Perhaps you’ve heard the story of Jay Bennish, a geography teacher in a Colorado high school. One of his students secretly taped his class discussion without asking permission from Mr. Bennish. In that class discussion Bennish compared Bush’s justifications for his pre-emptive war policy in Iraq to similar tactics employed by Hitler.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Bennish’s penchant for apt comparisons caused an uproar among the character assassins of the right, one of whom sent an email to the school which led to Bennish’s suspension [Note: The student who had taped the class and his father had not bothered to inform the school or the teacher in an attempt to resolve their concerns. Instead they simply went public on the internet with their outrage, which is why the school, and Mr. Bennish did not learn of the issue until the email was received.]
That wasn’t enough for the rabid right, however. Bennish soon became a cause celebre on numerous right wing talk shows, and across the wingnut blogosphere, all because he dared to suggest that President Bush’s war policies. However, while 150 student supporters of Bennish peacefully protested his suspension, Bennish opponents employed a different tactic to make their point:
DENVER – The father of a Colorado teacher who compared President Bush’s State of the Union address to speeches made by Adolf Hitler said he and his family have received at least 12 death threats.
More on the flip . . .
Jay Bennish is on paid leave from Overland High School in suburban Aurora while Cherry Creek School District investigates whether his Feb. 1 lecture violated a policy requiring that balancing viewpoints be presented in classes.
Bennish’s father, John Bennish of Beverly Hills, Mich., told The Detroit News in Wednesday’s editions that people have called his house threatening to kill him or his family.
“This has been totally lopsided and one-sided,” Bennish’s father said of the news coverage of his son’s lecture.
Jay Bennish has defended the lecture, saying he was trying to encourage his students to teach. he told NBC’s “Today Show” Tuesday that excerpts of a recording made by one of his students were unrepresentative of the full lecture.
“This is 20 minutes out of a 50-minute class. The rest of the class provides the balance,” he said.
Imagine for a moment that we are back in 1998, and a teacher just called President Bill Clinton a sex freak and serial rapist who deserved impeachment. Does anyone imagine that hypothetical teacher being subjected to the same levels of abuse that Jay Bennish and his family have had to endure? Does anyone believe that teacher would have been suspended for trying to stimulate class discussion on the propriety of the Clinton impeachment through the use of such provocative statements. Can anyone reasonably argue that such a teacher would have received death threats from angry Clinton supporters?
Clinton was a far more popular President than Bush, even at the worst of the Monicagate frenzy in the media and Congress. Yet, we are not surprised that Bush supporters would stoop to this despicable practice. Disappointed, concerned, angry? Yes. Surprised? Nothing surprises me about these creepy faux brownshirt cultists anymore.
I guess simply calling us traitors, and hoping we get killed by terrorists just doesn’t do it for them at this point.
