look at. Sean Allen, the student who taped the lecture in which Mr. Bennish compared Bush to Hitler, received death threats accroding to him. His taping of the class was a violation of the teacher's privacy I have been hearing. What privacy? It's a public school! The teacher is a servant of the taxpayers! What privacy?! The guy was teaching a class in a public school. Any member of the public, providing they make arrangements with the school, can walk in there and observe the class if they wanted to! God help them if they kept me out of a school that my taxes go to pay for!

So, Sean Allen has commented that he felt this was inappropriate and wrong. Oh, but the "tolerant" lefty Libs say that the teacher had freedom to say what he wanted, but this kid who's speaking out against it, he's getting death threats likely from some of the same students that are defending the teacher's right to say what he wants. And yet, I've not heard one Lib say that this Sean Allen has the right to say his opinion! Where's the tolerance?! Where's the outcry for this kid's rights?!

According to Bennish, he also received death threats after his anti-Bush comments. That's not right. No one should be receiving death threats for what they say. If someone wants to tell these people they don't like what they said, and they don't agree with it, fine. But they should not be threatened no matter what they say! There is no excuse for that.

Bennish has told his lawyer, regarding his comments that he wanted his students to "think critically ... don't just follow hook, line and sinker everything everybody tells you." I'm fine with that. That's an appropriate comment. If he criticized Present Bush and then made the above quote, no problem. The problem I have is when he compared Bush to Hitler. There is really no excuse for that. That was not necessary.

Sean Allen doesn't seem to be shying away from what he believes about this whole situation. Why, I wonder, is Mr. Bennish? He doesn't seem to believe in shouting out his comments any longer. If he really believed in what he was saying, why doesn't he contintue to say it? At least when Warren Churchill made his Anti-Bush comments, he continued to make them despite his critics. At least Mr. Bennish could have the same guts. But he doesn't. So then, is he beginning to doubt what he said? Is he beginning to believe that what he said was wrong? Perhaps. Maybe he feels guilty. I used to teach myself, and I certainly spoke my opinion in class, but, not once did I ever compare anyone to Hitler, and I did present both sides or at least, more than one view.

Whether or not you agree with Mr. Bennish's comments, I would encourage you to send him an e-mail. Tell you agree with him and support him, or tell him you didn't like what he said and tell him you think he's wrong. It's your choice, I leave it up to you.


Jay Bennish
jbennish@cherrycreekschools.org
Overland High School