There has been some fights on the state level in Texas recently with some liberals who are trying to push a liberal viewpoint in the schools. There was even a fight over text books that presented history in a different light. Not having a kid in school, I didn't follow the ruckus closely but I'm sure one could google 'texas school text books' and quickly get educated on what happened.
No, I think looking at it from their perspective can be educational. From their perspective they are freedom fighters. I think that is what the teacher was probably trying to do. The idea is to get folks to think outside the box of nationalism. Labels can prejudice viewpoints. If they are de-emphasized a more objective understanding can occur.
Labels are how we easily identify people. In your case, leftist whack job fits nicely. Let me tell you what happens looking at things from the perspective of the enemy. You lose your own perspective and then they kill you. Do you think they're considering our perspective? Can you look at their warped view of the Islamic religion and honestly say what they offer is any thing close to freedom? Please.
Well, then let the extent of your attempt to understand the enemy stop at the label "terrorist" then. But I think Sun Tzu would not approve. "Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril."
I can see some scope for developing critical thinking skills. Unfortuantley, the education establishment uses this as a cover to push a form of unamerican indoctrination. They use terms like critical thinking and values clarification, but what they mean is to undermine respect for our country and its heritage and traditions. So we have educators, most of whom are union drones with substandard educations themselves, pushing the radical homo and environmentalist agendas, forcing kids to signs songs of praise to el presidente obama and suspending boys for drawing pictures of perfectly legal guns. All the while our educational results are an embarrassment that make us the laughing stock of other advanced nations. ps. You often hear liberals quoting how much we spend on health care and disparaging the outcomes compared toother countries. When was the last time you heard them make the same comparison about education spending and outcomes? When it comes to the education lobby, quality can only be measured by how much money is wasted.
You're confusing know your enemy and trying to understand their perspective from a political idealogy. Two completely different things. You orginal post was referencing we should try to understand their perspective, which I say is baloney. Knowing how your enemy operates, tactics, strengths and weaknesses...absolutely. Going into battle I assume my enemy is a true believer in his cause. One willing to die for it. That's the only part of their perspective I need to know. Everything else is battle tactics and who has superior firepower, AND, AND, can I say it again, AND the will to use it. Superior firepower wins every time, IF, IF, IF, you use it. We don't, so we loose. Simple as that. That's what the Guerilla warrior counts on. Then they have the advantage. Then their fanactical idealogy is a factor. Then Sun Tzu battle tactics come into play. Then they know we are weak and they are strong in their will. They can and will outlast us if we don't use our superior firepower with all it's deadly force. ALL OF IT!
The teacher was not on the battlefield. Your perspective is essential for the soldier, not for the the person just trying to understand it all. A military mindset clouds objective thinking.
By changing terms in the context of autocracies and when defending our freedom in no way helps to provide education to children. A terrorist attacks civilians not military targets, dumbass. What changing those terms does do is provide confusion in the minds of children as to who is right and who is wrong and why certain actions are right and others are wrong. Children will have plenty of time to see the view from the other side when they find themselves in college being taught by liberal professors or run into idiots like yourself in the normal course of life.
Which is why the military should be making all decisions when the fighting begins. Before the fighting begins the miltary should have no say at all. None! It's strictly political negotations, which I'm fine with. It's an absolute necessity to try and negotiate a peaceful solution. If that fails, and the powers that be deem it important enough, military force is then used. At that point the politicians have no say at all. None! The military serves but one useful purpose. Killing the enemy until the need for killing is done. That would be unconditional surrender of the enemy. To do otherwise, well, you get what we're getting. Lives lost needlessly. Enormous financial costs. A population weary of seeing their young men and women die for nothing. It's senseless to fight a war like we fight wars. There can be no victory. No end to the fighting. No peace ever. Peace happens when one side says, F this, I'm out. Until then, the fighting goes on.
Ok, I'll grant you that the terrorists consider themselves freedom fighters, and it might be useful to look at things from their viewpoints - if only to learn how they think. But if labels can only prejudice viewpoints, why does the left use them so much?