In the aftermath of the Uvalde mass shooting, the New York Times’ UN bureau chief is being chastised for claiming that all of her friends desire to raise their children outside of America.
Farnaz Fassihi, a former Wall Street Journal bureau chief in Baghdad who has previously covered Iran for the Times, tweeted her reaction to the massacre.
‘I’m a child of immigrants,’ she wrote. ‘When I was a kid, everyone I knew wished they could raise their children in America. Now, everyone I know wishes they could raise their children outside of America.’
Fassihi, who was born in the United States and spent her childhood in both Tehran and Portland, Oregon, continued on her ideas but blocked comments on her tweet.
‘This is an observation. It’s what I’m hearing in reaction to the Texas school shooting, parents terrified of gun violence and the recent shootings in NY subways and elsewhere.’
‘As an American who loves this country this observation makes me sad. So does all the hateful attacks,’ she added.
Fassihi was chastised on Twitter, notably by conservatives, for living in a liberal bubble.
‘This sounds like someone with a rich and diverse social circle who is not in a bubble at all,’ wrote Richard Hanania.
@AGHamilton29 tweeted: ‘Obviously not even remotely true and posting it is just a silly way to score points with a certain crowd. We know it isn’t true because it’s actually not that hard for an American to move elsewhere and there are still hundreds of millions of people who come here.’
Red State managing editor Kira Davis chimed in: ‘We have a door that swings both ways. Please feel free to use it.’
New Jersey conservative Matt Rooney wrote: ‘What’s stopping “everyone” you know? They’re welcome to leave.’
One Twitter user even compared Fassihi to film critic Pauline Kael, who famously said that she couldn’t understand how Richard Nixon was elected president since no one she knew voted for him.
According to Fox News, Fassihi has sparked controversy in the past for posting a video of deceased Iranian General Qassem Soleimani that many saw as propaganda and sympathetic to a man who the Trump administration alleged massacred thousands of people.
Soleimani was seen reciting poetry in the video. ‘Rare personal video of Gen. Suleimani reciting poetry supplied by a source in #Iran,’ Fassihi wrote. ‘It’s about his pals leaving and leaving him behind.’
She refused to take down the tweet and defended it, claiming that it was not intended to praise anything Soleimani did in battle.
‘Folks attacking me for sharing this video: It’s called reporting. It’s not an endorsement or sympathy. I share whatever info I get for all to see. That’s all,’ she wrote.
She’s also been chastised for sharing ‘unconfirmed’ stories about the Islamic Revolutionary Guard firing rockets at an American facility in Iraq, which many journalists labeled as “fake news.”
Those reports were later debunked, and Fassihi removed the tweet after receiving confirmation from Iraqi military officials.
Fassihi’s latest ‘observation’ comes in the wake of the murders of 21 people, including 19 children, at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school.
This week, memorials and funeral ceremonies for the victims of the tragedy have continued.