TO THE EDITOR:
First-year student Alec Dent has whipped up a media sandstorm this week with his article in The College Fix by calling out a first-year seminar course for being pro-terrorist without sympathizing with the victims.
Firstly, I must ask: How can we take this article seriously when the person in question has not even taken this class? But even more so, I want to question my fellow students who have blindly supported his argument for patriotic reasons.
I understand the pain and hurt that people felt and continue to feel from 9/11. There is no question that this was an absolute act of terrorism and one of the most devastating attacks on our soil since Pearl Harbor.
However, we are selling ourselves short as UNC students by only listening to the American side of the 9/11 narrative.
We pride ourselves on being critical thinkers and students who challenge the status quo. Without doing that, we become trapped in the cycle of homogenous thinking that leads to so many of the problems we face today.
Nothing happens in a vacuum. There are more storylines to 9/11 than we will ever know. The American story is one of loss and sadness. A Middle Eastern perspective proves different.
We should not blame professor Neel Ahuja for simply trying to teach students another perspective.
Everyone could benefit from this type of thinking to become more well-rounded and globally aware.
