Education

VIDEO: College Students Blame Bush, ‘Economics’ For 9/11 [VIDEO]

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Blake Neff Reporter
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A new video released for Friday’s anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks shows that numerous college students appear to have an incredibly poor grasp of why 9/11 happened. The video, created by the conservative group Young America’s Foundation (YAF) and filmed at Virginia’s George Mason University, shows students expressing total confusion after being asked the question “Why was America attacked on 9/11?”

WATCH:

“That’s a good question,” one student responds frankly. “I should know more, but I don’t.”

Today’s freshmen collegians, YAF notes, were only 4 years old on average when 9/11 occurred, meaning they needed to be taught about 9/11, rather than having the events burned into their minds at a young age. That teaching may not be happening, as some students have made it all the way to university while lacking even a rudimentary understanding of 9/11’s context.

“I hear a lot about it being religious, but I think that’s just covering up economics,” one students says, apparently unaware the 9/11 suicide hijackers were from middle-class backgrounds and hardly desperate for jobs. Other students point towards the economy as well. “There was an issue over money, or oil?”

“Probably Bush did something bad,” another student says, apparently confusing the cause and effect between 9/11 and America’s wars in the Middle East. “He put us into a war over there over money, and gas, and it just didn’t turn out all right.”

On the plus side, the students hardly seem to embrace their ignorance, as they admit 9/11 needs to be taught about more in American classrooms.

“Our country cannot depend on academic institutions to adequately educate students on the history of the 9/11 attacks,” said YAF spokeswoman Emily Jashinsky. “In fact, universities are actively teaching students the United States was to blame for the tragedies of that day. It’s crucial we do everything in our power to impart the proper lessons regarding the abhorrent actions of radical Islamists to students as we move further and further away from the attacks.”

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