9/11

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

23 years... it seems way more recent than that.

I'm not sure the world is any safer these days.

[Vyn]

I'm not sure the world is any safer these days.

The avenues taken by the terrorists back then are no longer viable options but they simply find other ways to do their evil deeds. So, I don't think we are any safer. If anything, I'd say we - as a global community - are less safe. Especially in Europe, where some countries have immigration and maintenance policy that defies common sense.

At least, if I believe what the news and various people online have been telling me. Right after the attacks on 9/11, I jumped head-first into some serious research. I've not done that regarding the incidents in European countries over the past decade or so involving immigrants attacking people and basically being coddled and encouraged, so I can't speak with anything other than speculation about it.

But it sure seems less safe in that regard than it was 25 years ago.

[Zzzptm]

I've been to the memorial for the towers in Manhattan.

It's a good place for thinking, remembering, and meditating.

[Charger]

24 years...

But the memory remains as does the will to fight radical islam terrorism.

[Charger]

25 years....

Wow....doesn't really feel like that long ago.

Still the Eagle cries...

[Vyn]

Aye - 25 years and it sometimes seems like yesterday. Then again, the My Lai massacre sometimes seems like yesterday. And when we had so many WWII veterans still running around, Pearl Harbor seemed like yesterday. When I was growing up, an old guy up the street was a WWI vet. It seemed like yesterday to him. Sometimes.

Time goes on, people forget, and what was once such a massively important event that seemingly would never unravel from the social fabric, does. Not right or wrong, just what it is. I mention this because several months ago I overheard a conversation between some younger folks (early 20s) and one did not know WTF happened on 9/11. At all.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I heard someone mentions that 25% of Americans are too young to remember 9/11. These anniversaries are important so that people don't forget and for those too young, to understand the tragedy.

[Zzzptm]

I remember when I was able to see the memorials to the people who did all they could to save lives and limit harm on that day.

I want to be a person like that in my life.

[Typhon]

Time goes on, people forget, and what was once such a massively important event that seemingly would never unravel from the social fabric, does. Not right or wrong, just what it is. I mention this because several months ago I overheard a conversation between some younger folks (early 20s) and one did not know WTF happened on 9/11. At all.

If you want young people to know what happened, then they have to be told the hard truth and not some filtered bullshit.  I saw this piece of information in one of the independent news sites I follow.

"Virginia schools tell teachers not to link 9/11 with Islam. Fairfax County Public Schools distributed a six-page guide instructing teachers to avoid associating the September 11 attacks with Islam or Muslims and to create "safe spaces" for Muslim students. The document devotes roughly half its content to tips for managing Muslim student sensitivities while mentioning military families only three times and first responders once."

[Charger]

^^^
Holy mother of fuck!!

That is some grade A fucking bullshit right there! That is quite disgusting even.

[Zzzptm]

Same reason we don't give side-eye shade to students of German descent when discussing the Holocaust. Collective responsibility narratives are falsehoods used to stoke support of authoritarian regimes. When Bin Laden was killed, my Muslim students were among the most satisfied at hearing the news for all the hell his actions had indirectly unleashed on them. Anyone who's ever done actual teaching would know that we don't go into a classroom and start assigning blame to people who weren't involved in something.

[Typhon]

Anyone who's ever done actual teaching would know that we don't go into a classroom and start assigning blame to people who weren't involved in something.

   I didn't see or hear anybody assigning false blame to anyone else.  But babying students by not telling them true historical facts leads to weak-minded over-emotional adults.

[Zzzptm]

And not managing sensitivities of both Muslim and non-Muslim students can result in acts of violence that can happen on school grounds. By instructing teachers to manage sensitivities, the school district has performed due diligence in making efforts to ensure student safety. If teachers depart from those guidelines and an act of violence result, then that teacher can and will face civil and criminal trials and there won't be a district official or teachers' union that would back up a teacher making a choice to not manage sensitivities.

Even if one does not explicitly state that not all Muslims were responsible for 9/11 and that the terrorist attacks were themselves the acts of individuals operating under beliefs at odds with those practiced by the majority of Muslims worldwide, leaving an opening for an implicit thought on the part of a student that then results in an act of violence leaves the party not communicating the statement at fault.

I've taught junior high and high school for 16 years and continue to work with kids in a volunteer capacity. Managing sensibilities in no way is babying students.