There appeared an article recently on Mary's site. It was originally published in an Itallian newspaper in the Italian language. What I saw was the English translation of the text. The author, Claudio Gatti, claims that "radical Islam" is conquering America from within through charter schools. He states that the radical Muslim Imam Fethullah Gulen is behind the one hundred something charter schools that are operated across the US. He goes further and declares that radical Islam is taught in these schools.
So, where should I start? Where is all this information coming from? From Mary and Mary-like people who spread false information about charter schools in their web sites and blogs. Are you wondering who Mary is? She is an ex teacher of one of those accused charter schools in Ohio. Yes, she was a teacher at Horizon Science Academy for many years until she was fired on account of her breaking the rules in her contract with HSA. Once she got fired, she become the ultimate enemy of HSA and Concept Schools. Up until that time she was always applauding HSA. But, when she lost her post in the school, she started to demonize it by creating a narrative that Turkish run charter schools -she has a name for them; Gulen charter schools- are exporting radical Islam from Turkey. She also states that these schools are linked to Fethullah Gulen who, according to her idea, is a radical Muslim Imam living in Pennsylvania. As someone who knows these charter schools and Mr. Gulen, I laughed at these accusations. Everbody, in and out of Turkey, well knows that Mr. Gulen does not run a charter school in the US, and the version of Islam that he encourages is moderate Islam that originated from Sufism. If she knew that these schools are run by radical Muslims and teach radical Islam, then why she didn't quit her job before she got fired? Because she loves money. It does not matter for her where it comes from. Where there is money, there is Mary. Now she is being paid to curse these schools by any means. It is her new job and she likes it a lot.Let's come back to the article. The source of the writer as I mentioned is really clear, so that does not need further explanation. It is not based on serious research on the subject. A respected journalist is expected to do some field research, e.g. interviews with the mentioned persons in the article, and then check it from various sources. Instead, the writer took whatever came from Mary, and built his article on her false accusations and nonsense. Indeed, it seems that this article is handicraft prepared before a blank screen on the computer.
It was mentioned in the article that the American tax money is going to these charter schools. Can the writer explain if there is another way of running a charter school without using tax money? The very idea of charter school is based on tax money. There is another issue though on the same merit. Why does the author and Mary-like people attack only Turkish run charter schools? Is there prejudice here? There are many charters run by many different ethnicities, i.e. Armenians, Jews, Greeks, etc. So, then why do they only put the Turkish run charter schools in the spotlight? Is it because of their hatred toward Turkish people? It is unjust to attack those people while they are working hard for the good of America. Furthermore, it is unlawful. The U.S. Constitution strictly prohibits discrimination. What is the reason behind creating an unreal phenomena like Gulen charters and Gulen charter schools?
All in all, the author should have done some serious research before he sent his article to the newspaper. It repeats the same nonsense of Mary and Mary-like people whose main job is to create fiction narrative that radical Islam is conquering America from within through charter schools. They also have a name for it; Gulen charters, or Gulen charter schools. There is no radical Islam in these schools, and no radical Imam. To compare Mr. Gulen to radical Islam is irrelevant under any circumstance. And Mr. Gulen does not have an official link to neither one of these schools, and thus there is not such gulen charter school in the US.
I just made a quick internet search about Fethullah Gulen. Unlike the author, Gatti, majority of the scholars, if not all, address him as a moderate Muslim. Thus it is ridiculous to juxtapose Mr. Gulen and radical Islam. And also I could not find any government supported US charter school running by Mr. Gulen.
ReplyDeleteIt is not such a repected journalism to build his article on the false informations in blogs and free webpages. Claudio Gatti failed in this article. Claudio Gatti defiled his career by relying merely on rumors and employing so much inaccurate information in his article. It is also interesting how Gatti got interested in such topic because it is not something among his research interests. Did someone urge him to write such article? Now his reputation went down.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the strong motivation Mary and Mary-like people have against so called Gulen charter schools, I wanted to simply ask what if Mr. Gulen had alleged connections and/or those schools had some terror connections for real. Probably they would not need such websites. This simply proves such hostile approaches are just personal issues. All these remind me a guy a few years ago who had a website against a bank in Ohio. The guy deposited his paycheck without authorized signature mistakenly and then went to a restaurant with his family and friends assuming he had enough fund in his account. He became overdraft and got really mad because of extra charges. He build a website beginning with an F word followed by his bank's name.
ReplyDeleteThis is neither Turkey, nor Italy, but America. This Gatti guy should stop his false accusations about imaginary charter schools of Fethullah Gulen. The only concern of American parents is the success of their children. For sure Gatti is also aware of the fact that Ergenekon is te Turkish version of Italian Gladio. Someone is using Gatti for his or her cause by ordering him to write such article(s) to be used in their blogs. This is not a respected way of journalism to accuse persons and institutions without releant proof. Where is his proof that Mr. Gulen and the Gulen Movement are abusing American tax money? Nobody on earth would believe in it.
ReplyDeleteWatch the movie "waiting for superman" to see who really abuse American tax money. Because of union, we pay ineffective teachers just for breathing, not for teaching...
ReplyDelete