“Some people did something.”
asserted
people → do → something
That was Rep. Ilan Omar’s (D-MN) description of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York, at the Pentagon, and in western Pennsylvania.
asserted
what → happen → Pennsylvania
The approach taken by one of America’s biggest public school systems is similar.
asserted
approach → take → systems
Ahead of the 25th anniversary of the terrorist murders of nearly 3,000 people on 9/11, Fairfax County Public Schools in northern Virginia cautioned teachers to avoid propagating hate by discussing the Islamist motivation of the airliner hijackers.
asserted
Schools → caution → hijackers
In 1984, George Orwell’s classic of totalitarian thought control, protagonist Winston Smith spends his dismal days at the Ministry of Truth, casting facts inconvenient to Big Brother down the memory hole.
asserted
Smith → spend → hole
The most active ideological trend in contemporary Islam, a political-religious melding of Nazi propaganda with a revived and puritanical Islamic imperialism, has murdered several hundred thousand people worldwide.
asserted
trend → revive → people
With regard to it, FCPS operates not a memory hole but a memory sieve.
asserted
FCPS → operate → hole
The central office reminded teachers, “We recognize the challenges that this important anniversary presents to students, families, and staff.
asserted
anniversary → remind → students
Many FCPS families and staff were personally impacted by 9/11 and the United States War on Terror.
asserted
families → impact → Terror
Many families of military personnel and first responders experienced loss and hardship.”
But the ideology and actions of the al Qaeda perpetrators “should not be attributed to Islam or to Muslims as a religious community.”
asserted
ideology → experience → community
But there is no acknowledgment that adherents of Islamic fundamentalism after 9/11 have murdered another 120-plus Americans in attacks including those at Fort Hood in 2009, a California federal office building in 2015, and a Florida nightclub in 2016.
asserted
adherents → be → 2016
No mention of investigations by joint FBI-local task forces that put hundreds of would-be 9/11 imitators behind bars.
asserted
that → put → bars
Through the memory sieve go specifics about who might want to kill us and why.
uncertain
who → go → us
Retained are seven single-spaced pages of pedagogical misdirection.
asserted
pages → retain → misdirection
They include: “Many of our Muslim families worry about sending their children to school each September 11 because of increased incidents of harassment, violence, and hate crimes experienced by Muslim Americans.”
asserted
Many → include → Americans
Federal uniform hate crime statistics do not support claims of a significant increase in anti-Muslim actions.
uncertain
statistics → support → actions
But allegations of surging “Islamophobic incidents” do come from groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
asserted
allegations → surge → Relations
The CAIR describes itself as the biggest U.S. Muslim civil rights organization.
asserted
CAIR → describe → organization
Five men, including a co-founder of the CAIR’s Texas chapter, received prison sentences for laundering $12 million for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement.
asserted
men → include → Hamas
Hamas is the U.S. government-designated terrorist organization that massacred nearly 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others in 2023.
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that → designate → 2023
It was at a CAIR meeting that Omar referred to the “people who did something.”
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who → refer → something
But cowed by a CAIR lawsuit over disciplining Muslim Student Association members for violating FPCS rules, the system warned teachers that “many of our students may feel anxious or confused when encountering details and images [of 9/11] in the media or in their conversations inside and outside the classroom.”
uncertain
many → cow → classroom
Lest facts intrude and cause confusion and anxiety, staff should remember it “is committed to equitably supporting students as they navigate the challenging issues of our world.”
asserted
they → intrude → world
And also to “create and sustain inclusive, affirming learning communities that honor students’ social-emotional needs and reject racism, hate, and bias.”
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that → create → racism
Taxpayers provide FCPS $4 billion annually to instruct approximately 180,000 pupils.
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Taxpayers → provide → pupils
Numerous administrators pocket hefty six-figure salaries, in part presumably to provide students with a factual basis for citizenship.
asserted
administrators → pocket → citizenship
Except, it seems, when that might cause someone at FCPS confusion and anxiety about Islamic extremism.
uncertain
that → seem → extremism
Eric Rozenman retired in 2024 as communications consultant for the Washington-based Jewish Policy Center.
asserted
Rozenman → retire → Center
The Aporia
