Author: adazhang

When you hear the phrase, “hate crime,” what is the first thought that comes to your mind? Do you think of 9/11? Do you think about the Holocaust that occurred during World War II? Perhaps you think of the KKK or the Black Panthers or the advance of ISIS through Southwest Asia. Despite our increasingly advanced culture, hate crimes remain a very real issue in the United States and in most countries throughout our world. According to the National Crime Prevention Council, “The U.S. Department of Justice defines hate crime as ‘the violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.’” Considering this definition, could one consider the recent shooting and killing of three unarmed Muslims in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to be a hate crime? In order to find out, let’s take a look back at the writings of the legendary Greek historian, Herodotus.

Herodotus was a Greek historian who lived during the fifth century B.C. who systematically compiled hundreds upon hundreds of years of Greek history. It is through Herodotus that modern historians have found the most information regarding the Greco-Persian Wars, the conflict between the Greek city-states of Sparta and Athens, waged from 549 to 494 B.C. against the Persian Empire. According to Herodotus, the general enmity between these cultures is the result of multiple kidnappings. Herodotus states, “ [The Greeks] manned a ship of war, and sailed to Aea, a city of Colchis, on the river Phasis; from whence, after dispatching the rest of the business on which they had come, they carried off Medea, the daughter of the king of the land” (1.2). Many years later, the Persians responded with a similar violence; “Alexander the son of Priam, bearing these events in mind, resolved to procure himself a wife out of Greece by violence, fully persuaded that as the Greeks had not given satisfaction for their outrages so neither would he be forced to make any for his. Accordingly, he made prize of Helen” (1.3). These hostilities only increased over time, resulting in two attempted Persian invasions of the Greek mainland and countless Greek counter-attacks. As such, many cities were destroyed, many soldiers and civilians were killed, and cultural enmity between the Greeks and Persians came to a boil. These conflicts are romanticized and dramatized in Zack Snyder’s films 300 and 300: Rise of an Empire. While the Spartans and Athenians did not go to war shirtless, as these films suggest, the general Persian dislike of the Greeks—and vice-versa—is well expressed in these movies.

As such, it seems that hate crime has been present in a great deal of human history. When the Persians sacked Greek cities it was not because the Greeks had done anything wrong but because of their differing culture. Similarly, when Greeks “liberated” Persian settlements, it was because they deemed Greek culture to be superior to that of the Persians. Such discrimination is still apparent in American culture today, as expressed in the Chapel Hill shootings that occurred last week. An armed gunman made his way into the apartment of his neighbors, a newly wed Islamic couple and shot the two along with the bride’s sister, each in the head. After increasing pressure from the American Muslim community and many nations around the world, most notably through the phrase #muslimlivesmatter on twitter, the FBI has recently begun investigating the killings as a hate crime.

President Obama said in an official statement in regards to the shooting, “No one in the United States of America should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship. As we saw with the overwhelming presence at the funeral of these young Americans, we are all one American family.” This now federal case is not completely black and white; while the gunman presented himself as a dedicated antitheist on his Facebook page, the man’s wife claims that he was not driven by a religious hate but by a parking-related conflict between himself and the couple. In the same way, it could be said that the Greco-Persian Wars were a result of deeply-rooted territorial conflict rather than tension between the Greek and Persian cultures. Very few such cases, whether ancient or modern, are strictly black and white. But, as evidence shows, hate crimes have plagued human history since its inception, so we must not be so fast to rule out the possibility that such is the case with the shooting in Chapel Hill.

What do you think? Is this act of aggression a hate crime? Or do you think the gunman had other motives? Leave a comment below.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? All are welcome! Email me at Lee_Shaw@baylor.edu

Further reading on the Greco-Persian Wars:

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/herodotus/Herodotus1.html

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=cee

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/244117/Greco-Persian-Wars

Further reading on the Chapel Hill Shooting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/14/us/fbi-inquiry-muslim-student-killings-chapel-hill-north-carolina.html?_r=0

http://www.npr.org/2015/02/13/385846609/chapel-hill-shooting-victims-were-radiant-teacher-says

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/us/muslim-student-shootings-north-carolina.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/us/chapel-hill-north-carolina-mourns-death-of-three-muslim-students.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/us/chapel-hill-neighbors-say-they-felt-threatened-by-man-held-in-killings.html

http://www.ncpc.org/topics/hate-crime

I walk into my Tuesday 8 a.m., unsure of what to expect. “Rhetoric I,” the class is called. An intense name for a freshman BIC course, but then again, I’m not even really sure what the BIC is. My classmates and I avoid eye contact with one another, but when our eyes do happen to meet we are sizing each other up, wondering how smart the other is. And then sheepishly, we look away.

A blonde woman walks in. She’s dressed far more fashionably than I am, and she is alert, a hop in her step. She puts her coffee down on the desk and lets her bag slide off her shoulder. Her voice is soft and gentle. Without even trying, she commands our attention.

“How are you guys?” she asks.

Scattered responses — some say “good,” the pretentious ones say “well” — but she persists. She asks us how we’re settling in, how we’re adjusting. I can’t recall exactly what we talked about for the next hour or so, but I do remember us all leaving in a cheery mood. We felt comfortable. Dr. Walden made us feel comfortable.

As the semester continued, comfort transformed quickly into trust. The shyness faded as the once quiet class became a gurgling stream, overflowing with eager, confident ideas; some insightful, a few rather silly, many of them controversial.

By the end of that first semester in college we’d become better writers and speakers. We knew how to define and persuade and avoid logical fallacies. I left Rhetoric I finally understanding what rhetoric is—and how powerful it can be.

I have known Dr. Sarah Walden for four years now. I watched her belly grow big when she was pregnant with her son, Liam. On days when I babysat, I held that precious boy in my arms and wondered when he’d be old enough to understand and appreciate what a strong woman his mother is. When she got a permanent teaching position in the BIC department, I rejoiced.

She is my thesis director now, and it still shocks me, how her soft and gentle voice can expect so much of me. I am scared all the time of disappointing her, which is a good thing, or else my thesis would never get finished.

Great teachers aren’t hard to come by at Baylor. I could write an ode to any one of them. But I write about Dr. Walden today because she’s the one responsible for getting the wheels aturnin’ (or however that old adage goes). Looking back, she did tell me I had potential to be a good writer, but that’s not really what made me switch from Business to Professional Writing. It’s more that she showed me, in that 8 a.m. freshman rhetoric class, how through words I have the ability to create, to destroy, and to change the way things are—for better and for worse.

Dr. Walden encouraged those shy freshmen to wield the power of rhetoric — because, she told us, our ideas matter, because words are free and we are free to use them.

And look at me now! Going on and on and on about my ideas 24/7. It’s like a disease, really. I can’t help it.

Take a moment today — especially you, seniors — to think about the professors at Baylor who have guided you one step closer to where you were always meant to be. Maybe they spent a lot of time with you during office hours; maybe they got you to think outside of your comfort zone; or maybe, they just gave one heck of a good lecture that you’ll never forget. If your professors have made an impact on your life — tell them. The work they’re doing is important, and they deserve to know that.

(Author: Ada Zhang)

In our modern world, those of the Western culture are constantly bombarded by advertisements, news stories, and cute cat videos, alongside countless examples of media. Even though it might appear that we are drowning in an indiscriminately-displayed mass of media, news and television networks alike are increasingly selective in that which they choose to advertise and broadcast. Many news stories aren’t covered just as many commercials don’t make the cut. Such is apparent in that major news networks that covered the horrible attack at the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, on January 7^th, resulting in the deaths of twelve people, but did not cover the weeklong assault from January 2^nd to the 7^th, led by an extremist group called the Boko Haram, who committed a massacre of Nigerian men, women, and children in the small town of Baga, resulting in the deaths of 150 unarmed Nigerians.

Why did major Western news networks cover the Charlie Hebdo attack but not the Massacre at Baga? As BIC Freshmen have learned in our second semester of Rhetoric, media is often representative of the culture that created it. What does this decision say about our culture? To find out, let’s take a look back at the culture that Aeneas founded so long ago: Rome.

In our second semester of World Cultures, BIC Freshmen have been reading some of the works of Augustine, but I would like to go a little further back, when Rome was still a republic. As of 90 B.C., the Roman Republic was involved in what historians call the “Social War” in which Rome conquered its defiant Italian allies who had rebelled against its control earlier that year. The fighting was brutal. Due to this conflict, only two legions were garrisoned in the Roman province of Asia Minor (stretching from Modern Greece to Modern Turkey). Despite the war raging across the Italian peninsula, these two Roman legions, alongside the forces of Nicomedes IV—the then ruler of Bithynia (now Northern coast of Turkey) and Roman puppet leader—marched against Mithridates VI of Pontus, who had previously tried to seize the Bithynian throne for himself. Mithridates handily defeated this invasion, however, and scattered the Roman-Bithynian forces, leaving Asia Minor completely undefended. As such, Mithridates marched freely through Asia Minor, conquering as he went.

Despite the lack of Roman military in the area, many of the cities in Asia Minor still considered themselves Roman, as a large portion of the population were Roman citizens. In order to further destroy the Roman presence in Asia Minor, in 88 B.C. Mithridates orchestrated a mass murder of Roman citizens across seven different Roman-held settlements throughout Asia Minor. Over the course of a single day, Mithridates’ troops purged each city at a different hour of the day, targeting any Latin-speaking civilians, no matter age or gender, while sparing all others. Ancient historians estimated that around 80,000 Roman citizens were murdered over the course of that day

When news of what became known as the Asiatic Vespers reached the Italian peninsula, the massacre was broadcast throughout Italy. Then wrapping up the Social War, this news solidified Rome’s relationship with its Latin allies, providing the men on the Italian front with a new zeal, eager as they were to destroy their dissenting Italian brethren and then head to Asia Minor to battle Pontus and Mithridates, who had butchered their kin. Of course, the Roman government did not broadcast the fact that they had tried to invade Pontus. The Roman Republic, just as modern nations do today, broadcasted media selectively, often in order to highlight the good qualities of their cultures.

Why does this matter? Modern news outlets extensively covered the attack led by two ISIS-associated gunmen against Charlie Hebdo in Paris, resulting in the deaths of twelve unarmed people, but neglected to mention the massacre at the Nigerian town of Baga, led by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, resulting in the deaths of at least 150 unarmed people. Not to detract from the horrors and atrocities committed by the two gunmen in Paris—surely the event needed to be covered—but why is it that similar atrocities in Nigeria were not covered as well?

Some might say that the Charlie Hebdo attack was so extensively covered due to the fact that it was aimed directly at values that are core to Western culture, such as the freedoms of speech and expression. I would argue, however, that Boko Haram’s actions are equally aimed at Western values. Boko Haram literally translates to “Western” or “Non-Islamic teachings – are sinful.” As such, Boko Haram has openly attacked and butchered citizens of Nigeria who are close allies with the United States. Just like the Charlie Hedbo attack, the massacre led by Boko Haram was an attack against Western culture. As of January 25, Boko Haram has besieged the major city of Maiduguri. They are a serious threat. So why have the attacks not been broadcast by major Western news outlets? What does this say about our culture?

Why do you think the massacre at Baga has not been covered by major Western news networks? Does Boko Haram constitute a real threat? Leave a comment below.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? All are welcome! Email me at Lee_Shaw@baylor.edu

Further reading on the Asiatic Vespers:

http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/121264

http://www.academia.edu/1274975/The_Impact_of_the_Roman_Intervention_in_Greece_and_Asia_Minor_Upon_Civilians

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/miscellanea/trivia/aquillius.html

Further reading on Boko Haram Massacre at Baga:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/25/world/rifts-between-us-and-nigeria-impeding-fight-against-boko-haram.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/satellite-images-show-boko-haram-massacre-in-nigeria-1421326660

Further reading on Charlie Hebdo attack:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30708237

What could one of the most patriotic nations on this Earth, the United States of America, and one of the largest empires in history, Rome, have in common? Both nations have experienced similar problems when it comes to immigration. Unfortunately, Rome’s response to immigration resulted in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and serves as a stark reminder of the importance of developed immigration policy.

Within the next few weeks, President Obama is expected to release an executive order that would drastically change the current immigration enforcement system in the United States. This order could provide nearly five million illegal immigrants with legal documentation. Such an order would not provide these immigrants with citizenship by any means, but would simply present a temporary pardon from deportation. For instance, the order would provide many illegal immigrants (who are already in the United States) with work visas, social security numbers, and in some cases even driver’s licenses. By providing many immigrants with such resources, this move alleviates many of the fears of immigrant families, who suspect that relatives could be deported at a moment’s notice, leaving children alone to fend for themselves or entire families without providers.

While Obama’s order would alleviate the daily stress that many immigrants experience, the move is merely a temporary fix for a long-term problem. Congress could change laws in order to prevent the president from taking such an action; and even if Obama were able to invoke an executive order, the next elected president could simply revoke the order and leave Mexican-American immigrants exposed and even more prone to deportation. As his attempts to rework American immigration policy in the House of Representatives failed this year, Obama is running out of options in terms of how he might reform immigration policy.

Obama and the White House, however, might also expand DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which grants reprieves for illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children. If the program were to be expanded, an estimated 700,000 people would be granted amnesty from deportation. Both of these supposed plans have been met with a great deal of criticism from Republicans, stating that Obama’s plans will be too lenient towards illegal immigrants. Journalist Julia Preston, however, offers a different viewpoint in the New York Times: “Mr. Obama’s actions will not make it easier for migrants to cross the southwestern border . . . Foreigners caught at the border would still be on the priority list for deportation . . . and a primary goal of Mr. Obama’s actions will be to shift resources and agents to border security that had been focused on removing immigrants from the interior.” Immigrant advocacy groups are in support of Obama’s plans, as it will make life much easier for immigrants throughout the nation.

While there are many perspectives on how the issue of illegal immigration should be addressed, it must be acknowledged the issue is persistent and needs careful consideration. The issue of immigration was just as—if not more—significant for the Roman Empire. As BIC freshman have been reading The Aeneid and hearing all about the manifest destiny of Rome, I thought I would do well to offer a contrasting perspective: the actual fall of Rome.

In the third century CE, the Roman Empire was a shadow of its former glory. Its troops were spread thin, its leaders were corrupt, and enemies gathered on every border. One such enemy was Attila the Hun, whose forces were determined to pillage and plunder every civilized society they could find. As the Huns pushed through Europe, a collection of Western Gothic tribes (attributed with the name “Visigoths” by the Roman writer Cassiodorus) appealed to the Roman emperor, Valens, for sanctuary within Roman territory. Valens admitted the various tribes access into Rome but, as they were abused and neglected by certain provincial Roman rulers, the Visigoths rebelled against Rome in 376 CE, resulting in what would be known as the Gothic Wars. In 378 CE, Emperor Valens himself was killed and his force decimated at the battle of Adrianople (which modern historians mark as the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire). The Visigoths pillaged and conquered throughout Italy and Greece before turning back to Rome, sacking the once-great city in 410 CE.

Why does this matter? The happiness of a large portion of a nation’s population is important in order for a nation to succeed. The Roman Emperor Valens did what he thought was best, offering the Visigoths safety, but subsequently neglected them, which encouraged rebellion. However our nation responds to issues like immigration, I think that we can all agree that such responses should help as many people as possible without stepping on too many toes. No matter flag or creed, human beings are human beings. We are all united by the banner of humanity.

What do you think of President Obama’s executive plan? How should the U.S. address the issue of immigration? Leave a comment below.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? All are welcome! Email me at Lee_Shaw@baylor.edu

Further reading on the Gothic Wars:

http://www.ancient.eu/visigoth/ http://history-world.org/germanic_tribes.htm

Further reading on U.S. Immigration:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/us/obamas-immigration-plan-could-grant-papers-to-millions-at-least-for-now.html?ref=us&_r=0

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/14/politics/charles-krauthammer-obama-immigration-action-impeachable/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/immigration

So. It’s pretty much an indisputable fact that BIC professors are the best profs at Baylor (and probably in America).

To show them how much we appreciate their having endured grad school so they could eventually be a part of our lives and impart knowledge to our youthful minds, we’re going to vote on professor superlatives. That’s right, we’re going to slightly embarrass our beloved professors as a token of our thanks.

If you come to “A Sweet Thank You,” an event filled with cookies and brownies and everything sugar, not only will you get to satisfy your sweet tooth, you’ll get to cast your vote! And if you stay and mingle (and register for classes if you still have to do that), you’ll get to hear the winners announced later on.

The event will take place Monday, November 17th on 5th floor Cashion from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Be there or regret it.

Here are the superlative categories:

1. Best dressed (male)

Dr. Williams’s bowties are pretty spiffy, but what about Dr. Tatum’s argyle socks?

2. Best dressed (female)

Dr. Walden is a shoe-in for this one, but Dr. McGlashan is the one with the really great shoes.

3. Most outgoing

Hmm. Who doesn’t need a microphone during large group?

4. Best hair

Dr. Wright’s blonde locks are lovely (seriously, who does her hair?!), but Dr. Losey’s immaculate white hair has no flaws.

5. Best facial hair

Dr. Perry’s beard hair is a different color from his head hair. And that’s all I have to say about that.

6. Best singer

Maybe you should ask your prof to do a demo?

7. Most enthusiastic 

…Can I vote for all of them?

8. Wisest

Don’t be an agist. Young profs can be wise, too.

9. Most likely to become president

Dr.LongDr.LongDr.Long. (I guess you know who I’m voting for…)

10. Most likely to become philosopher-king

Probably the most important question you will ever answer in your life. Choose carefully.

11. Funniest

Dry humor? Dr. Hunt, obviously. Laugh-out-loud-rolling-on-the-floor-abs-in-pain humor? That’s tough. Dr. Carron has made me laugh raucously at times, but Dr. Nogalski is consistently pretty hilarious.

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

–  Winston Churchill

What could your favorite modern parliamentary republic, Russia, and the ancient Roman republic have in common? Unfortunately, it seems that both of these nations have actively commandeered history and twisted it to serve their respective purposes. How could humans warp history? you might ask. Rome managed this task by burning the cities that could speak out against their histories, and Russia, by “fixing” textbooks.

Over the course of the past year, hundreds of textbooks have been marked by the Russian government as unfit and ill-suited to educate Russian youth. The logic behind these decisions has not always been clear – sometimes because of small errors in the text, because they do not instill a sense of patriotism, or because they just do not measure up to newly instated standard that the Russian government has set for textbooks. According to Jo Becker of the New York Times, “By the time the school year began this fall, the number of approved textbooks for Russia’s 14 million schoolchildren has been slashed by more than half.” Unfortunately, this number is only increasing, threatening dozens of small publishers, as they can no longer sell their textbooks. This move has hurt Russian citizens and students as well, as they will have to purchase new, approved textbooks as more textbooks are cut on a daily basis.

Why would Russia do this? Such becomes clear when we see who benefitted from this move, specifically Arkady K. Rotenberg, an old friend of President Vladmir Putin. Shortly before the massive textbook cuts, Putin instated Rotenberg as chairman of the Enlightenment Publishing Company, which happens to produce a great deal of the newly-standard and approved textbooks. (What a coincidence!) During the reign of the Soviet Union many years ago, Enlightenment was the major and practically sole publisher of Soviet literature for youth. During this time, schools had no choice but to use these textbooks. Even though the Soviet Union has long collapsed, Enlightenment is once again becoming a textbook mogul – robbing the Russian people of their choice. As the people struggle to keep up with the ever-changing government-approved literature, Rotenberg basks in his new wealth; he is worth an estimated 3.1 billion dollars.

Why does this matter? If you control the only source of history, you can do with that history whatever you please. If this “knowledge” is being fed to impressionable youth, the less likely it is that this information be disputed. Of course, Russia is not alone in terms of distorting history. A prime example of such distortion of history is the conflict between Rome and Carthage. This conflict is expressed through three separate instances of the Punic Wars. The name of the wars is, in itself, representative of Roman bias. “Punici” was a racially derogatory term created by the Romans, similar to the word “Negro” as employed by white slavers against their African slaves. (After the Second Punic War, Carthaginians constituted a large portion of the Roman slave. population. It is during this time that Carthaginians were labeled with the derogatory “Punici.”) At the end of the Third Punic War, after having besieged Carthage for five years, in 146 B.C.E. the Romans sacked the city, killing or enslaving all of its inhabitants, and razed the settlement, shattering the walls and reducing every building to ash. The Roman forces, under command of Scipio Aemilianus, had specific orders to burn the libraries of Carthage along with any literature that they came across. Such is why historians have such a hard time differentiating between Roman propaganda and the truth surrounding this ancient civilization. For instance, Roman historians have said that Hannibal Barca, the Carthaginian commander who made a name for himself in the Second Punic War, sacrificed his only son before marching against Rome. Some ancient historians say the Carthaginians ate children, some say they were just sacrificed, but as most of Carthage’s history fell with the city, which testimony should be accepted?

Such constitutes Socrates’ fear of rhetoric. With a few clever words, especially if you have a monopoly on knowledge outlets, you can convince a populace of any history you choose. History is powerful. We need it to understand the present in order to better plan for the future. Our future can only be harmed if such knowledge comes from one indisputable outlet.

How do you feel about Russia’s textbook purge? What should be done? Leave a comment below!

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? All are welcome! Email me at Lee_Shaw@baylor.edu

Further reading on the fall of Carthage:

http://www.unrv.com/empire/fall-of-carthage.php

http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=guerber&book=romans&story=carthage

http://www.roman-empire.net/republic/carthage-index.html

Further reading on Russia’s textbook purge:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/world/europe/putins-friend-profits-in-purge-of-schoolbooks.html?src=me&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=Personal%20Tech&action=keypress&region=FixedRight&pgtype=article

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/putins-friend-profits-from-russias-schoolbook-purge/article21418981/