Bin Laden letter TikTok trend shows how badly US education taught history: Charlie Hurt
Washington Times opinion editor Charlie Hurt sounds off on 'The Story' after young leftists praise terrorist.
After the sudden online trend of dead terrorist Usama bin Laden's "Letter to America" led a major U.K. newspaper to remove the text from its news archive as TikTokers praised the man whose attack killed 2,977 people on September 11, 2001, several critics said the U.S. education system deserves much of the blame.
The Guardian quickly removed text of the letter from its website after it reportedly became the top Google search result amid the TikTok storm.
On FOX News, Washington Times opinion editor Charles Hurt said the entire situation highlights the issues of social media and Chinese-owned TikTok, remarking how much of what is pushed from the latter is intentionally meant to hurt America.
"It's such a startling snapshot of how far we have come over the past 20 years since 9/11," he said.
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"The fact that we as a country in our schools and universities have done such a poor job of teaching actual history and the truth behind these things that somebody like Usama bin Laden can kind of come out on the back end and be some sort of truthsayer or some kind of leader among young people who have no concept of the history that — obviously older people remember firsthand. But, you know, our children should have learned about it. It really does remind you that this is an onslaught."
He said nefarious forces are "winning" the battle of young minds, as evidenced by many young activists suddenly telling their followers to read bin Laden's letter as if it is some kind of justification for their disdain for America and Israel.
"This is all very intentional and it is designed to destroy our country from within. And right now, they are winning unless we figure out how to do something about it," Hurt said, adding it is essentially up to political leaders to stem the "poison" young people are exposing themselves to.
On "America Reports," co-anchor Sandra Smith reported on a White House response to the situation, in which a Biden spokesman said in a statement that "no one should ever insult" those Americans lost on 9/11 by "associating themselves with the vile words of Usama bin Laden, particularly now at a time of rising antisemitic violence in the world and just after Hamas terrorists carried out the worst slaughter of the Jewish people since the Holocaust... "
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Additionally, activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali told FOX News she was shocked and disgusted by bin Laden's letter trending, agreeing with Hurt that the education system is to blame as well as the media.
"If you look at what happened in the last 20 years, it's the rise of the woke mind virus. And what does the woke mind virus do? It propagates that America is a place built on slavery; it's about exploitation," she said.
"And so if you get that letter with no context, it looks like this [TikTok influencer] woman stumbled on it. She talks of an existential crisis."
"She says she felt as if she lives in some kind of dystopia… so I think part of what we need to do, aside from having these conversations about what to do about TikTok, is to try and see if we can rescue that generation from itself and remind them what is good and right and fine about America."
Ali, who was born a Muslim in Somalia, said bin Laden's letter is similar to an Islamic "fatwa" or Sharia ruling, adding she had a fatwa lodged against her in the past.
"It sums up all of these things that bin Laden accuses America of doing. But essentially what he's saying is he's applying Sharia law and based on his understanding of Sharia law, America should, among other things, stop supporting Israel, stop all of these policies that he blames them for," she said.
Ali said the letter tells America to accept Islamic Sharia or fail to live in peace — lacking the context today's youth do not understand because they were never informed.
Bin Laden's letter justified Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States because "you attacked us in Palestine," before going on to complain that the United States aided the British in "hand[ing] over" the lands to "the Jews who have occupied it" in a way "overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes… "
"The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally revenged," bin Laden went on, as TikTok users like raeyreads posted the entire letter on their page and said "it confused me" to watch in their childhood as people cheered bin Laden being killed by Navy SEALs in Pakistan.
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