Fall Break fast approaching means one thing, the chance to spend a little time away from your dorm room.
Complaining about the residence halls is another one of those experiences that draws younger students together, but I want to caution you. Your living situation may be sweeter than you realize.
Sure, depending on which building you call home, your room may be a little old and a little small, but if you can look past the minor inconveniences, you may just find a reason to stay.
Residence halls house a lot of people. This means you have a lot of potential friends who live just down the hall. Odds are you will not get along with everyone, but those you do click with are just a few steps away. Instead of driving from one apartment complex to another to gather a group of friends, you simply have to step outside your room, take a few steps, and knock on some doors.
I have spent the majority of my college career on campus. After spending two years in a residence hall (Memorial), I moved to on-campus apartments (the Arbors) before finally moving off campus this year. It wasn’t until this year began that I realized the concept of ‘neighbor’ is different depending on where you live. When I lived in the residence halls, neighbors were people you saw almost every day (and if you were lucky, they could also be people you studied with, people you ate meals with, and people you considered friends). In the on-campus apartments, my neighbors and I weren’t as close as in the residence hall. We each had a little more space and less of a need to interact, but we still knew each other and greeted each other when we met outside our doors. Off-campus, the people I live next to are less neighbors and more humans who I run into occasionally. Of course, this is just one person’s experience, but I think the on-campus atmosphere helps create a sense of community that doesn’t exist in the same way off campus.
The on-campus community has something else going for it—Community Leaders. Their job is to look out for you and foster a sense of community. They plan activities and spend a lot of their time thinking of ways to help you feel at home and a part of the group. Once you enter into the world beyond Baylor, building community will be entirely up to you. You will be the one planning movie nights or finding food to bring your group together, but for right now, these people who care about you are willing to do that part for you. So enjoy the time you have with these people who work so hard for your sake.
I know. Living in a dorm room is not always fun. Everyone has aspects of the experience they wish they could change. But before you know it, you will be living somewhere else. Take a moment today to appreciate the beauty of your unique living situation.
Kara Blomquist is a senior BIC student majoring in linguistics.
No great genius has ever existed without a strain of madness.
-Aristotle
If I were to tell you that at one time people with mental illnesses were literally chained to trees, given no treatment other than prayers, forced to live in their own feces, and deprived of the known medical treatments of the time, you would probably think that I am talking about some ancient civilization, some backwoods area thirty miles northwest of Athens proper.
Unfortunately, however, people with mental illnesses have been experiencing this horrible treatment in Western Africa for years – and there seems to be no end in sight.
The so-called “treatment” that these people are receiving is nowhere near as forward-thinking or scientifically-supported as the treatments that physicians administered in ancient Greece, over 2,500 years ago – and that is saying something.
“Jesus is the Solution” Prayer Camps have arisen all over Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Benin in the past several years. At these camps, people with mental illness are chained to trees, where they are forced to eat in the same place that they defecate, and are prayed over until the head religious official of the camp deems that a “patient” has “recovered.” Patients at such prayer camps never receive actual diagnoses or medication, however, so an individual’s healing process is solely evaluated by criteria provided by the head religious official.
According to one such official, “If I pray for someone and he finds a cure, he himself will ask to be bathed. But as long as he is not healed, if we tell him that he has to go and wash, he will say no.”
Any patient, whether suffering from depression and anxiety or schizophrenia, will show that he or she is healed when he or she asks for a bath, according to this official. As such, many patients can end up “living” in such camps for years.
Yet you might be wondering, “How are people ending up in these terrible camps?”
More often than not, families bring their relatives to such camps. The stigma of mental illness is horribly pervasive in West Africa, leading many citizens to believe that individuals who suffer from mental illness are possessed by demons. Families often bring their relatives to traditional healers, who fail to provide any form of solution. As a final last-ditch effort, individuals are often brought to prayer camps by their families, who have run out of options. This “service” is free, except for the chain which will bind the suffering individual, which the family must purchase.
How does modern West Africa’s treatment of individuals suffering from mental illness compare to the ancient Grecian understanding of mental illness?
Spoiler alert: Even the most ignorant toga-wearing Grecian doctor would not support the current treatment of mental patients in West Africa.
Although a prevalent stigma towards mental illness was present in ancient Greece, Greek physicians and culture worked hand-in-hand to combat this stigma. For instance, if a person was suffering from depression, he would first go to a “Physician-Hero” (Hear that pre-med kids, you are all heroes!) where he would offer wine and honey to a deity in order that he or she assist him with his distress. If this did not work (for some reason), this man would then travel to a large city such as Athens, where he would meet with a physician (of the non-hero variety). This ancient psychiatrist would ask a variety of questions, evaluating (to the best of his ability) the man’s physical and mental state. They would discuss the man’s wine consumption, exercise habits, and dreams.
If everything else was in order, the physician might diagnose the man with melancholia, a state of sadness caused by an excess of “black bile,” a substance the Greeks believed to be found in certain foods and accumulated through certain lifestyles. In turn, the doctor would prescribe “medications” which would result in a purging of the body (to remove the black bile) as well as a particular diet and exercise regimen.
The physician would then refer the man to a Korybantes, a group of women who would perform ritualistic purification ceremonies. If none of these treatments worked, members of the man’s community, including oracles, priests, and public officials would often come to him in an attempt to make him feel better.
There were even mental illness support groups in which distressed individuals and their families could talk with other such families in an attempt to achieve a better understanding of their respective conditions.
What does this mean for those suffering from mental illness in West Africa? Progress is being stifled and, in turn, people are suffering needlessly – chained to trees and deprived of medication. Prayer certainly has its place in healing, but so does medicine. As intelligent and educated individuals, we must ensure that our faith is not blind.
I will leave you with the words of Gregoire Ahongbonon, the founder of Saint-Camille-De-Lellis, an organization that provides West African mental patients with actual medical treatment,
“As long as there is one man left in chains, it is humanity that is chained. When I see a man tied to wood or in chains, I see my own image. And it is the image of each and every one of us.”
Lee Shaw is a sophomore BIC student majoring in professional writing and the current editor of the QuickBIC.
Further reading on the Ancient Grecian Psychiatry:
College in a nutshell: study, eat, try to sleep, study, call your mom, football, study, shower, Netflix, study, attempt to workout, study, have a social life, and just keep on studying.
It seems like college is a never-ending cycle of stress and exhaustion, but it is also supposed to be the best time of your life, right?
College is hard. Anyone who tells you differently is probably just trying to make you feel better. We are expected to “find ourselves” and maintain a more than decent GPA while staying plugged in to campus social life. Oh and for my fellow freshmen out there, we are trying to defy the “Freshman 15.”
Now stay with me here, there will be days of doubt and days of discouragement. There will be nights where our brains feel like exploding and weekends filled with reading. At the end of the day though, we think to ourselves,
Why am I putting myself through this?
There are responsibilities piled on top of responsibilities, and sometimes we question what our purpose is here. Are we sacrificing various nights of sleep because we want an A on our World Culture exams? Are we going through the rigor of the BIC to improve our applications for future opportunities? Are we doing everything we need to be doing for our futures?
The answer to all of those questions is probably yes. There is also nothing wrong with the answer being “yes.” We are all here to succeed and we are all here for our futures.
The only issue here is that we are so busy chasing the future that we often forget about the now. Yes, college requires us to endure coursework for specific majors plus the BIC requirements, and that is inevitable. What is not inevitable is the way we perceive our lives as college students.
Instead of thinking about college as this trek through Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, we should embrace the opportunity to thrive in a community that encourages us to grow academically, emotionally, and spiritually. This community is the BIC.
We are students, and we are all on our individual journeys. Some of us are pre-med students while others are pursuing an English major or even a business degree. We all have goals and we all have priorities, but sometimes our priorities get lost in the jumble that is college.
We are here for each other. We are here to achieve our own goals and our own dreams. Now although there are parameters that surround every goal, whether it is a certain GPA or an extensive list of credentials, we are all capable of overcoming the obstacles lying before us.
We must not lose motivation, because we are pursuing the future. Those futures will change the world. As we strive to be doctors, lawyers, businessmen, professional writers, and a million other professions, we are all working toward our futures to make an impact in this world. At the end of the day, the hardships we are going through now will serve as a blessing and a benefit down the road.
The next time you sit in a BIC large group, or any class at Baylor for that matter, look around you. Every thought coursing through your head is probably running through your neighbor’s as well. Whether it is the next New York Times assignment or the next biology test, everyone on campus is riding the same wave.
This wave that I’m talking about is not a wave of frustration or stress, although that is a part of the ride, it is a wave of world changers. It is a wave that will bring a global impact, from doctors working in impoverished countries to businessmen heading the next big empire. There is potential everywhere around us, and we cannot let our stress cloud the pathways to our future.
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.”
Kassie Hsu is a freshman BIC student majoring in neuroscience.
My underclassmen friends, right now I speak to you.
This is one of the most beautiful times of your life.
Because you still have your youth? Because your classes have not yet escalated to the ‘research-paper-around-every-corner’ level? Because you have more than half of your Baylor experience ahead of you?
No. This time is special because you have the freedom to not know.
No, not on exams. (Sorry about that, we all have to know some answers.) You have the freedom to not know what you want to do with your life.
You’ve just arrived to campus, and no one expects you to have it all figured out. When you respond to ‘What’s your major?’ with confusion and uncertainty, you are met with encouragement and confidence that you will soon find your calling.
As a junior, that story begins to change. You are now a seasoned college student, expected to have an idea of what the future holds. By now, you have a major, and you may even have an idea of how you want to use it beyond your college years.
Any seniors out there? It gets a little tricky here. Sure, we have our majors. Now, that is not enough.
Here is how most conversations I have had in my short time as a senior have gone:
New Acquaintance: “What are you studying?”
Me: “Linguistics.”
New Acquaintance: *confused look* “And what are you going to do with that?”
We must have a plan for our future lives. I thought I had this one in the bag. I have a plan, more or less. I want to become an immigration lawyer, so the next relevant step is to go to law school.
If I had told you that as a freshman, you would be congratulating me on my foresight and impressed at how well I knew what I wanted to do. Those words coming from the mouth of a senior are met only with more questions.
“Oh, you are going to law school? Where are you going?”
Pay no attention to the face that that it is early September, and some of the law schools have not even opened their applications for the upcoming year. You, my dear senior, must have all of the answers now.
So enjoy, my young friends, this time where not having answers about your future is socially acceptable.
To those of you who are beginning to receive those questions for which you have no answers, listen to me now. You, too, can have the freedom to not know.
Yes, as we approach our graduation dates, we should intentionally search for things which interest us and for a direction to follow in our future lives. But who is to say we will find those things according to the timeline set before us? Maybe we will find our true passion as a junior and not realize how that passion will lead us to a career until three years after we graduate.
This does not mean we sit around and wait for something to find us. It means we keep our eyes open. Whether you are a freshman or a senior or an alumnus, be open to the possibility of finding your calling. Our lives can’t fit into boxes, and they will not follow a predetermined schedule. Today, I encourage you to give yourself the freedom to find your passion at your own pace.
Kara Blomquist is a senior BIC student majoring in linguistics.
“How can we be grandparents if we don’t have children?!”
One of the many enigmas of The Game of Life. Amid tasteful quips about Life (which were surely more impressive than the typical sarcastic “Now I can get a life”), wondering why the fates had determined that only one player deserved children, and constantly suing archenemies, the BICLC Board Game Night raged. It was a fierce battle of survival of the fittest, with only short breaks to grab pizza, soda, and cookies. Countries engaged in warfare for total world domination (Risk). At one point, some brave soldiers uttered a loud battle cry: “I Want It That Way” (Backstreet Boys).
One BICer remarked that the Board Game Night was a relaxing time for freshman and sophomore BICers who survived World Cultures exams. According to sophomore David Espinoza, the event was designed to “unite BICers from different grade levels” and everyone had a great time, even individuals who are more introverted. He said this was because while playing board games, “[your] inner child comes out.”
Freshman Kennan Dickens enjoyed the informality of the Board Game Night, because it helped BICers, especially other freshmen, meet more people “on a different platform.” Because of the smaller group of students present at the event, games (particularly challenging ones) improved camaraderie. This was successful, as sophomore Jenn Dickey states, because students were able to become part of a community with a group of people you see every day and to get to know them further than simply sitting in Large Group lectures together. Freshman Joseph Webster further commented that the environment was easier to meet people in than, for example, Dr Pepper Hour.
Thus the BICLC Board Game Night became a team-building exercise that brought BICers together through laughter (triumphant or not) and free food. Even those who sustained heavy game losses suggest enthusiastically that BICers attend the event next year. Perhaps they have ulterior motives and are looking for someone they can be victorious over, but brave souls must venture forth to discover The Good. In the inspiring words of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore: “happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers” to attend Board Game Night.
Clarissa Anderson is a sophomore BIC student majoring in journalism.
Following the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, the age-old debate regarding gun control has arisen again. While we all might not be able to agree as to how firearms should be regulated in the United States, I would hope that we can all agree that there are currently 15 families in Oregon that are in need of support. Nine people have died and six have been critically wounded. Our thoughts and prayers here at the QuickBIC are with these families as we delve into the issue which has so drastically affected their lives.
On October 29, 2015, Christopher Harper-Mercer, age 26, entered room 15 of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon and, armed with body armor, five handguns, and a semiautomatic rifle, proceeded to execute his fellow classmates and professors. Within five minutes of the first gunshot, local law enforcement arrived and began trading fire with Harper-Mercer. Two minutes later, along with nine of his victims, the gunman lay dead.
In order to survive, some students played dead next to their wounded classmates as Harper-Mercer fired into the heap of cowering bodies. Others, such as army veteran Chris Mintz who was shot six times as he attempted to prevent the gunman from entering another classroom, struggled to protect the lives of their fellow human beings in the face of such a travesty. (Mintz is expected to recover from his wounds.)
Unfortunately, we are all too familiar with the horror of school shootings. The very mention of “Columbine” or “Sandy Hook” evokes bleak emotions which require no explanation. Umpqua will join this list of names.
Catastrophes such as the Umpqua Community College shooting seem to beg the question, “Should stricter gun laws be put into place in the United States?”
Perhaps history will provide us with some answers.
The Byzantine Empire, the surviving fragment of the Eastern Roman Empire following the Byzantine-Sassanid Wars, serves as one of the few ancient civilizations for which there are surviving records of its personal weapon regulation laws. Taking the throne in 527 CE, Emperor Justinian I sought not only to reclaim Italy and Africa from its barbarian invaders, but also to systematically collate the complex laws of Rome. Within ten years, Justinian’s personally-appointed committee organized over six centuries of Roman law into a number of straightforward codices.
In the third such codex, Roman law states,
“We grant to all persons the unrestricted power to defend themselves, so that it is proper to subject anyone, whether a private person or a soldier . . . [to] suffer the death which he threatened and incur that which he intended” (Codex Justinianus 3.27.1).
As such, Romans were encouraged to protect themselves by any means necessary. Especially as the Byzantines were harassed on all fronts by “barbarous” nations, certain laws directly encouraged citizens to amass and utilize their own weapons in defense of Roman territories from barbarian raids.
For instance, the Edict of Valentinian proclaims,
“By this edict we urge one and all . . . to use, if the occasion demands it, along with one’s close relatives and friends, whatever arms they can against the enemy” (Nov.Val. IX, A.D. 440).
Yet personal weapon ownership was scarcely regulated. Certain laws forbade arming slaves with weapons, selling weapons to “barbarians,” or using them “unlawfully” – but there was by no means any way of ensuring that these laws were followed. As such, while some Romans simply protected themselves with swords and shields, others made massive profit by arming slave rebellions and barbaric invasions alike.
So where does that leave us on increased gun control vs. maintaining current gun control standards scoreboard?
The Byzantines lived lives that were constantly defined by war – wars that were fought not in distant territories but on their front porches, in their backyards, in their burning living rooms. I would argue that modern America is not plagued by such threats, but I am sure some would disagree.
Are guns inherently evil? Are swords naturally bloodthirsty? Should guns be completely outlawed for personal ownership? I would argue that weapons are inanimate objects that reflect the will of agents, namely human beings, and can be utilized to commit a robbery as easily as they can put a stop to one. I similarly believe that the Byzantine Empire would have fallen much sooner if citizens were not allowed to own swords.
I do believe, however, that there should be stricter gun control laws in the United States. For those who disagree, I would pose this question: Is utilizing a firearm properly not a skill?
Ask any soldier and he or she will tell you that intense training is required to wield a weapon as military regulations demand. Ask any seasoned hunter and he or she will likely tell you that he or she has spent many a hunting trip learning how to strike with precision while also keeping fellow hunters safe. In a sense, the proper utilization of a firearm is an art while its misuse can constitute an utter travesty. Should just anyone be allowed to access this art form without the proper training or materials? Should we allow this art form to be utilized by those who would harm humanity instead of elevating humanity’s skill?
Consider the prodigal works of Rembrandt, who sold all of his beautiful paintings through the leading art guilds of the time. I simply propose that prospective gun owners enter a similar, federally-mandated guild in order to insure that their passion, their “art” as it were, coincides with the continued safety of the American people.
I will leave you with the thought-provoking words of Psychology Today writer Michael W. Austin,
“The right to own a firearm is not absolute; its exercise should be dependent upon the individual meeting several important conditions: a criminal and mental health background check, a required safety course, competency with a firearm demonstrated via a skills test, a regular renewal requirement, a minimum age requirement of 25, and some form of gun liability insurance.”
Lee Shaw is a sophomore BIC student and the current editor of the QuickBIC.
These past couple of weeks have been long ones for lots of us as there are exams and papers and speeches. I know that for myself, it is getting to be overwhelming. So I have decided to write this week’s column on ways to motivate yourself while trying to do all this work.
When I was in Kindergarten, my teacher would always tell us once we were done with hard work, to kiss our brain. While I thought this was the weirdest and most disgusting thing at the time, I now understand what she meant. Doing something good for yourself after completing large amounts of work can help to support your brain when schoolwork gets hectic.
We are all familiar with the feeling of just wanting to cry because you are so overwhelmed. Taking a break may seem like the worst idea in the world at the time, but it is well worth it. Do not watch Netflix, but instead, go to the Student Life Center (SLC) and work out a little. It could just be walking around the track on the third floor, but getting your blood moving and getting away from the work will help you process what you have been studying. Exercise also releases endorphins into your brain. The endorphins help relax you and put you in a better mood.
One of my favorite things to do when I am extremely stressed and need a break is to go on a bike ride around campus at night. At night, it is not as hot as it can be during the day and there are not very many people wandering around. I have seen fireflies by the Brazos and often go and check in with Lady and Joy.
One of the biggest things that I find to help getting through rough assignments is a reward system. As soon as I finish a paper, assignment, reading, or anything else, I treat myself to something I crave. Even if that means getting Sic ‘Em delivery to bring me a slushy from Sonic, I make sure to utilize the time to focus on homework. While this can get to be very expensive, I usually only do this as a last resort when I am under a lot of pressure.
Now that all of the stress of last week has passed, I am able to relax a little bit. I am caught up on sleep and have the ability to now enjoy my readings. I took my own advice and ate a popsicle every time I made a big accomplishment. I am proud to say that I have survived and have given my brain a huge kiss for helping me get through the past week.
Zephyr Straus is a freshman BIC student majoring in social work.
The Apple Watch is Apple’s most personal product to date. It can track daily activity, pay for groceries, and essentially serve the purpose of an iPhone on your wrist – all of these features on top of telling you the time of day. Now imagine a watch that is as aesthetically pleasing as the Apple Watch, but serves a purpose beyond your wrist.
1Face is a for-purpose organization that has a cause beyond telling time. 1Face brings about global change by unifying those who are capable of providing help with the people that desperately need assistance.
1Face is a watch brand that started with the belief that one person can literally change the world. Through 1Face, one person has the power to feed a child, provide an education, and find a cure.
With every purchase of a watch, a charity cause is supported. 1Face supports nine causes: cancer, hunger, breast cancer, clean water, disaster relief, environment, AIDS, education, and animal rights. The for-purpose organization has partnered with different charities to bring global change.
Every time a watch is purchased, there is a specific cause listed below that explains exactly how much of an impact your purchase will make. For example, some watches are color specific. The purchase of a red 1Face watch provides AIDS treatment for four patients.
1Face globally impacts the United States’ animal rights, cancer, and breast cancer research, Haiti’s environment, Guatemala’s education system, Syria’s hunger problem, the Philippines’s Red Cross disaster relief, and Bihar, India’s water supply.
Through the simple purchase of a $40 watch, lives can be changed across the globe. One watch can provide educational opportunities for a child in need or help find an animal a loving home. The purchase of four watches can provide a lifetime supply of water for one person. The impact is available; it is our turn to take the initiative.
We might not all have the immediate opportunity to start a for-purpose organization from our dorm room or travel the world and work with missionary doctors, but we do have the opportunity to change a life with a single purchase. 1Face is just one of hundreds of for-purpose organizations that can help us become the platform for change.
Every student at Baylor and in the BIC is trying to build a résumé for future opportunities such as internships or volunteer opportunities. We constantly surround ourselves with the overwhelming qualifications that come with pursuing medical school or graduate school.
Every once in a while, it will benefit us more than we think to pause and look around us. We often stress ourselves out so much over our next chemistry exam or rhetoric speech that we forget about the children across the globe who do not have the same privileged opportunity to attain an education as we do.
Similarly, there are people with families who are battling cancer or AIDS. There are communities searching near and far for clean drinking water while we refill our reusable plastic bottles with water from drinking fountains at every corner.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with embracing our lives, but as students, we have the power to create a platform – a global one.
Just picture this – if every student in the freshman BIC class bought a 1Face watch, we could provide food for 1,900 people, help support 1,520 cancer patients, provide treatment for 760 AIDS patients, assist in educational opportunities for 190 children in need, supply a lifetime of clean water for 47 people, and the list goes on.
The social impact a student can make is never limited; the world is constantly changing and the need for change is not going anywhere.
Tests have a way of taking a subject you love and turning it into something you simply tolerate.
Freshman and sophomore friends, you have just endured the first round of World Cultures tests, and maybe that has happened to you.
Has Achilles become nothing more than a man who interacted with too many people, whose names you had to remember? Did the Odyssey devolve from a man’s journey home into a dark metaphor for the difficulties you will face on your road to graduation?
I was once there – the night before the first World Cultures exam, watching the stories I had enjoyed reading in class turn into little facts that fit on a notecard. When my first World Cultures V exam comes along, the temptation to see the class as burdensome will rise once again.
This is a message for you and me: Do not miss the beauty of your World Cultures classes.
World Cultures is not just a history class. If any of you have been paying attention, that much should be easy to see. Now that those first exams have passed and you have a little free time, let us take a breath and break down why this particular BIC requirement is so great.
We cannot have this conversation without mentioning the professors. The World Cultures faculty have such excitement about what they do, and they spread that enthusiasm as they share about their areas of interest. If we were in a regular history class, we would have one professor. That one professor would cover a wide-range of moments in history, some they might love and others they might not. In World Cultures, the risk of having a less-than-enthusiastic professor is almost non-existent. The World Cultures large groups allow each faculty member to teach the topics that interest them. This means we get to see historical events through the eyes of people who already love them.
Do not underestimate the significance of this. Before World Cultures III, the French Revolution was practically nowhere on my radar. All it took was fifty minutes listening to Dr. Longfellow and the event came to life in a captivating way. World Cultures is a place where you will hear lectures that will stay with you.
Such moments occur in our small groups as well, however. Great things can transpire when we are given space to think about and discuss history and culture with engaged people. World Cultures small groups create those spaces. Yet we are just as responsible as our professors are in creating those amazing moments. To get the most out of our class, we must engage both the material and our classmates. When we do, we might be surprised by the insights and perspectives that bubble to the surface.
Our World Cultures classes are unique. We have excellent professors eager to share their interests to a roomful of students who have the potential to understand that knowledge in unique ways. You may have heard this message before. I am saying it again because it is true. We have the privilege of taking these classes; let us make the most of them.
Kara Blonquist is a senior BIC student majoring in linguistics.
In the past year, ISIS has murdered thousands of people, destroyed ancient ruins, bombed mosques and churches alike, instituted organized and theologically-ordained sex slavery, and has absorbed an additional 30,000 volunteers from the international community. How is ISIS continuing to rally support despite the atrocities that they have committed? While ISIS is a carnage-fueled terrorism epidemic the likes of which history has never seen before, the world of the ancients can provide us with some insight.
An estimated 30,000 volunteers have entered Syria over the course of the past twelve months with intent to join the malice and destruction of ISIS, including 250 American, 500 French, and 750 British citizens. Unfortunately, this is double the number of recruits that ISIS managed to muster during the year before. The number of countries from which ISIS draws its recruits has also increased, from 80 countries last year to 100 as of 2015.
The international community is desperately trying to combat the influx of ISIS recruits, but with mixed success. For instance, France has passed a law which allows the government to detain anyone who is suspected of intent to join ISIS, and countries such as Germany, Tunisia, and Morocco have passed laws which criminalize the support of terrorist groups. Yet only 5 of the 21 countries deemed as “high priority” in terms of the apparent need to identify and detain ISIS recruits have the required technology and laws to do so.
According to a report by the House Homeland Security Committee, “Foreign partners are still sharing information about terrorist suspects in a manner which is ad hoc, intermittent, and often incomplete. There is currently no comprehensive global database of foreign fighter names. Instead, countries including the U.S. rely on a weak, patchwork system for swapping individual extremist identities.”
ISIS constitutes an obvious threat with a significantly less obvious solution. Can history help us out here? While fortunately there are not many terrorist threats in ancient history that compare to that of ISIS’ advance through Southwest Asia, we can still draw certain parallels.
In 87 B.C.E., following the Roman Social War in which Rome and its Italian allies fought for control of the Italian peninsula, Rome was divided by the Optimates, who sought to limit the power of the plebs (that’s you and me), and the Populares, who sought to increase the say of the plebs. When violence finally broke out between these two factions, one member of the Populares, Quintus Sertorius, then proconsul, took matters into his own hands.
After being driven from Spain into Africa by Optimatian forces, Sertorius mounted a campaign in the province of Mauretania (modern day Morocco), freeing the Mauri from the oppressive rule of the Optimates. With both his forces and morale boosted by the success of his African campaign, Sertorius returned to Hispania (modern day Spain) where the Lusitanian tribes who had suffered under Roman rule welcomed him with open arms. At this time, the Populares regime in Rome had fallen, making Sertorius an enemy of the state.
Sertorius assumed supreme command over the Lusitani, however, and mounted a massive campaign against his fatherland, Rome. His forces were bolstered by the Lusitani, Roman deserters, freed and escaped slaves, pirates, and other tribes of Hispania who had suffered under Roman rule.
Sertorius instituted Roman education for everyone in his armies, promised plunder and victory, and preached religious tolerance among his diverse subjects.
You might be wondering, “Gee, this Sertorius guy who wanted to expand my rights sounds super cool, but he hasn’t bombed a mosque or instituted organized sexual slavery. Where’s the connection?”
Sertorius and ISIS make many of the same promises. This Roman general recruited everyone who had an issue with Rome with the promise of plunder, acceptance, and honor – even though it was particularly anti-Roman to bring violence against Rome. There is no hypocrisy so poignant that it cannot be obscured with money. In the same way, ISIS is promising the begrudged youth of Southwest Asia and the entire international community money, fame, and women – all under the guise of an honorable cause. While Sertorius actually utilized his cause to unite the oppressed, however, ISIS uses its cause to further oppress. Who, when properly uninformed, can resist such a call – especially when the cause seems so successful?
Fortunately, ISIS, much like Sertorius, will be stopped as long as there are people who stand up against injustice. As Americans and citizens of the world, I hope we stand together.
Lee Shaw is a current BIC sophomore majoring in professional writing and the current editor of the QuickBIC.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? All are welcome! Email me at Lee_Shaw@baylor.edu
