hillsdale forum april 2011

April 2011The.Hillsdale.Forum Volume XI, Issue IV

SOUND BITE

In.this.issue

Scarlet Letter Debate

The Class of 2011

Facebook Isolation,

Greek-Life Politics

Pages 4 & 5

Page 7

Page 3

Hayden Smith

States vs. Feds,

GOP on Liberalism

Page 2

Continued on page 6

The recent Middle Eastern revolutions represent more than just a desire for representative government. They have sparked an increase in rhetoric concerning Pan-Arabism. Simply put, Pan-Arabism calls for the unification of all Arab-speaking countries. This would mean a union between most Islamic nations apart from Turkey, Persia, Indonesia, and Afghanistan, which are not ethnically Arab.

The origins of the movement go back as far as the founding of Islam itself.

In the seventh century, the Arabs exploded out of their homeland into the world. Within a few decades they quickly swallowed the Parthian empire whole, cut the Byzantine Empire in half, and destroyed

the Visigoth Kingdom in Spain. Arabic culture and language spread across Syria, Jordan, Mesopotamia, and North Africa.

By the year 750, however,

the Umayyad Caliphate began to break apart and within a few centuries the Ottoman Turks had gained control of the region. The Ottoman Empire maintained its hold on the Mid-

dle East into the 20th century. North Africa, however, had fall-

-pean powers. World War I saw France and Britain take charge of the remnants of the broken

Ottoman Empire. The period of European imperialist rule that followed gave rise to the early Pan-Arabic movement.

In the early part of the 20th century, Syrian intellectu-

als advocated the earliest form of Pan-Arabism. World War I showed promise of bring-ing Arab unity, but in the end the British and French decided against it. Anti-imperialism re-

mained the prevalent Arabic philosophy until the 1950’s, after the Baath Party was established in Syria with the aim of Arab

Egyptian presi-dent Nasser was an-other leading propo-nent of pan-Arabism from the 50’s to the 70’s. For a short pe-riod, Egypt and Syria existed in union be-fore Nasser’s ambi-tions led the Syrians to break away.

An Egyptian-led coalition con-

sisting of Syria, Jordan, and Iraq launched a concerted at-tack on Israel during the Six-Day War. The Arab coalition’s

Obama, You’re Fired. Trump for President?

Marissa Hulsing

As the highly anticipated 2012 presidential election draws nearer, billionaire businessman Donald Trump has evidently embraced his inner Republi-can and is seri-ously considering making a bid for commander-in-chief. The famed 64-year-old has grandiloquently spoken of his ap-titude for the po-sition for almost a decade now; this time, however, it seems that he may be engaging in more than just

Speculations of a possible Trump presiden-tial campaign began prior to the 2000 election when the re-nowned entrepreneur loosely

considered running as a third-party candidate with the Re-form Party. During the initial hype, Trump advertised his po-litical platform in his book enti-

tled “The Ameri-ca We Deserve.” In the text , Trump surveyed the American political scene and proposed several dramatic solutions to the issues America faces. His bare-faced words drew a lot of at-tention to his potential run for election, forcing voters to

consider what they wanted in a candidate. Although Trump decided against running in the

Continued on page 6

Hillsdale’s core curriculum might be revamped in the near future. The faculty is currently discussing a new core curriculum that includes an expansion of eight credit hours. Interestingly, the new core is meant to be taken over all four years, as opposed to the current system of front-loading of core classes during the freshman and sophomore years.

Provost Dr. David Whalen says that there is a general attitude among students of getting the core out of the way, a belief the core is something that freshmen and sophomores take before really starting their education with their major courses. The new core

perception problem. Dr. Whalen says, “The core is not equivalent to a liberal education, but here it is the single most important

part of a liberal education.” He believes that starting

one’s major early and taking core classes in smaller doses along with classes for the major will encourage students to see the core as less of a chore and more of a critical part of their education. He also says that teachers of upper-level classes are often surprised when students turn in poorly-written papers. Dr. Whalen hopes that constantly taking core classes will give students better retention of the knowledge and skills that the core teaches.

Obviously, though, expanding the core would put more pressure on some students, such as double majors, those who wish to graduate in three years, and economics majors, who need more economics electives for

Continued on page 6

A New Look at Changes to the Core

“Republicans want to shut down the government because they think there’s nothing more important than keeping women from getting cancer screen-ings. This is indefensible and everyone should be outraged.”

-Senator Harry Reid

“In 1994, people were elected simply to kill the National En-dowment for the Arts. Now they’re here to kill women.”

-Rep. Louise Slaughter

“Let me repeat that, so all those who want to stomp on wom-en’s health and women’s rights can hear us loud and clear. The dangerous, ideological cuts to Planned Parenthood that passed the House are never, never, nev-er going to pass the Senate.”

-Senator Chuck Schumer

Democrats on Republicans’ attempt to de-fund Planned

Parenthood:

2April 2011 A Less Perfect Union:

Few could have predicted that Barack Obama’s agenda would inadvertently spark the rise of the Tea Party movement, which has gotten Americans thinking harder about limited government than they have in decades.

Chief among the move-ment’s concerns is the way national policies like govern-ment-run healthcare violate the rights of individual states to make decisions for them-selves. Despite recognizing the problem, however, con-servatives have not yet set-tled on a viable solution.

-suits challenging ObamaCare’s constitutionality, all but guar-anteeing an eventual ruling from the Supreme Court. This is entirely appropriate philosoph-ically but risky strategically, since the preferred outcome de-

pends on whether most justices rule based on the original intent of the Constitution rather than their partisan biases.

In Minnesota’s 2010 guber-natorial race, unsuccessful Re-publican nominee Tom Emmer advocated an amendment to the state constitution that would forbid federal laws from taking effect in Minnesota until gain-ing approval by a two-thirds vote in the state legislature. It’s not hard to see this proposal’s practical failings: deeming all federal laws illegitimate until the high bar of supermajority support says otherwise will in-

-sion over the execution of the law. Besides, there’s no reason to expect that a state legislature would be more consistently pro-Constitution than whatever majority holds power on Capi-tol Hill.

Nationally syndicated ra-dio host Jason Lewis has a more radical solution in mind. In his

recent book “Power Divided Is Power Checked,” he proposes a 28th Amendment, which would not only clarify that the General Welfare and Commerce Claus-es of the Constitution must be construed narrowly, but would

to secession: “any state whose inhabitants desire through legal means and in accordance with state law to leave this union of the several states shall not be forcibly refrained from doing so.”

Secession is one of the Right’s more heated inter-movement debates, an issue that often distinguishes Liber-tarian from Republican, North-erner from Southerner. This Hillsdalian happens to think secession-at-will is a danger-ous doctrine ultimately at odds with the nation’s found-ing principles. Washington, Jay, Hamilton, and Jefferson all saw the Union as a safeguard of liberty, and Madison explicitly

A little while back I heard several students decrying John Dewey as a terrible writer, loudly wondering why they had to read him. That same day I talked with a professor about philosopher Judith Butler and he smiled and said that she wasn’t a very good writer. I smiled back at him and told him that Derrida would say we weren’t “reading” her.

And Derrida has a point. It is not enough for

conservatives to decry queer theory and Derrida’s Anti-Foundationalist philosophy and John Dewey’s progressive educational agenda: they need counterarguments.

They don’t have any. And the typical knee-jerk response “progressivism/liberalism is bad for the country” doesn’t count.

Progressives don’t think they’re bad for the country. They think conservatives are

bad for the country. The GOP response to this typically has been a puerile ‘nah-uh.’ It is not enough for Jonah Goldberg and other conservative “intellectuals” to write books highlighting liberalism’s links to fascism, nor is it enough for conservative governors and legislatures to try to undermine costly collective-bargaining rights for public-sector unions.

Politics is a game of strategy, and it is time for conservatives to start playing this game like it is meant to be played. Bill Clinton turned a massive 1994 political reversal

getting in front of a television screen and selling his vision for America. Governor Walker and Governor Kasich could do the same in their states but instead they trust that they are right and that as a result, they don’t need to explain why.

The same is true on the national level. The moment the new Republican Congress

gotten together and discussed getting their message out to the voting populace. Not merely on important pieces of legislation, but every day. The Republican majority is squandering its national support by not engaging in effective information-operations and is letting people like the man from the Daily Beast who impersonated the Koch Brothers tear their agenda to ribbons.

We see this happening outside of the Beltway too. The ACLU can intimidate and coerce nearly anyone into compliance with the agenda of its patrons because legal fees are so high and so few entities exist to adequately oppose litigation that even lawyers from the ACLU itself admit is frivolous (harassing municipalities over crèche positioning, petty 1st Amendment suits, etc.).

While not a true Glenn Beck-style prime-time-television-conspiracy, the liberal control of colleges, the

MastheadMatt Cole

Catherine Simmerer

Editors in Chief

Anna Williams

Editor at Large

Rachael Wierenga

Associate Editor

Catharine Clayton

Copy Editor

Maria Diodati

Olivia Tilly

Layout Staff

Calvin Freiburger

Catherine Sims

Joseph Viviano

Staff Writers

Sam Sparks

Business Manager

Calvin FreiburgerSenior Writer

denied the legitimacy of seces-sion, explaining that as a mutu-ally-binding legal compact, the Constitution cannot be broken by any single party. Moreover, conservatives should carefully consider secession’s implica-tions—by breaking away from the country, a state isn’t merely rejecting an unjust administra-tion, but also rejecting our very Constitution as no longer worth defending within the system of government it establishes.

So what is the answer? Tak-ing unconstitutional laws to court is certainly worth the ef-fort. So is amending the Consti-tution to clarify, as Lewis sug-gests, that the federal govern-ment can’t meddle in the states’ affairs except where the Consti-tution explicitly, demonstrably authorizes it. But conservatives must recognize that neither will be a magic bullet, and that the problem is more complex than states versus feds.

So many of our country-men accept statism in large part because we have failed to be vigilant in our states and home-towns. Decade after decade, we’ve allowed progressive presuppositions about govern-ment and society to gradually infect our politics, education, and culture. To turn things around, we must retake these institutions at the local level, particularly with renewed at-tention to what our schools are teaching. We can’t expect fu-ture generations to recognize betrayals of our founding prin-ciples if they aren’t even taught to recognize names like Locke or Publius.

We didn’t get here over-night, and we shouldn’t expect to get back overnight either. Meaningful, lasting reform is the work of generations, which will demand of conservatives the patience and persistence to see it through. HF

Kevin ShawGuest Writer

legal activities of the ACLU, and the superiority of the Democrats’ public-relations machine combine to make victories for conservatives quite

liberalization and politicization of primary schools will make conservative victories in the

So instead of cheering for a small victory in Congress, conservatives should be asking themselves why they lost the

place. Instead of mindlessly bashing thinkers like Jacques Derrida and Friedrich Nietzsche and Roland Barthes (who most of them haven’t read at all, much less attempted to comprehend), conservatives should realize that there is much to be learned from the thought of postmodernists and leftist intellectuals. To begin rolling back liberalism—actually rolling it back—conservatives need a grand strategy of, among other things, opposing frivolous

Continued on page 7

3Matt ColeEditor in Chief

Only four short years ago, I was an enthusiastic freshman stepping onto Hillsdale

time. I had high hopes of enjoying my own little piece of Christian-conservative paradise. To my great dismay, however, Hillsdale was a little more realistic than the idealistic place I had imagined. In a

frustration I discovered The

Hillsdale Forum: a newspaper that gave me permission to be frank and honest in my expression of displeasure. The

a rather harsh critique of the College.

Now here I am, a few weeks away from graduation,

naive boy I once was, and contemplate the man I have become through the time I have spent at this noble institution. My experiences here, both as a student and as a human being, have been as eye-opening as they’ve been reassuring. Many

of my preconceived notions have been corrected, and many more of my beliefs have been

I consider the people I have met in this place. Never before and, I imagine, never again will I be surrounded by so many outstanding men and women. Many of my friends and neighbors have the best and brightest minds and the warmest and gentlest hearts our nation has to offer. I daily

blessing. Whether in the context of an enjoyable conversation or at times a heated argument, I have had some of the most worthwhile and enlightening discussions with my friends regarding issues of profound importance.

The faculty has encouraged me, demanded my best, and expressed genuine interest in my success. Time and again I have been challenged to think more deeply about ideas and defend my beliefs and conclusions as clearly as possible. I’ve been taught by my professors’ more than just wisdom; I’ve been taught how to think and reason on my own.

writings mankind has ever

produced have been placed in front of me to continually sharpen my mind. Every day I have spent at Hillsdale College has brought about a better understanding of myself and the world around me.

While Hillsdale College has its faults, as do all human institutions, I have come to see that this school—in its student body, faculty, and mission—is truly a city on a hill. Hillsdale serves as a light in the darkness of the world and as an emancipator in a land enslaved to ignorance. Those who pursue truth, defend liberty, and passionately strive to live well can always count on Hillsdale to direct their path.

To the students, to the faculty, and to you, Hillsdale College, and all for which you stand: thank you. It has truly been an honor and a pleasure to grow and learn with you, and in a few short weeks I will

of my life’s journey. I will know that the principles, wisdom, and expertise I have received at Hillsdale College will serve me the rest of my days as I humbly try to better our world and personally grow as a human being. God Bless. HF

Rachael WierengaStaff Writer

College students are completely dependent upon

instantly where people are, what they’re doing, or when they’re eating dinner; we check our e-mail to keep up to date on campus activities and assignments for class; and we

what kind of events and parties are going on, or to keep in

of modern technology—medicine, travel, electricity, machinery—are undeniable;

technology increases one’s quality and length of life. But it also isolates people from one another. Computers, phones, and increasing technological advancement make people settle for shallow relationships in an unreal virtual world. Facebook is a prime example of this: it isolates people from each other through creating a realm in which people know a virtual version of a person instead of his true self.

Facebook skews reality.

one the chance to present an idealized version of himself and his experiences, meaning that people who view the

untrue version of the person who made it. Though you can look at pictures of people’s experiences, these pictures do not convey the emotion and true character of the experience.

Facebook destroys face-to-face communication and cheapens real friendship. You can make a “friend” and immediately know his interests

out about his life, and you can maintain a shallow relationship with quick comments instead of developing a deeper relationship with personal interaction. Meaningful relationships are formed

through real-life experiences and memories, not through skewed pictures in a shallow and virtual realm.

Along with cheapening the meaning of friendship, another negative effect of Facebook is that it makes people self-centered narcissists and aggravates human nature’s voyeuristic tendencies. Facebook is a database of pictures where you can ogle yourself and others. It’s centered around the person using it. It lets you look into other people’s lives without actually being there: and that’s

voyeurism.

Facebook thus fosters interactions with technology instead of with people, which isolates people from one another and makes them dependent on technology. Even Bill Moggridge, inventor of the laptop, admits this. In the

Moggridge describes the relationship between human and software: “Back in 1981, I brought my laptop home... For

proud of all the work I had been doing for a year and a half... thinking how valuable it was that I had created the physical

Rachel SwafferGuest Writer

The Greek system at Hillsdale is saturated with men and women who willingly subject themselves not only to the rule of an executive board of their peers, but to an entire system that seeks to control every aspect of their lives. Why would any of

government and individual freedom that we are, voluntarily place ourselves under the control of peers, advisors,

national consultants, and national headquarters? Even libertarians like myself, who rail against big government in Washington and bemoan the loss of individual rights under Republicans and Democrats alike, allow our actions to be continually scrutinized. We

monitoring, our conversations to censure, and our private actions to discipline and critique.

Though independents may scoff at the suggestion...

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Seniors

4April 2011

Where are you from?

Eden Prairie, Minnesota. It’s a southwestern suburb of Minneapolis, and you may recognize it from Money Magazine’s 2010 article on the top ten places to live in America.

What did you study at Hillsdale?

Speech Studies, Religion, and Philosophy

Where are you headed after graduation and

what are you going to do?

I will be moving back to Eden Prairie, where I will begin a three-year internship with the Young Adults Ministry at my church. Later on in July, I will be getting married to my high school sweetheart, and then in August I will enter Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, to pursue a Masters in Divinity.

Why did you choose to attend seminary?

Since the full answer to this question is four pages long, I’ll try and give a condensed version. Essentially, I felt God led me there because He has given me a great desire and ability to teach, serve, and speak, all of which are useful in ministry and can be developed in seminary.

How has Hillsdale prepared you for your future?

The most important lesson I learned at Hillsdale is this: every man must have courage to reach the divine nature within all of us, but also have restraint from indulging in our base passions like a beast would. No single class or late-night conversation led to that realization. Rather it came from many, many class lessons and interactions with friends. And that leads to a second lesson: do not underestimate the importance of friendship. Although Hillsdale taught these lessons and many others, I owe everything to Jesus Christ, who led me to and through Hillsdale, and provided me with the best friends I could ever imagine.

John Hann

So Long,

Where are you from?

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


English

Where are you headed after graduation and what are you

going to do?

I’ll be at the Basic School, Camp Barrett, in Quantico, Virginia, as a member of the Marine Corps. Why did you choose to join the military?

My decision to join the military had a good deal to do with my time here at Hillsdale as a whole. Throughout my time here, I became more and more convicted that there are certain things that have to be defended, not least of which are the heritage and freedoms of Western Civilization. I love my family, my friends, and my homeland, and I knew if I could do something to

defend them and make their freedoms more secure, it was my duty to do so.


I would say the lessons I have learned in liberty and leadership here at Hillsdale will continue to guide me as I serve our country, both at home and abroad.

Ralph Biddle

Where are you from?

Portage, Michigan What did you study at Hillsdale?

Classics and English

Where are you headed after graduation and what are you going to do?

I’m entering the graduate program in Classical studies at the University of Illinois Champaign- Urbana.

Why did you choose to attend graduate school?

I might aim for a Ph.D., or get an M.A. and teach; either way, I’d like to teach and would like to increase my knowledge of the classical languages.


before I came here, and after four years I’m able to go to grad school for classics! Drs. Weaire and Garnjobst and Jones really helped prepare me with tons of help on applications and helping me choose the right activities (such as writing book reviews and attending conferences) to make me a competitive graduate school candidate…in addition to teaching me a lot.

Emily Wagner

Where are you from?

Louisville (Luhvul), Kentucky What did you study at Hillsdale?

Latin and English

Where are you headed after graduation and what

are you going to do?

After graduating, I’ll be teaching somewhere in the North…or South…or East…or West—basically any place that believes the knowledge of a dead language isn’t completely useless.

Why did you choose to teach?

in the job market for Latin majors, I decided

experiences before attending Hillsdale have led me to believe that the Classical model of education is the best way, and maybe the only way, to educate. But let’s be honest about this whole career thing: it’s mostly because ring by spring was a bust.

Alison Roberts


I think a good teacher has to be passionate about both what they’re teaching and whom they’re teaching. Both my professors and my classmates have helped to cultivate within me an appreciation and a love for the Classics, especially the Latin language. And, from the many relationships I’ve built at this place, I have learned so much about friendship, leadership and service. Hillsdale has taught me that to live in a collegial community means to be humbled, challenged and sharpened by the virtuous examples of those around me. I’m certain these are lessons I will take with me in the adventures of teaching.

Seniors

5April 2011 Where are you from?

Midland, Michigan

What did you study at

Hillsdale?

Politics and Spanish

Where are you headed after

graduation and what are you

going to do?

I’ll probably end up out of state for law school, but I fully intend to come back to Michigan to work. I’d love to end up back here as soon as I graduate, if the College will have me - I’ve been dropping hints that, now that we have a grad program, the administration needs to consider opening a law school. The opportunity to be part of that project would be so fantastic.

Why did you choose law school?

Law school was part of the plan even before college, but Hillsdale changed my perspective on it in terms of the things I hope to get out of the degree. I chose Hillsdale because I didn’t want another four years of what I’d gotten at my public high school. Most of that time was spent skating over important things instead of

struggling with them, and I decided it was time to really learn something. I wanted a challenge.

At Hillsdale, instead of focusing on a vague desire to “help people,” I’ve learned the ways that the law and its practice actually exercise

society, because attorneys depend so heavily on tradition and the things that we’ve always held as true. I feel pretty strongly about the corruption of our culture over time, so it’s energizing to know that even my career will enable me to challenge it. Also, I’m much better prepared personally and

into potentially destructive situations, so learning about what a human person is, needs, and ought to have has increased my

bring Christ into the process.


One of the best things about my experience with the College is what it has enabled me to do with my time when classes aren’t in session. Through WHIP and the resources made available by

to try out different internships and get a better feel for what my employment options are once I graduate. I’d always heard that the

that’s true.

Where are you from?

Martensdale/Indianola, Iowa


Religion and Classics

Where are you headed after graduation and

what are you going to do?

I will be studying at the Duke Divinity School in Durham, NC, to earn a Master of Divinity, whilst taking as many Hebrew classes as I can.

Why did you choose to attend Duke?

I have a passion for languages, Hebrew in particular, and I love learning and

to get my foot in the academic door, and North Carolina has good weather. Just kidding, the weather had nothing to do with where I go to school. Obviously; I’m in Hillsdale, MI.

Where are you from?

La Crosse, Wisconsin


Latin and Greek

Where are you headed after graduation and what

are you going to do?

Grad school: either Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, or Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.If I go to Cornell, it will be for their Classics Ph.D. If I go to Catholic U, it will be for an M.A. in Greek and Latin and a Ph.D. in Early Christian Studies.

Kathryn Rombach

Theo Harwood

Kate Dembinski

The Class of 2011: Who They Are And Where They’re Going

So Long,

Where are you from?

Commerce Township, Michigan


Physics

Where are you headed after

graduation and what are you

going to do?

I’m getting married in May

from Hillsdale with a sociology major and belongs to Chi Omega Sorority. We were introduced by a mutual friend here at Hillsdale. We plan to stay in Michigan at least until after the wedding. After the wedding we may go wherever the best opportunity presents itself.

Edward HojnackiHow has Hillsdale prepared you

for your future?

Having talked with other religion majors from other liberal arts colleges, I know that Hillsdale has formed me into an educated, well-rounded student. The classical model used makes sure that students have a solid base off of which to work, which is especially crucial in the study of religions. In Christianity,

which our religion major emphasizes heavily, if you don’t know where you’re from (patristics, 16th century, etc.) then you don’t know where you’re going. That’s how we get so many crazy modern/post-modern theologians; they’re largely ignorant of the fact that what they’ve said has already been done and condemned as heresy centuries ago. Thankfully, Hillsdale is doing their best to avoid creating crazies,

Why did you choose to attend grad school?

I’ve pretty much always thought I would be an academic.

pursue an academic career in that.


Hillsdale has been great for me. I’ve learned to think deeply about a lot of issues in a lot of ways, to see things from a lot of perspectives. The Classics department has honestly given me just about the best preparation for grad school that I could get.

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7April 2011

Nathaniel Hawthorne created an odd set of characters for his most famous work, “The Scarlet Letter.” The heroine, Hester Prynne, commits adultery (well, you could call it fornication, since she thought her husband dead) with the closest thing the book has to a hero, the good Reverend Dimmesdale. Their child, Pearl, is a mischievous little elf of a girl, capricious and uncontrollable.

And then there’s Roger Chillingworth. An old misshapen scholar and husband of the unfortunate Hester, Chillingworth had sent his wife to Boston (not the Ann Arbor of the East, mind you, but 17th century Puritan Boston) from their home in Amsterdam before the story begins. His plans to join her there were delayed when Indians held him captive, hence the popular belief that he had died and Hester’s doomed affair with Dimmesdale.

When Chillingworth at last gets to Boston, he sees his wife standing on the town scaffold, wearing a scarlet letter (“A” for adultery) and holding baby Pearl. Intent on revenge and too proud to acknowledge that he’s been cuckolded, he conceals his identity and settles in Boston to practice medicine and discover the identity of Pearl’s father.

As time passes, Hester grows strong and independent in her isolation from the town, but Dimmesdale tortures himself in an attempt to relieve his guilt. A battle rages within him between the pastoral necessity of seeming holy and a burning desire to tell his secret. If he were to confess, he would probably face the gallows--an attractive option given his excruciating psychological pain. But his congregation would lose their Christian faith entirely if they found out the truth about their saintly minister. At worst, Dimmesdale is a hypocrite paralyzed by guilt and indecision.

Chillingworth is another story. His ravenous thirst

for revenge exacerbates his physical deformity, but his medical skill and apparent piety lead the town to have him move in with the ailing Dimmesdale.

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “If you do not understand a man you cannot crush him. And if you do understand him, very probably you will not.” Chillingworth defies Chesterton’s aphorism: after discovering the real cause of his patient’s illness, he understands Dimmesdale thoroughly and uses that knowledge to crush him. Slowly. Because he enjoys doing it.

A n d j u s t i n c a s e Chillingworth’s actions aren’t enough to convince the reader that he’s a horrible person, Hawthorne says that the townspeople detect “something ugly and evil in his face” and conclude that the man is either “Satan himself” or “Satan’s emissary.”

So you have a se l f -

and a sadistic agent of the devil—is there really a question about who’s worse? HF

Upon completing Nathaniel Hawthorne’s mandatory classic The Scarlet Letter, the reader may well need to spend some time in solitary contemplation to recover from the onslaught of larger-than-life characters that haunt the novel’s pages.

seem that one need look no further than the nefarious Roger Chillingworth, husband of chief protagonist Hester Prynne, to discover the villain of the story. What could be worse than a man who lives to exact revenge on his wife, a woman he promised to protect and cherish in his wedding vows? He hounds Arthur Dimmesdale to the grave, prodding and tormenting him until the unfortunate minister folds and gives up the ghost. Apparently this man believes Hester’s and Arthur’s single sin of adultery warrants a lifetime of punishment, and not just any punishment at

that. He earnestly hopes that Dimmesdale will never confess his sin and thereby fester in hell for all eternity.

Without attempting to discount or downplay the rather enormous character

argue that he is not the true villain of the story. That title goes without a doubt to the insipid, quivering, spineless excuse for a man known as Arthur Dimmesdale.

Not only does His Pastiness initially decline to reveal himself as the fellow sinner of Hester’s adultery at the scene of her public disgrace, but he persists in thus hiding for the entirety of the novel. Rather than openly admit himself as the author of Hester’s disgraced existence and their child Pearl’s uncertain future, he contents

and self-recrimination in the privacy of his own room.

and even carve an “A” on the skin of his chest to match

the emblem of dishonor that graces Hester’s outerwear. But this activity proceeds while the town lauds his holiness

Hester for her unclean state. He’ll speak with Hester and bestow affectionate caresses on his strange little child in the seclusion of the forest, but when Pearl asks if he’ll walk hand in hand with them back into town, his answer is predictably in the negative.

Say what you like about the Chillingworth, but I understand his reaction. He comes to

public display for adultery, with no man beside her to share the blame. So he hunts down the knave who wronged his wife and goes for the jugular. This, at least, is the response of a man. Dimmesdale wallows in

more of self-congratulating pity than contrition and then postpones his public confession until a few seconds prior to his death. True to his ideals of self-

Catherine SimsStaff Writer

Anna WilliamsEditor at Large

Continued on page 8

ACLU litigation and more effectively getting the message about their Congressional goals out to people who are undecided. And above all, they need to realize that the war between conservatives and liberals is primarily being waged in America’s schools.

Everyone knows this.And everyone knows

liberals and progressives,

agenda laid out a century ago, have had a very long head start. A Republican “grand strategy” should begin by considering how to get less biased textbooks in schools, better curriculum formulation, and more sympathetic teachers involved. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s a good start—certainly a lot better than conservatives have been doing for themselves. HF

GOP Strategy, from page 2

Who’s Worse: Dimmesdale or Chillingworth?

A Debate over Hawthorne’s Graphics Credit: “nannahs” on deviantart.com

the political structure and atmo-sphere of the Greek Fraternity or Sorority shows many paral-lels with the Founding spirit of

-cans of 1776, though we Greeks relish our individual liberty, we agree to give some of it up in service of a shared ideal. For the Founders, the shared ideal was the Constitution; for the Greek house, it is our fraternal bonds.

But since our Founding, American politicians have struggled to maintain the bal-ance between freedom reserved and freedom given up. My ex-perience in the Greek system has shown me, on a small scale, how governments maintain, or conversely lose, respect and voluntary obedience. These are my observations:

First, too many rules and regulations kill morale and de-stroy voluntary attachment to the law. People will put up with a certain amount of regulation in service of a higher purpose, but there is a breaking point at which the feeling of restriction overpowers the love of country or fraternity. At this point, the people lose all respect for the law: obedience becomes subjec-tive, and they make and break rules with impunity. People will put up with a moderate amount of regulation, but when the burden becomes too heavy they don’t just take off the ex-cess weight, they throw off the entire thing. Governments of all sizes have to pick their bat-tles in order to maintain order while still allowing citizens to retain their individual freedom and independence.

Second, the people must always feel that their voices are heard. Government has to act above the passions of the peo-ple, so sometimes it’s best that the people’s opinion not be tak-en into account. Regardless of whether their sentiments have been reviewed or not, it is criti-cal that the people remain con-vinced that they have. Nothing infuriates the masses more than a President (of a country or of a Greek house) who acts without consulting those who put him in power. Even if a leader knows

his course of action, he has to make the people think that they have a say. This, again, main-tains the people’s voluntary at-tachment to law (in the country or in the house).

be present in a country or in a Greek house to maintain vol-untary obedience is a personal connection between the indi-vidual and government. In De-

mocracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville claims that second-ary local institutions are crucial for combating individualism and isolation of the people from government. It’s the same in

and positions within the Greek house do much more than del-egate power; they create a per-sonal connection between the individual and government. Every member must feel in-volved in the political process, so that their individual wants and needs will become synony-mous with the common good.

Obviously I didn’t join a Greek house for the politics or for the opportunity to be in-volved in the smallest of small republics. I joined for the friends and for the ability to get off a Saga meal plan. But in-evitably I have realized that the politics of my sorority can teach me just as much as a Hillsdale College politics course. HF

Greek Politics, from page 3

8April 2011

THE HILLSDALE FORU

Mhillsdaleforum

@gmail.com

E-‐MAIL: [email protected]

Real Hillsdalians of Genius

Here’s to you, Mr. Disgruntled Hillsdale R.A. You’re on the front lines of defending the virtue of the freshmen class. Once, and sometimes even twice, a week, you are asked to protect your dorm against seductive females by sitting in your room with the door open. It is a grueling task that requires

your compatriot have to rein in a score of hot-blooded males, and you are only compensated a couple thousand dollars for your efforts. Now that the college is restructuring their budget, they are asking some of you to take only a thousand dollars for being a champion of virtue. That is outrageous! Every city councilman knows

that the police department’s budget should be cut last. Does the college not know

the visitation-hour-violation papers, or how boring it is to do homework until 1am? Sure, my R.A. cousin has broken up knife

has he ever had to accomplish the exhausting task of collecting room request sheets near the end of a semester? I don’t think so. That is why there are so many more R.A.’s in Hillsdale dorms: the work simply could not be done by fewer guys. That is why I’m saluting you, oh protector of the peace, because only you know how dangerous Hillsdale dorm life would be without your watchful eye. HF

Scarlet Letter, from page 7indulgent fear to the end, he never has to live with the pub-lic consequences of his crime as Hester did.

In our present age, where manliness is under constant at-

-erything a man should not be: a pale, wounded spirit, who glo-ries in his pain and guilt with-out taking responsibility for his actions. Genuine courage lies in confession of the wrong done, not in obsessive self-abuse. His sniveling lifestyle of weakness not only makes Paris of Troy appear macho in comparison, but is also reminiscent of a fa-tal tendency in today’s cultural portrayal of men. His emotional remorse tied to his prominent lack of backbone present a far more sinister and far-reaching problem than Chillingworth’s manic drive to make Dimmes-dale pay. HF

form, with a nice looking dis-play that folded over the key-board. But soon I felt myself being sucked down into the virtual realm, concerned only with how I interacted with the software, and forgetting the ex-istence of the physical object. That’s when I realized the sig-

interaction.” People forget the physi-

cal reality of interacting with people and do not realize that Facebook sucks one down into a virtual realm. When you look at a computer screen with a person on it, you are looking at pixels on a screen instead of

You develop a relationship with software instead of with a per-son. The common phrase “ad-dicted to Facebook” illustrates the idea that Facebook makes people depend on a computer screen. Think about it, people, you’re getting an emotional high from a virtual interaction with a pixilated version of your peers. The next time you feel bored, restless, or lonely, go out and develop a friendship with a real person instead of with a computer screen. Conversing face-to-face with a thoughtful Hillsdale friend is a lot more

lol” on a glowing rectangle. HF

Facebook, from page 3

Hillsdale students are usually considerate and mild. They walk “carrying their heads on one side” like the doctor who

Dickens’ novel, afraid of getting in anyone’s way. Except when it comes to (peanut-)buttering and jamming toast at the toast-condiment-station in Saga.

Happily I consider myself a member of the few, the proud, the 5% of students

consider others’ toast needs. Would that there were more of us. When it comes to buttering toast, 95% of Saga-goers park it in front of the condiment section like Jimmy Stewart

in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: with no intention of moving or leaving anytime soon. And they take about as long as Jimmy Stewart to butter their toast, until I’m the one falling over bleary-eyed.

I will never understand how one can justify blocking the condiment station for 10 minutes to make sure every crevice in his toast is adequately smothered in butter-like-product. The cereal and milk counter-areas are nearly always free, and serve as excellent toast-buttering stations.

Why have so many of us chosen to spurn these equally viable regions? Brothers and sisters, let us end this

stigma against the other counter areas! Let us stop clinging

unreasonably to the condiment section, refusing to inch over a couple of feet and give the other counter-areas a chance!

On behalf of the hundreds of people with toast in their hands and with eyes burning hate-rays into the back of your oblivious head, I have a polite request for all you inconsiderate jerks: MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!! I WANNA JAM ME SOME TOAST!!

To encourage compliance with said request, I move that a rules sheet entitled “Preparing Toast in 10 Easy Steps” be put up. It would read as follows:

1) Get bread out of bag 2) Put bread in toaster 3) Move away from toaster 4) Get plate and knife while bread toasts 5) Remove bread from toaster; put on plate 6) Move to condiment station 7) Take knife-full of butter/ jam/ peanut butter; put on side of plate 8) Move to vacant counter space such as milk area 9) Spread butter/jam/peanut butter on toast 10) Get the heck away from the toast area, your work here is done.

Envision Soup Nazi from Seinfeld here, people. Toast is too important to mess around with: clog up the line, NO TOAST FOR YOU! HF

Toast: A Debate

It’s What Brings Us Together

It’s What Tears Us ApartRachael Wierenga / Associate Editor

Lauren Wierenga / Guest Writer, Graphic ArtistSince arriving at Hillsdale,

I’ve rediscovered the simple joy of toast. I’d never realized you could do so much with so little – that you could deliver so much joy through merely a slice of bread that has been subjected to intense heat in a small iron box. Maybe this is because when all else fails at Saga, when you want something warm, and when you can’t stomach any more pizza or burgers, toast is always there. It is the reliable failsafe that endures through every Taco Tuesday and triumphs in the face of Sunday Dinners.

And not only does Hillsdale survival depend upon toast,

but almost any kind of jam or marmalade under the sun would be purposeless without the magical might of toast. Sure, you could just throw butter and jam on baked bread, but you might as well be eating raw corn-on-the cob, or eating roots without making root beer. It’s heinous even to think of it. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that toast, though the FDA does not distinguish it as a completely separate entity from “bread,” is one of the few perfect foods on Planet Earth. Smile on, toast, because you know that underneath your crunchy, buttery surface lies the hope of an entire campus. HF

hillsdale forum april 2011

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