For some reason I get the sense that this teacher is more terminally stupid than antisemitic or vicious. But its a funny story in any case. Possibly a massive over-reaction. It is a good exercise to try and imagine yourself under the authority of a totalitarian regime to understand why it operates as it does. If nothing else its good practice for sharia.
H/T Bear
Yahoo News:
By Holly McKenna
ALBANY, New York (Reuters) – A New York state high school English teacher who asked students to imagine they were Nazis and give reasons why Jews were evil could be reprimanded or dismissed, a school district superintendent said on Friday.
City School District of Albany Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard apologized at a news conference and pledged officials would personally express regret to Albany High School students who were given the assignment and their families.
“This assignment for some of our students at Albany High School was completely unacceptable. It displayed a level of insensitivity that we will not tolerate in our school community,” Vanden Wyngaard said.
“I’m deeply apologetic to all of our students, to all of our families and the entire community,” she said, appearing with representatives of the Anti-Defamation League and the United Jewish Federation (UJF) of Northeastern New York at the UJF office in Albany.
Are you sure that this teacher was stupid rather than anti-Semitic.?To say that Jews were evil would be clearly anti-Semitic, but to pretend that Jews were evil and give ‘pretend’ reasons is a much more subtle way of spreading your propaganda. The idea is to put an idea into a child’s mind and let it take root. It’s a bit like when someone’s says “I’m not racist but..,.” then they are given free reign to spout racist rhetoric. It would have been interesting too see what would have happened next if this teacher hadn’t been disciplined.
Would the next essay have been – “Using your previous hypothetical reasons for why Jews could be evil, evaluate whether these reasons might actually be true. Discuss…” ?
Anti-Zionism is against Jews in the Middle-East.
Anti-Semitism is against Jews anywhere.
Anti-Galutism is against Jews in Europe.
Anti-Zionism and Anti-Galutism are logically and ethically equivalent.
Softly Bob: We will never know now. I am inclined towards stupid because I think its unwise to jump on antisemitism each and every time something involving Jewish people pops up. However it would be hugely dependent on the subtleties here. The inflections, the tone of her voice. It would be conclusive I think, to see a recording of it.
What is it about New York state teachers? In February one in NYC used slavery and whipping and killing slaves as part of a math question.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/23/nyc-public-school-teachers-math-homework-asks-students-about-whipping-killing-slaves/
Richard: I have a feeling that 9/11 didn’t just demolish the Twin towers in New York, I reckon that the excessive dust and fumes probably damaged the brain cells of some of the population.
Or maybe the conspiracy theorists were right, but instead of bombs being planted in the towers, a Marxist virus was placed in there and after the collapse it was cast into the atmosphere and turned a big percentage of the population into brain-dead commies!
I have read that the Marxists/liberals are the zombies of the zombie apocalypse.
There was nothing wrong with the assignment. It is important to understand how others think and THAT IS NOT THE SAME AS AGREEING WITH THEM.
Doesn’t Robert Spencer etc advocate reading the Koran for the purpose of knowing how the enemy thinks and why they think what they do?
Truthiocity:
It depends. If she was a Muslim teacher trying to find a work-around to instill Jew-hatred under the guise of teaching the Holocaust, then its a problem. Actually if it was anyone doing that then it is not what she claims it was. But it could be as you say.
A few years ago, Jewish groups forced a tiny East Asian jewelery store to stop selling Hindu swastika earrings, a common symbol of transcendental harmony to the Hindus. It was not crooked and it was drawn the original way, not the Nazi way yet people flipped out about it and they were banned and made to stop selling them and not only did they have no idea about the Nazi application of the symbol but technically it was their symbol, from that sort of birthright perspective if you accept that, to begin with.
I would like to speak to someone who was there and see if there was a pattern to her requests. Even so, one imagines that simply explaining that if people did not get with the Jew-hatred program of the Nazis, it was enough to endanger your life and your family. Actually writing an assignment on it as if you were a Nazi seems, imprudent at best.
Of course they are evil. Im watching them murder off my family and friends. I am watching them steal their property thru the bogus courts. They ran the slave trade, and pinned it on Europeans. Im watching them bald face lie to America in all forms of media, I could write that paper. Evil is too kind a word. They will be hung in the streets, starting with the lawyers.
Its just that Americans are too fucking stupid to get it
“A New York state high school English teacher who asked students to imagine they were Nazis and give reasons why Jews were evil…”
I am actually with Softly Bob’s argument here. That “put yourself in their shoes” method has a pretty high potential, especially for youngsters, for them to remain in those shoes for a bit too long. “Der Appetit kommt beim Essen”*, as they say in Germany.
*the appetite will come once you’ve started eating.