The FBI Has Quietly Started Spying On U.S. School Children To Quash Dissent At An Early Age

[Octoldit]

By Claire Bernish

McCarthyism quietly returned in January — repackaged, rebranded, and updated to fit a modern narrative — in an official policy set forth by the FBI that asks high schools to target their students.

“Preventing Violent Extremism in Schools,” an unclassified 28-page manifesto for the ostensible purpose of waging the War on Terror in U.S. schools, opens with a brief summary of what we can expect from the latest in governmental indoctrination:

High school students are ideal targets for recruitment by violent extremists seeking support of their radical ideologies, foreign fighter networks, or conducting acts of targeted violence within our borders. High schools must remain vigilant in educating their students about catalysts that drive violent extremism and the potential consequences of embracing extremist beliefs.

Presented as ostensibly well-intentioned guidelines for identifying an individual’s burgeoning extremist ideology, the entire summation, and its accompanying website, are a thinly-veiled excuseto target Muslim-Americans.

But Muslims aren’t the only subject of this alarmingly McCarthyistic program.

While it’s no shock (anti)-abortion extremists and white supremacy extremists appear among the FBI’s “Known Violent Extremist Groups,” some other groups might be — particularly considering the keyword is “violent.” Anarchist extremists, sovereign citizens, and both animal rights and environmental extremists are deemed equivalent to the potential threat of ISIL.

“Anarchist extremists believe that society should have no government, laws, or police, and they are loosely organized, with no central leadership,” the FBI claims. “Sovereign citizens believe they are separate or ‘sovereign’ from the United States even though they live here … Sovereign citizens use their beliefs to justify fraud and other non-violent crimes.”

Despite the document’s claim the FBI “does not advocate the application of any psychological or demographic ‘profiles’ or check lists of indicators to identify students” who may become radicalized, the agency offers precisely that — a checklist of “possible warning signs” worthy of reporting. It continues,

“Using several different cell phones or private messaging apps;” “Talking about traveling to places that sound suspicious”; “Using code words or unusual language”; and even “Studying or taking pictures of potential targets (like a government building).”

According to the FBI page on propaganda, an individual voicing “mistrust of the government,” concern about “environmental destruction,” or criticism of “corrupt western nations” would also be prognostic of future violent actions.

To envision such behaviors — in their own right — as indicative of the potential to conduct a violent attack, speaks to a problematic lack of understanding of people’s common gripes by their government. In the increasingly paranoid atmosphere of this country, fueled by Trump’s demagoguery and Hillary Clinton’s hawkishness, such broad generalizing is downright dangerous.

In fact, it is precisely this paranoia which led to the in-school arrest of Ahmed Mohamed — a 14-year-old student genius whose hand-crafted clock was assumed to be a bomb. Despite his insistence the creation was never meant to be anything but a clock, he was charged with misrepresenting it as a bomb.

Sometimes a clock is just a clock, Freud might say, and therein lies the issue with the FBI’s program. As long as the United States government continues to almost indiscriminately bomb populations in the Middle East and elsewhere, those opposed to such programs will protest in earnest. This does not mean those protestations will somehow culminate in the exact sort of violence the participants stand against. The turbulence of adolescence is, indeed, a time when many students seek understanding of and from the world around them, as the FBI repeatedly notes. Adolescence is often the time of discovery, and of the revelation that what has been taught in school is anything but the entire picture — if not wholly inaccurate.

What the FBI seems to be forgetting in its return to a McCarthyistic, If You See Something Say Something crackdown on dissent, is that very criticism by the youth drives future change in policy. And if the angst of youth is given proper outlet and voice, instead of ending in violence, it might just end the continued worldwide violent attacks by the government.

Then again, maybe that’s the real problem the FBI seeks to quash.

Claire Bernish writes for TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared.

Source: The FBI Has Quietly Started Spying on U.S. School Children to Quash Dissent at an Early Age
LINK: www.octoldit.info

 

[Lucy Hamilton]

By Claire Bernish

McCarthyism quietly returned in January — repackaged, rebranded, and updated to fit a modern narrative — in an official policy set forth by the FBI that asks high schools to target their students.

“Preventing Violent Extremism in Schools,” an unclassified 28-page manifesto for the ostensible purpose of waging the War on Terror in U.S. schools, opens with a brief summary of what we can expect from the latest in governmental indoctrination:

High school students are ideal targets for recruitment by violent extremists seeking support of their radical ideologies, foreign fighter networks, or conducting acts of targeted violence within our borders. High schools must remain vigilant in educating their students about catalysts that drive violent extremism and the potential consequences of embracing extremist beliefs.

Presented as ostensibly well-intentioned guidelines for identifying an individual’s burgeoning extremist ideology, the entire summation, and its accompanying website, are a thinly-veiled excuseto target Muslim-Americans.

But Muslims aren’t the only subject of this alarmingly McCarthyistic program.

While it’s no shock (anti)-abortion extremists and white supremacy extremists appear among the FBI’s “Known Violent Extremist Groups,” some other groups might be — particularly considering the keyword is “violent.” Anarchist extremists, sovereign citizens, and both animal rights and environmental extremists are deemed equivalent to the potential threat of ISIL.

“Anarchist extremists believe that society should have no government, laws, or police, and they are loosely organized, with no central leadership,” the FBI claims. “Sovereign citizens believe they are separate or ‘sovereign’ from the United States even though they live here … Sovereign citizens use their beliefs to justify fraud and other non-violent crimes.”

Despite the document’s claim the FBI “does not advocate the application of any psychological or demographic ‘profiles’ or check lists of indicators to identify students” who may become radicalized, the agency offers precisely that — a checklist of “possible warning signs” worthy of reporting. It continues,

“Using several different cell phones or private messaging apps;” “Talking about traveling to places that sound suspicious”; “Using code words or unusual language”; and even “Studying or taking pictures of potential targets (like a government building).”

According to the FBI page on propaganda, an individual voicing “mistrust of the government,” concern about “environmental destruction,” or criticism of “corrupt western nations” would also be prognostic of future violent actions.

To envision such behaviors — in their own right — as indicative of the potential to conduct a violent attack, speaks to a problematic lack of understanding of people’s common gripes by their government. In the increasingly paranoid atmosphere of this country, fueled by Trump’s demagoguery and Hillary Clinton’s hawkishness, such broad generalizing is downright dangerous.

In fact, it is precisely this paranoia which led to the in-school arrest of Ahmed Mohamed — a 14-year-old student genius whose hand-crafted clock was assumed to be a bomb. Despite his insistence the creation was never meant to be anything but a clock, he was charged with misrepresenting it as a bomb.

Sometimes a clock is just a clock, Freud might say, and therein lies the issue with the FBI’s program. As long as the United States government continues to almost indiscriminately bomb populations in the Middle East and elsewhere, those opposed to such programs will protest in earnest. This does not mean those protestations will somehow culminate in the exact sort of violence the participants stand against. The turbulence of adolescence is, indeed, a time when many students seek understanding of and from the world around them, as the FBI repeatedly notes. Adolescence is often the time of discovery, and of the revelation that what has been taught in school is anything but the entire picture — if not wholly inaccurate.

What the FBI seems to be forgetting in its return to a McCarthyistic, If You See Something Say Something crackdown on dissent, is that very criticism by the youth drives future change in policy. And if the angst of youth is given proper outlet and voice, instead of ending in violence, it might just end the continued worldwide violent attacks by the government.

Then again, maybe that’s the real problem the FBI seeks to quash.

Claire Bernish writes for TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared.

Source: The FBI Has Quietly Started Spying on U.S. School Children to Quash Dissent at an Early Age
LINK: www.octoldit.info

So is this allowed in American Constitution?

I know in some nations here in Europa the Governments are doing the same thing, it's been in the news also.

 

[BULLDOG]

Not another conspiracy theory.

 

[irosie91]

In the USA-----teachers and doctors are taught----(OBLIGATED TO ATTEND COURSES IN....) seeking evidence of child abuse -----in the children under their
care. I support a similar program for teachers ----for detection of signs of
"radical behavior of the violent type" in the children under their care

 

[Lucy Hamilton]

Not another conspiracy theory.

It's not a "Conspiracy Theory" eg. the British Government has people spying on children, including to point of asking teachers to monitor children.

The other week, this referring to the EU Referendum, a teacher called the police, when she discovered a teenage boy looking at UKIPs website in the classroom.

 

[Lucy Hamilton]

Not another conspiracy theory.

Here about the teacher calling police because the boy was looking at UKIPs website, what lunacy and also a waste of police time, Politically Correct Leftist lunatic of a teacher:

PC gone mad: Outrage as school calls police after pupil looks at Ukip website in class

 

[S.J.]

Is anything being done to protect our children from the extremism of the teachers?

 

[Lucy Hamilton]

Is anything being done to protect our children from the extremism of the teachers?

Most teachers everywhere are generally Leftists, so no. Was that teacher who without the parents consent took the class to a BLM rally, was she investigated? No.

 

[irosie91]

Not another conspiracy theory.

It's not a "Conspiracy Theory" eg. the British Government has people spying on children, including to point of asking teachers to monitor children.

The other week, this referring to the EU Referendum, a teacher called the police, when she discovered a teenage boy looking at UKIPs website in the classroom.

-----the teacher should be evaluated as to her mental status

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Not another conspiracy theory.

And another ridiculous lie from the right – the FBI is not ‘spying’ on school children.

 

[irosie91]

Is anything being done to protect our children from the extremism of the teachers?

you raise a very important point. There are LOTS of nutty teachers (just saw the pamela smart story)-

 

[Lucy Hamilton]

Not another conspiracy theory.

And another ridiculous lie from the right – the FBI is not ‘spying’ on school children.

So a 28 page unclassified document is what a "Conspiracy Theory"

 

[BULLDOG]

Not another conspiracy theory.

It's not a "Conspiracy Theory" eg. the British Government has people spying on children, including to point of asking teachers to monitor children.

The other week, this referring to the EU Referendum, a teacher called the police, when she discovered a teenage boy looking at UKIPs website in the classroom.

Teachers have always been better equipped than most to notice if a kid is going off course. They spend more waking hours with our kids than we do. I want them to look out for their well being.

 

[S.J.]

Not another conspiracy theory.

It's not a "Conspiracy Theory" eg. the British Government has people spying on children, including to point of asking teachers to monitor children.

The other week, this referring to the EU Referendum, a teacher called the police, when she discovered a teenage boy looking at UKIPs website in the classroom.

Teachers have always been better equipped than most to notice if a kid is going off course. They spend more waking hours with our kids than we do. I want them to look out for their well being.

Because you can't find time for your kids? Teachers are not supposed to be surrogate parents and it's a big mistake to assign them that responsibility. Many teachers are predators and most of them are idiots.

 

[irosie91]

Not another conspiracy theory.

It's not a "Conspiracy Theory" eg. the British Government has people spying on children, including to point of asking teachers to monitor children.

The other week, this referring to the EU Referendum, a teacher called the police, when she discovered a teenage boy looking at UKIPs website in the classroom.

Teachers have always been better equipped than most to notice if a kid is going off course. They spend more waking hours with our kids than we do. I want them to look out for their well being.

Because you can't find time for your kids? Teachers are not supposed to be surrogate parents and it's a big mistake to assign them that responsibility. Many teachers are predators and most of them are idiots.

sheeesh I would not venture THAT FAR into suspicion of teachers Teachers DO get to see some aspects of the behavior and VERBAL expressions of children
that parents do not. Also, children tend to DEFEND the ideologies of their parents in opened classroom discussion AND on the SCHOOL YARD PLAYGROUND

 

[irosie91]

Not another conspiracy theory.

It's not a "Conspiracy Theory" eg. the British Government has people spying on children, including to point of asking teachers to monitor children.

The other week, this referring to the EU Referendum, a teacher called the police, when she discovered a teenage boy looking at UKIPs website in the classroom.

Teachers have always been better equipped than most to notice if a kid is going off course. They spend more waking hours with our kids than we do. I want them to look out for their well being.

Because you can't find time for your kids? Teachers are not supposed to be surrogate parents and it's a big mistake to assign them that responsibility. Many teachers are predators and most of them are idiots.

sheeesh I would not venture THAT FAR into suspicion of teachers Teachers DO get to see some aspects of the behavior and VERBAL expressions of children
that parents do not. Also, children tend to DEFEND the ideologies of their parents in opened classroom discussion AND on the SCHOOL YARD PLAYGROUND

back to the SUBJECT of the OP-----and for more of my (rosie) interesting life-----
I was in high school in the 60s------At that time SOCIAL STUDIES class was used
for OPENED DISCUSSION----(especially of 'desegregation' and 'equal rights' which was not an easy subject in my semi Nazi town)-------it was very
REVEALING-----lots of segregationists in that town and a few kids
brave enough to SO STATE in that increasingly----well----with increasing
numbers of 'LIBERAL' jews---town. By the mid-sixties---the segregationists
were being----sorta 'talked down' More of my "interesting life" >>I was 14
when I first befriended a muslim---of Pakistani parentage. I got to learn
the Pakistani view of the middle east---EASILY. A teacher of adolescents
is in PRIME POSITION to detect ADMIRATION FOR SUICIDE BOMBERS

 

[hadit]

Not another conspiracy theory.

And another ridiculous lie from the right – the FBI is not ‘spying’ on school children.

Well, at least not until a Republican is president, then suddenly and mysteriously they do.

 

[irosie91]

Not another conspiracy theory.

And another ridiculous lie from the right – the FBI is not ‘spying’ on school children.

Well, at least not until a Republican is president, then suddenly and mysteriously they do.

government ----(according to the definition that the OP seems to understand of 'spying') has been SPYING on children for many many decades. Nurses and
doctors can be charged with misconduct and with crime for not reporting
abuse of children. In my view a child who openly admires suicide missions
such as the Paris thing------is a REPORTABLE issue

 

[BULLDOG]

Not another conspiracy theory.

It's not a "Conspiracy Theory" eg. the British Government has people spying on children, including to point of asking teachers to monitor children.

The other week, this referring to the EU Referendum, a teacher called the police, when she discovered a teenage boy looking at UKIPs website in the classroom.

Teachers have always been better equipped than most to notice if a kid is going off course. They spend more waking hours with our kids than we do. I want them to look out for their well being.

Because you can't find time for your kids? Teachers are not supposed to be surrogate parents and it's a big mistake to assign them that responsibility. Many teachers are predators and most of them are idiots.

Kids are in school and interacting with the teachers for practically as many waking hours as they are with their parents. That is just fact. It makes sense that adults who have that much direct interaction with them should also pay attention to the clues that could indicate when a kid is going off course. If you want to isolate your kids from the real world, that's your call.

 

[S.J.]

Nurses and
doctors can be charged with misconduct and with crime for not reporting
abuse of children.

It's often the teachers who are abusing the children.