Two-Thousand Year Old Research?

So. I'm not going to lie. Research papers sound imposing. Given the minimum of 2500 words and consisting of a full 30% of my entire grade in this course, they can be a little disconcerting. If you take procrastination into account, they become very disconcerting. Fortunately for me, these blog posts have set deadlines every week, so emptying my thoughts here over time will help me when it comes to actually formulating the body of my paper.

So about my topic. Originally I planned to write on the gross atrocities behind the War in Iraq and its effect on the United States, but since this topic is such a "hot potato" in politics today I have decided to side-step it and research something a little more "cut and dry". That something will be the story behind the rise of Christianity and its slow polarization away from what is called Judaism in the first centuries after Jesus Christ walked the earth. 

As discussed in earlier posts, I have a unique background with regards to the Abrahamic faiths. I enjoy researching them and learning the history behind what we see with regards to these religions in society today. Why are the Jews and the Christians enemies? Why is there such a rift between these two groups of people? How can they claim to base their knowledge off of the same Scriptures yet have such differing views on how to be right with God? Where does Jesus of Nazareth fit in? These questions and more I will attempt to answer in my study. 

I plan to rely heavily upon the early church writings and the works of some famous historians from the time period. I will concentrate on Constantine, the early fourth century Roman emperor who legalized Christianity throughout the empire, and the integral part he played in causing the church to behave much like what we see in western Christianity today. Depending upon the amount of effort this will require and how much space I have when I begin putting everything together, I may even look into the effect of Martin Luther on the church and the rise of Protestantism in western Europe in the early sixteenth century.
Since I am very interested in this topic and have somewhat of a personal stake in the issue, I believe I will not dread this assignment as much, say, as researching the mutation of lipoproteins over time and their current position in biochemistry. (Who's ever even heard of lipoproteins? Kudos to all you biochemists out there. God be with you.)
Anyway, I'm actually sort of looking forward to putting all of this information together. Since I have been researching this topic on my own for quite some time, I hope to not have too much difficulty finding reliable sources of information. I expect to learn much from this study and help my readers better understand the reasons the Jews and Christians behave the way they do with regards to one another in the 21st century.

Tea Party?

Freewrite. What does that mean? Basically, freewriting is just taking some form of media and dumping your impressions, feelings, etc about it out onto paper (or in my case, this blank, somewhat-imposing white blog page). Here goes.
The form of media I chose to explore is a political cartoon published on September 22, 2011 in the Ottawa Citizen by cartoonist James Cardow. Cardow makes an interesting argument here on the current apathy of many Americans towards their present government system.

Over the past decade, political candidates have made extravagant promises in their debates and speeches: promises that give them favor in the eyes of citizens and help them to get elected. Once in office, however, it is as if the candidates have forgotten everything that brought them to their position, and their once-so-persuading promises seem to fly out the window. The American people have taken notice and, quite frankly, are fed up. For many, their frustration transforms into complete political apathy. The citizens of the United States are tired of seeing well-dressed, well-spoken individuals stand up and make commitments to the people that, time and time again, fail to see their way to completion. This cartoon does a great job showing the current apathy many Americans have adopted.

Cardow uses the setting of the infamous Boston Tea Party as the background for his statement. Familiar to anyone with any knowledge of US history, this event on December 16, 1773 showed the British empire that the American people were ready to stand up and protest the intense rulings and taxes to which they had been imposed. The tea on board the three ships had come from England and a heavy tax had been foisted which the revolutionists in the colonies were not willing to pay. They demanded that the ships return to England. When the royal governor of Massachusetts refused, firebrand revolutionist Samuel Adams called a meeting to discuss a plan of action. The meeting quickly got out of hand, and soon some 30-130 men, some disguised as Mohawk Indians, poured out of the meeting house and down to Boston Harbor, where they boarded the ships carrying the tea. They then proceeded, over the course of the next three hours, to dump all 342 chests of tea into the bay, showing the British crown that they were not willing to be coerced without representation in government.
Cardow juxtaposes this event in his cartoon by making the "revolutionaries" Facebook users. Instead of tea, it is their computers they are throwing overboard, showing their dissent with the new Facebook interface.
This cartoon makes a powerful statement about the way many Americans feel about government today. Instead of protesting current political agendas and policies, the people of the United States are so put out with broken promises that they have completely abandoned any efforts of reform, instead focusing on popular culture and making it more a integral part of their lives. Having abandoned all hopes of governmental reform, citizens the country over are disappointed in their representatives and have turned their attention to other facets of society.

Background for Visual Rhetoric Assignment

It seems that if I am to construct an argument based on a visual text, it would behoove me to choose a topic with which I am fairly knowledgeable. That topic would have to be Israel. But before I forget, let me go ahead and include my thesis statement here to get it out of the way: "Using the rhetorical tool of exaggeration, cartoonist Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake City Tribune illustrates the unique position the Jews occupy in regards to Beck, on the one hand opposing his incredulous claim that they will one day convert to Christianity but on the other acknowledging the common enemy they have in the Muslims. Beck is correctly portrayed here as putting himself at odds with both groups of people in his attempt to 'Christianize' the Jews."

So now. On to the background. Israel, or more specifically its capital of Jerusalem, is known as the "most coveted location in the world". This ancient place is home to sites holy to three different religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. As of 2000, Jerusalem was home to 1204 synagogues, 158 churches and 73 mosques.

Pretty interesting data. And this is sort of a taste of what's more to come in the paper itself. But this blog is more about me, about why I chose this particular cartoon and my stakes in the issue with which it is concerned.

I wanted to include the background information about Jerusalem in this blog for a reason. See, I have a peculiar relationship with all three of the afore-mentioned religions, an interesting "stake" in the issue at hand, and this cartoon in particular. See, I can relate to all three of the afore-mentioned religions. To start, my last name is Baghdady.

Yes, my family is from the Middle East; Baghdad, to be more specific. You could have guessed. Before my grandfather dropped the Muhammad from his name, he was assumed to be Muslim, as are many of his brothers and sisters. So there's one religion represented in my past.

The second is Christianity. Both of my parents are believers and I was born into the Baptist church. At a young age I accepted Jesus Messiah as Savior based upon what He did for me by dying on a cross just outside Jerusalem some 2000 years ago.

But there is a twist. I would not refer to myself as a Christian or even a Protestant. Enter the third religion, Judaism. Many Christians do not take Judaism seriously, even though the Jew's Torah comprises the first five books of all Bibles. Christians like to take Paul's New Testament epistle to the Galatians and use this with other New Testament texts to discount the Torah, brushing it off as something Jesus took care of, did away with, at the cross. In my interpretation of the Scriptures I do not find this to be the case, and thus I adhere to practices typically categorized under Judaism, such as abstaining from the unclean foods, worshipping on the Sabbath day (Saturday) as opposed to Sunday, and observing the seven Feasts of the LORD, erringly referred to as "Jewish feasts".

So that's my story. A little background for those who will read my paper. Oh yea, the draft is due Monday, right? I bet you can't guess what I'll be doing this weekend.

Summer Memories

Summer. The very word invokes in many people happy feelings, fond memories of warm, care-free, sun-drenched days where all worries seem to have disappeared, chased away by the winds of spring along with the grey clouds of winter. Summer awakens pleasant nostalgia to days gone by, recollections of jovial times spent with friends and family. For almost all Americans, summer is the time for family vacations which can take many forms, from day trips to the beach to month-long excursions overseas. Cameras come alive in the summertime as well, for everyone wants to document the out-of-the-ordinary in their lives to show to their friends back at home and set up around the house as fond reminiscences of time spent together.
The picture I chose for this blog would fall under the weekend-trip-to-the-beach category, when my family and I two years ago ventured to Edisto Island in the South Carolina low country to stay at a house our good friends the Snows were so gracious to allow us to use free of cost. This particular shot was taken from their front yard, where this lone palmetto tree stands elegantly guarding the entrance to the driveway. I chose to exclude the majority of the surrounding trees for this image, focusing on the top of the palmetto as the center of the photograph. The moon was out and the evening was very clear, and the thought came to me to emulate the South Carolina state flag, the blue background contrasting with the state tree and the crescent moon situated at the top left.
So here it is: a tribute to days at the seashore, long summer evenings, and good old South Carolina low country living.

Rhetoric on Campus

Last week's blog post concerned the art of rhetoric and successful argumentation in general; this week, I'm going to look into some specific examples here on campus and analyze their persuasive techniques.

At Clemson, as is typical of any public university, the student body is comprised of people from diverse backgrounds, regions, religions, beliefs and values. These different people have different interests, different views and different definitions of having a good time. To prevent ostracism, these different people come together under common interests and form groups and societies to further their ideas, strengthen their beliefs and propagate their agendas in an effort to increase participation in their cause. This is where rhetoric comes into play. In order to garner the interest of freshmen and transfer students new to the university, the leaders of these diverse groups use the art of persuasion to win new students over to their cause or society. Thus the plethora of flyers, signs, posters and announcements that can be seen as soon as I step out of my dorm. Let's look at a few in detail.

First, on the steps leading up to my hall on the third floor, I find a CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ) flyer advertising weekly Bible studies held on the first floor of the neighboring dorm. Its simple design is accentuated with the symbol of the cross, calling out to all "believers" that they can find good company and similar viewpoints on Christian topics by joining in this activity. The further statement that the study is limited to freshmen guys works well in my freshmen dorm, suggesting that no one who attends the studies will feel ostracized or uncomfortable around students years older than themselves.

Next stop: post office. Of the many ads lining the walls, one that caught my eye was a flyer representing EcoRep, the campus housing's environmental organization. The letters are in green type contrasted against a stark white background with the recycle symbol, but the most persuasive part of the flyer is its picture. Situated in the lower left-hand corner, a person's hands hold the sphere of the earth, indicating not only the fragility of our planet but also the great responsibility we have of maintaining the beauty and wonder of our world, "making a positive impact", in the words of the organization, "for a better future".

It would be a travesty in any discussion of college organization rhetoric not to mention the Greeks. Found on one of the many columns of ads located in the student union, my favorite society poster was created by the Gamma Sigma Sigma sorority, encouraging freshmen girls to come out to their "rush". Using the analogy of flying in the poster, the catchy line at the top rhetorically asks, "Why settle for less when you can fly with the best?"Underneath are pictures of airplanes and first-class seats, and the information about where to meet is given in terms of "departure" and "take-off": "Fly Gamma Sig! Always First Class." But the thing that caused me to remember this particular ad the most was it's final line on the bottom: "Take off with us and be oh so fly like a GSig." This line summarizes the airplane theme and also gives its readers something to remember: a play on the words of the song "Like a G6" by the Far East Movement.

Clearly students have learned to be both creative and informative in their rhetorical advertisements as they try to gain as many followers as possible. Sounds good to me. The only question I have now is, where do I sign up?