Teacher on leave after alleged anti-Bush words

So we apparently have the freedom of speech in this country, as long as people agree with what you are saying.

About 150 high school students walked out of class to protest a decision to put a teacher on leave while they investigate remarks he made about President Bush in class, including that some people compare Bush to Adolf Hitler.

Okay, this is a tough one to stay unbias on. Do I think George Bush is comparable to Hitler? Not really, no. Why? Maybe it's because I don't want to believe that the leader of my country is capable of crimes akin to those committed by the Nazis.
Is there arguement for comparing. Yes there is. Bush has invaded other countries, we've targeted a specific set of people and held them in detention without charges. You can argue that Hitler was guilty of similiar actions. But there is a big difference here. A major difference that I believe separates Bush from Hitler in a way that should end all claims of similarity. And it lies in the actions, not of the leader of the country like Bush or Hitler, but in the actions of the "victims".

Let me explain:
During the Nazi rule, Jews were targeted without provocation. Jews didn't fly planes into German buildings. They didn't hold protests declaring their wishes for the mass slaughter of people that weren't just like them. Hitler attacked without provocation. Hitler slaughtered people cause he didn't like them.
Now, in 1993, Islamic extremists bombed the World Trade Center in NY for the first time. Bill Clinton was President. Does that mean Clinton was Hitler too? If someone told you there was a bald man looking to kill you, you'd be suspicious of bald men. I'm not saying you should kill all bald men, but you'd sure want to keep them the fuck away from you right? Now, if you stumbled across a group of bald men chanting that they agree with whoever is trying to kill you, would you feel bad if they were eliminated? We're at war for self-preservation. Don't get it twisted, the Islamic nations hate us. They do. They would cheer and celebrate if your neighborhood exploded. Whether it's Jordan, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, any of them. They don't like us. Should we bomb the shit out of them cause they don't like us. Probably not. That probably doesn't help our cause. But what else do you do? They attacked us. We responded. Now we're evil. Not the men sawing innocent peoples heads off, just us. I don't buy it. I don't think Bush is Hitler. Has he made mistakes? Absolutely. But what's the alternative? It's easy to criticize someones actions but I don't see anyone standing up and saying "It would be better to do this..."

Now, about this teacher. He has an opinion. He expressed it in a learning enviroment. It wasn't said to third graders, this was a high school class. So what did the students learn at class that day? Well, they learned that some people may have opinions different from theirs. They learned that their teacher has a human opinion. They learned about intelligent debate. Now they've learned that this country would rather shield its young from different opinions than have them exposed to it like they will be the minute they leave school and enter the real fucking world. Do I agree with the statement the teacher made? No. Do I think he had to right to say it? Yes. What do I think should happen? Debate, intelligent debate between a teacher and his students. If you don't agree with what he said, debate it, don't try to destroy it. That's the real world. Prepare yourself.

Okay, I'm done preaching. I'd also like to add that over my time in the school system I only came across maybe four or five teachers that weren't complete fucking morons. I had one teacher who held an entire class talking about how America had screwed over the Native Americans and we should all live in the woods and off the land. Did I report him to the school system? No. Did I agree with him? Partly. You know what I did? I ignored him. Then I graduated. I don't think about him much anymore.