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4-2-2007 Hilltopics: Volume 3, Issue 20 Hilltopics Staff

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Recommended Citation Hilltopics Staff, "Hilltopics: Volume 3, Issue 20" (2007). Hilltopics. 66. https://scholar.smu.edu/hilltopics/66

This document is brought to you for free and open access by the University Honors Program at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hilltopics by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. always 100% smu-written volume three, issue twenty www.smu.edu/honors/hilltopics week of april 2, 2007 Are politics polluting the global warming debate? by Kyle Snyder The recent hysteria created by new stud- fuel energy has played in bringing the greatest ies on global warming and Al Goreʼs docu- amount of prosperity to the greatest possible mentary “An Inconvenient Truth” has led number of people. While we must continue to many, including myself, to question the im- develop new sources of energy for the future, pact of their personal lives on the environ- we also must be mindful of our present en- Internet: Douglas Hill ment. While I will not take this opportunity to ergy demands, most of which come from fos- examines political deny that the earthʼs climate may be getting sil fuels. The transition away from fossil fuel “bias” on the internet, warmer, I question the broader role that the energy will certainly not be an easy one, so page 2. global warming movement will have in our governments should be planning to make this lives. Beyond the issues that deal purely with transition as smooth as possible rather than A word to the wise: Clare respecting our environment, this movement worry about a vague climate catastrophe. Taylor has a gram- has become a political agenda that seeks to What Al Gore and those who subscribe to matical temper tan- broaden the scope of government at the ex- his agenda will have everyone believe is that trum, page 3. pense of personal freedom, and for that rea- the apocalypse is upon us unless we grind the son I will not subscribe to any of it. worldʼs factories and industrial production to Responses: Hilltop- From a personal perspective, I am very a halt. He and his followers will then retreat ics receives more much in favor of reducing pollution and en- to their “eco-friendly” mansions and continue feedback regarding couraging individuals to take responsibil- to consume large amounts of electricity (pre- diversity on campus, ity for sound environmental stewardship. I sumably neutralized by carbon offsets) while page 4. make every effort to conserve electricity the rest of us will be left to fend for ourselves. at home, I recycle whenever possible, and Centuries ago, some churches used to accept Be Heard: Hilltopics is though it isnʼt a hybrid, my Honda Accord is payment from lay people as a right always looking for among the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the to sin in ad- vance, and there good submissions on road today. Looking at the situation from a have been some virtually any topic. broader perspective, the universally accept- humorous compari- Email your ideas, ed truth is that the greater a nationʼs wealth, sons made to feedback, or articles the more likely that nationʼs government will carbon to hilltopics@hotmail. be to enact environmentally friendly poli- to be continued com. cies and regulations. Americaʼs enormous on page 3 industrial power and financial wealth have allowed us to do just that. Even though we Like Money? may be heavy consumers of natural resourc- Hilltopics is sponsor- es, we enjoy clean air and clean water not ing an essay contest, found in developing nations such as China and weʼre offering and India. In fact, Chinaʼs carbon emissions over $1,000 in prizes. will surpass those of the United States if their More info on page 3. current rates of economic growth continue. While the Kyoto Protocol is not the cen- tral focus of this article, those who criticize the United States for not signing on to this agreement fail to recognize that these devel- oping industrial nations will be exempt from its regulations. People the world over need energy like we need food, clothing, shelter, and oxygen. We cannot ignore energy as one of our basic needs, nor can we deny the role that fossil page 2 week of april 2, 2007 Online enclyclopedia wars: A ridiculous response to the “bias” of Wikipedia by Douglas Hill Letʼs play a game. Iʼll give you two quotes, each from a lar ideas to accuse any and every media outlet that disagrees different online, user-created encyclopedia, and you tell me with them of liberal bias, so Conservapedia isnʼt really a which sounds like it was written by someone more interested novel idea. What is so troubling about it is the way it tries in politics than fact. to blend ideology with factual statement. Instead of saying From the “Scopes Trial” entry: “Christians believe Jesus redeemed humanity of sin by sacri- Quote 1: “The trial in 1925 of John Scopes for teaching ficing his life,” Conservapedia states the miracle of crucifix- evolution in Tennessee was a defeat of Darwinism. The ion and resurrection as fact: “Jesus voluntarily accepted his ACLU and liberal trial lawyer Clarence Darrow brought fate and delivered over his spirit on the cross for our sins.” the Scopes case in the hopes of winning a public rela- Later in the “Jesus Christ” article the author writes: “Many of tions and legal victory, but in fact William Jennings Bryan, the descriptions in the Gospels have been proven true with the evangelical Christian who had been Secretary of State modern archaeology.” The only example given, however, is in the Wilson Administration, decisively beat them.” archaeological evidence of the existence of Pontius Pilate, Quote 2: “The Scopes Trial ( Scopes v. State, 152 Tenn. 424, the Roman who allowed Jesus to be killed. 278 S.W. 57 (Tenn. 1925), often called the Scopes Mon- Furthermore, the entire notion of Conservapedia is inher- key Trial) pitted lawyers ently hypocritical. If Wiki- William Jennings Bry- pedia is liberal propaganda an and Clarence Dar- presented as if it were fact, row against each other the solution is not to create (the latter representing conservative propaganda teacher John Thomas and present it as fact. Scopes) in an American The authors and found- legal case that tested a ers of the Conservapedia law passed on March 13 simply have their hearts in ,1925, which forbade the wrong place. The point the teaching, in any of online encyclopedias is state-funded educa- to create an easily acces- tional establishment in sible, reasonably accurate, Tennessee, of ʻany the- and relatively comprehen- ory that denies the story sive database of human of the Divine Creation of knowledge. The point of man as taught in the Bi- the Conservapedia is to ble, and to teach instead promote political and reli- that man has descended gious ideology. Surely any- from a lower order of animals.ʼ This is often interpreted one can see that creating an ostensibly informative website as meaning that the law forbade the teaching of any as- is a wrong-headed and misleading way of promoting such pect of the theory of evolution .” an ideology. Political views are, obviously, opinions; to mas- I shouldnʼt have to tell you that the more biased quote ap- querade them as fact is dishonest and ineffective. pears to be Quote 1. This is just one example, but it demon- There is no doubt that Wikipedia should be taken with a strates whatʼs wrong with “Conservapedia” (www.conserva- grain of salt. Anyone, from Stephen Hawking to Bam Mar- pedia.com). This new, unabashedly right-wing, open-source gera, can edit it, and hardly any articles are free of errors. Do encyclopedia is designed to compete with Wikipedia, the people with radical views sometimes vandalize the Wikipe- popular site which the creators of Conservapedia consider dia with slander and even downright propaganda? Yes. Are laden with “confirmed incidents of liberal bias.” facts sometimes omitted or deleted because users find them This has to be a joke, right? Wikipedia is, as its name offensive or politically incorrect? Certainly. But Wikipedia suggests, a wiki site, meaning that it allows its users to edit, is honest. Everyone knows itʼs not an academic source, and create, or delete content. Wikipediaʼs definition of “user” is one would be a fool to accept it as the final word on any- broad: it means every single person who uses it, which is thing. roughly a zillion people a day. If Wikipedia is both popu- Gee, it sure would be nice if Wikipedia allowed users who larly created and biased, that seems to imply that the radi- find certain content objectionable or inaccurate to edit that cal brand of conservatism espoused by the Conservapedia is content. Oh, wait…they do. If you donʼt like Wikipedia, edit unpopular, rather than that there is some vast left-wing in- it. ternet conspiracy trying to misinform the public by acknowl- Douglas Hill is a senior international studies major. edging things like “evolution is science.” It has long been a practice of conservatives with unpopu- week of april 2, 2007 page 3 Global warming hysteria may be misguided, and over-reaction can be costly continued from page 1 off sets for todayʼs environmental movement. when thinking about where the global warming debate may While politics and environmental issues have long been lead us. Sure, the earth may be getting warmer, but who was intertwined, Gore has turned this movement into a purely the last person you talked to who said they looked forward political agenda seeking to undermine the freedom of nations to subzero temperatures in winter? If people in more tropical and individuals to make their own decisions at the expense climates have to apply a few extra layers of sunscreen, their of more worldwide bureaucratic central planning. Mr. Gore, loss will be Minnesotaʼs gain. communism has failed already. Thereʼs no reason to bring it Kyle Snyder is a senior fi nance and political science major. back. Only by growing technology and wealth, not restrict- ing it, can we improve our relationship with the environment Why it’s important to not split an infinitive while continuing to create global economic prosperity. If youʼve read this far and you are one of those who falls in by Clare Taylor You see them everywhere—split infi nitives are in text- lock-step with the global warming movement, youʼve proba- books, newspapers, magazines, books, and in the headline bly already called me a “climate change denier,” or wondered of this article. In case you are unaware or need a refresher, how many members of my family work for Exxon Mobil. I do a split infi nitive occurs when the infi nitive (for example: not intend to perpetuate either of “to walk”) is separated by some other part of speech. In these views, but I one of my classes recently, my professor devoted an en- do encourage tire class period to a writing practicum in which he as- e v e r y o n e serted that split infi nitives no longer constituted a grave to step grammatical error, especially in comparison with use of the passive voice and the comma splice. outside I would beg to diff er. The infi nitive functions as one of the single unit of meaning. Splitting an infi nitive is like eating b o x cookies without milk, you just shouldnʼt eat one without the other. When I come across a split infi nitive in print, it is the equivalent to nails scratching on a chalkboard. Im- mediately I fi nd something seems wrong in the sentence, and I have to fi x the sentence in my mind before I can continue reading. For that brief second, the stars seem out of alignment, and the world is about to end. Admittedly, by writing this article I am inviting you to scrutinize my writing for all use of the passive voice, in- correct comma usage, and good sentence structure. Youʼll probably fi nd a lot that a professor would mark off for (like not ending a sentence with a preposition?). I donʼt claim to be a grammar purist; Iʼm just passionately outspoken in my dislike of split infi nitives. I acknowledge my beliefs are not widespread, especially since the Facebook group entitled “A kitten dies everytime you split an infi nitive” has only 40 members (and yes, this is a global group). Even First Annual Campus Essay Contest with this lack of support, split infi nitives are none the less an important problem plaguing many peopleʼs prose to- Win $750 for 750 words! day. However, thinking about my professorʼs grammar This spring, Hilltopics is sponsoring its fi rst annual essay campus essay contest, and youʼre invited to participate for counsel in regards to the correct use of the infi nitive, per- your chance at $1,000 in prizes. Turn your 600 to 750 word haps the split infi nitive is no longer the grammatical faux essay in before 5:00 on April 13 at Clements Hall room 108. pas that it once was. In fact, language is a living thing, which changes as our society evolves. Nonetheless, as Prompt: SMU is well known for its vibrant Greek life language and culture continue to progress, I argue for a and party culture and less well known for its academic reunion between the “to” and the “be” of the infi nitive “to excellence and “life of the mind.” What, if anything, be.” After all, as my professor so wisely quipped, would should SMU do to change this perception? that famous line from Hamlet be the same if it were “To be This is your chance to speak out and get paid for it! or to not be, that is the question?” Clare Taylor is senior French and international studies Essays should be double-spaced, 12 point font and should major. include a title page with name, email address, telephone number, and ID number. Questions? Contact Todd Baty ([email protected]) page 4 week of april 2, 2007 Good diversity: reevaluating the the role of ethnicity in today’s society by Pat McDonald This article is a response to the on going dialogue about Engineer could join. In fact, even if only Hispanic engineers diversity featured in recent issues of Hilltopics and the could join, this would be fair if being a Hispanic Engineer Mustang Post. could be shown to best serve the groups interests, as per- After months of non-controversial and non-confronta- haps they would resonate better with the organizationʼs au- tional material, Hilltopics seems to have received a breath of dience. This has no implications concerning the inalienable fresh air in the form of a debate on diversity. I would like to rights of a person; it simply means oneʼs abilities are best offer my take on this topic. invested in some places than others. Ethnicity becomes attribute in the ideal society. Diversity, But such organizations are only good insofar as they are as it is usually understood, is ethnic. To justify this point necessary. Unless organizations geared towards or have a seems unnecessary considering that membership primarily composed of the applied diversity effort par ex- one ethnic group serve to promote cellence, affirmative action, is an ef- the ideal society, said organizations fort to promote ethnic diversity. To are unnecessary. Here is where sta- be sure, measures have been taken tistics come into play. If the afore- to prevent all forms of discrimina- mentioned type of group is aimed at tion that compromise the inalienable or is primarily composed of ethnic rights of Americans. But the attribute groups that are a majority, then they that has stirred the most fervor, de- will only hinder the expression of stroyed the most lives, and causes similar groups aimed at and primar- the greatest number of other forms ily composed of ethnic groups that of discrimination---economic, reli- are a minority. Thus, an Association gious, and so on---is ethnicity. This of White Engineers is most likely un- is not to say ethnic discrimination is necessary. the most common form---it may be- Also, a group aimed at or primarily --but only that it is the most press- composed of ethnic groups that are ing. It is this pressure that has led us a minority can become a bastion of to look towards a society where such differences are over- ethnic resentment and consequent elitism, and so hinder the looked except as a matter of anthropological fascination. fruition of our ideal society, albeit on a smaller scale. It is That is, ethnicity ought to be valued insofar as it is correlated quite easy for such groups to pass under the PC-radar, as with differences we see as interesting and harmless, on par our county is primarily on guard against bigotry from whites. with, say, occupation. It is a society of respectful pluralism It is up to us, then, to ascertain which organizations are to be that avoids the dangers of relativism. Let us call it our ideal retained and which are to be dissolved. society. Pat McDonald is a junior anthropology major. Organizations promoting the ideal society must incor- porate aptness criteria. As a result, organizations that are geared towards or have a membership primarily composed Hilltopics Staff of one ethnic group ought to be on par with those that are geared towards or have a membership primarily composed Douglas Hill: Editor-in-Chief Mark McDowell: Managing Editor of one occupational group. The NAACP, then, is not any more Todd Baty: Business Manager morally objectionable than the American Society of Civil En- Jenny Simon: Submissions Manager gineering. One is simply appropriate for a group, not “good Sterling Morriss: Distribution Manager enough” for it---eligibility refers solely to oneʼs ability and Monica Chavez: Copy Editor Clare Taylor: Copy Editor desire to do the work in a group and not to any valuation of Amanda Wall: Copy Editor personhood. Even if an organization is geared towards or has Janet Arnold: Graphics Editor a membership primarily composed of both an ethnicity and Carter Twitty: Senior Writer an occupation, such as the Society of Hispanic Engineers, it Hilltopics is published each Monday. It is sponsored by the Uni- versity Honors Program and the Residence Hall Association. is ability and desire to fulfill a goal that is prized, as a white

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