It has just come to my attention that the Bush-bashing 2004 documentary film “Fahrenheit 9/11,” written and directed by leftist American filmmaker and political commentator Michael Moore, has been added to my daughter’s high school curriculum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Surprisingly, no other viewpoints were presented to counterbalance this extremely anti-American, biased film in which Moore airs all of his disapproval of American society. By showing only one side, the school has actually endorsed Moore’s film and all it represents.
Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 accuses Bush of orchestrating 9/11, claiming it was an inside job. No blame is placed on al-Qaeda or any other Islamic terrorist group, which suggests that the United States is as morally corrupt as al-Qaeda, the Taliban or any other jihadist terrorist organization. The students of “Current Politics” walked away from this film with a very one-sided biased viewpoint: hating America. And this view is further reinforced by a socialist agenda that is being pushed in class by the same teacher who, like multi-millionaire Moore, is against at the capitalist nature of American society.
Is this how we want to raise our children, exposing them to only one narrow view that hates Western values? This is of particular significance in today’s day and age, when Western values like free speech are currently being threatened, as evidenced by last year’s adoption of hate speech laws in the form of UN Resolution 16/18, thanks to the support of the Obama administration. This resolution seeks to restrict free speech by criminalizing any criticism of Islam, whether that criticism is true or false. The Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation (consisting of 57 Islamic states), whose main goal has been to make Islamophobia an international crime, has been pushing UN resolutions for over 10 years that would criminalize free speech when it offends Islam.
According to Islamic scholar and author Robert Spencer, “punishing those who criticize Islam is in accord with classic elements of Islamic law, which mandates that criticism of Allah or Mohammed or the Koran is punishable by death.” Shariah, or Islamic law, has therefore been implemented with the adoption of this resolution. Although this resolution is not yet “legally” binding and has not yet been proclaimed into full force – not just yet – it could very likely become international law if the resolution passes repeatedly in future years, especially if it passes in more than one UN body.
For those of us living in Western democracies who think we need not worry about losing free speech, under the assumption that it is fully and permanently protected by our country’s set of rules that govern speech laws (like the First Amendment in the U.S. or the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada), well, think again. These set of rules do not necessarily grant our rights and freedoms permanent immunity from the implacable resolve of Islamic organizations like the OIC that seek to restrict our freedoms with their Shariah agenda. But this too remains foreign to the students of my daughter’s class.
According to the school’s course selection handbook, Current Politics aims to “help students grasp the complexity of the world today and be open to the diversity of the societies that make it up.” Again, only one extreme viewpoint was shown, no diversity was presented. Indoctrinating and exposing students to only a “truther” and socialist point-of-view, and leaving them in the dark when it comes to anything else – like how Shariah is creeping into institutions across the Western world – make it impossible to achieve the stated goals of this school program.
Exposing students to a fuller spectrum of thought is what school education should be about. Why not remain true to the stated goals of the handbook and embrace diversity by presenting “other” perspectives to counter those of Michael Moore — like “Michael Moore Hates America” – by filmmaker Mike Wilson, or “Michael and Me” by radio and tv talk show host Larry Elder, or better yet, Steve Emerson’s “Jihad in America – The Grand Deception.”
After all, free and critical thinking, objective discussion about controversial issues, and the pursuit of truth are essential to prepare students for higher education. And this is only possible by showing that alternative views do exist by disseminating more than one viewpoint — that is, as long as we still have free speech to do so.