When I picture a “crusade”, I think of the image that we discussed in class. That is, hordes of people from Medieval Europe traveling to the Holy Land. In the image conjured up in my mind, there are knights with horses, bloody victories “in the name of Christ”, and a new Holy City (Jerusalem) that is established in the aftermath. It’s weird to think about a crusade in any other context—the word crusade literally comes from the French, Spanish, and Latin words for cross. However, today’s version of a crusade is much different from this definition.
I came across the article entitled “Elon Musk’s Billion-Dollar Crusade to Stop the A.I. Apocalypse”. Essentially, the article focused on entrepreneur Elon Musk’s many efforts to fight back against the growth of artificial intelligence. While Musk spends time informing his colleagues (many of whom are major developers and investors for A.I. projects) about the dangers of artificial intelligence, his main attempt to fight back against artificial intelligence lies in his SpaceX rocket factory which he hopes to use to colonize other planets, such as Mars, in the event of A.I. taking over Earth.
The word crusade obviously has religious meanings and connotations, so it is a little odd to call something a crusade that has nothing to do with the actual origin of the word (that being, the cross). However, if you take more of an objective view of religion, and look at it as something that one believes in, then it is more acceptable to call Elon Musk’s efforts a crusade. The crusades were all about taking back the Holy Land, because they felt almost a divine belief that they were being called to do so. Elon Musk is investing in things such as his rocket factory, because he strongly believes in ensuring the existence of humanity, which he feels is threatened by the growth of artificial intelligence. Just as the Christians fought back against the Muslims to claim the Holy Land, Elon Musk is spending billions of dollars as a means of fighting back against artificial intelligence with the goal of claiming another planet that humans could colonize to preserve humanity in the event of an artificial intelligence take-over.
Some qualms that I had with this use of the word crusade is that it is an individual crusade. While I recognize that an individual can have their own wars that they hope to win, the original crusades (especially the later crusades) also served as a tactic to unite Europe. Rich, and poor, young, and old, from all sorts of countries—all types were involved in the crusades. With Elon Musk’s crusade, this is not the case. Musk’s crusade involves all of mankind, but the majority of mankind does not have billions of dollars to pour into a rocket factory, nor do they even have access to information on many of the latest developments in artificial intelligence, as much of this information is privy to investors only. While the actual crusades were a large group of people fighting for a cause that affected a large group of people, Musk’s crusade is one person fighting for a cause that affects a large group of people. Even the fact that the word crusade can be traced back to so many different languages shows just how universal the first crusade was. Musk’s crusade, as the article describes it, is more of a personal cross, or a personal war, or fight, despite it having universal affects.
Word Count: 580
Source:
Dowd, Maureen. “Elon Musk’s Billion-Dollar Crusade to Stop the A.I. Apocalypse.” The Hive, Vanity Fair, 26 May 2017, http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/elon-musk-billion-dollar-crusade-to-stop-ai-space-x
Category: Modern Crusaders?
A Modern Crusader
The article “Roxcy Bolton, Feminist Crusader for Equality, Including Naming Hurricanes, Dies at 90,” speaks about one woman’s fight for equality as a crusade. From Florida, she was an avid feminist who founded the first rape treatment center in the U.S. and in terms of law enforcement and medical services, she brought about a stronger focus on preventing rape and treating it. Bolton played a large part in advocating against naming tropical storms solely after women. She argued that it was unfair for women to be entirely associated with this type of disaster. For this she received heavy resistance from a primarily male weather forecast industry. Eventually the National Organization for Women assisted her by sending a resolution to the National Hurricane Center. Her crusade included other such actions as working to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. The amendment would have established constitutional equality for women, although it was unsuccessful. Bolton did manage to convince airlines to give pregnant flight attendants maternity leave, when in the past, they were simply fired. She also advocated heavily for Women’s Equality Day, which President Nixon proclaimed in 1972.
I believe that using the term ‘crusade’ in a modern context to describe something people feel strongly about is a fair use of the word. No longer does ‘crusade’ have to be solely connected to the Holy Wars of the Christians, nor any sort of religious war. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term ‘crusade’ can refer specifically to the original military expeditions of the Christians in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, and war blessed by the Church, or “an aggressive movement or enterprise against some public evil, or some institution or class of persons considered as evil.” The latter is the definition of ‘crusade’ as used by the article. Language is never solidified, but always changing and expanding. The modern definition of ‘crusade’ came about because of the historical definitions, but is now completely legitimate. Thus, there is not necessarily a better word, but synonymous words would be ‘campaign,’ ‘fight,’ or ‘battle.’ As early as 1786, Thomas Jefferson wrote an article to an American professor George Wythe emphasizing the significance of public education for the future of America. In it he states “…Preach, my dear Sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish and improve the law for educating the common people.” Throughout America’s history especially, this contemporary version of ‘crusade’ has been adopted.
-Matt Malone
Word count: 400
https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/92uva/92facts1.htm
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/45256?rskey=yJ1bOb&result=1#eid
The Modern Crusade
The original Crusades were fought over religious sovereignty in the Middle East. Since then, the use of this term has expanded to more than just the wars over the Holy Land. Today, the term “crusade” can be used to describe any mission or plan to carry out an objective. Usually the modern use of the term “crusade” indicates a passion or strong feeling about something. According to Google, the definition of “crusade” is to “lead or take part in an energetic and organized campaign concerning a social, political, or religious issue”. While the current use of the term does not necessarily have to have a religious attachment, it is still commonly used to describe efforts in promoting or campaigning for a religious group.
In October 2018, The Daily Advance published an article about a collaboration between 25 different churches, of all different denominations, in an effort to bring awareness of Christianity to Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The mission began with a focus on a small section of Elizabeth City, referred to in the article as a “pocket of lostness”, and quickly expanded to a city-wide intervention. In the article, statistics showed that “70 percent of people within a three-mile radius….did not know Jesus Christ”. The 25 different churches met once each night for four consecutive nights. The pastors involved in this endeavor described their efforts as an “evangelical crusade”. While the nature of this situation differs slightly from the nature of the Crusades, I think using the term “crusade” for this mission is fitting. While on the surface the mission in Elizabeth City and that of the Crusades seems to differ greatly, the underlying ideas are the same.
The conflict of the Crusades centered on religion and control of the Holy Lands. The main purpose behind the Crusades was to expand and promote Christianity. Similarly, the pastors involved with this “crusade” had the main intent to educate and preach Christian word. I think these two events had the same basic goal which is to spread Christianity. However, they differ in their nature. The Crusades strategy to attain their goal was to fight other religions and engage in warfighting. However, in this recent event we see much different approach.
The nature of the so called “evangelical crusade” was clearly not to overthrow or take over Elizabeth City. Rather, the pastors clearly wanted to preach and educate the residents of the city in a peaceful manner that would invite people to the Christian community. While with the Crusades there is a rift between religions and various sects within religions, here we see the exact opposite. In the case with Elizabeth City, the 25 churches are all of various denominations who come together under a common goal.
When we look at the original Crusades and what they stood for, and how the term “crusade” is derived and interpreted to meet modern descriptions, I think it fits the mission of pastors in Elizabeth City. Both endeavors were to spread Christianity, and while they reasons and methods may differ, the ultimate goal is the same, or at the very least very similar.
Article: http://www.dailyadvance.com/News/2018/10/20/25-churches-team-up-for-crusade-that-starts-Sunday.html
Word Count: 517
Was the War on Terror a Crusade?
While the term “crusade” has become a generality used to describe action taken towards a particular issue, the history of the “crusade” is based in death and suffering. When Pope Urban II first called for the first Crusade to reclaim the Holy Lands and aid Eastern Christians, he hoped that he would solve many of the problems faced by medieval Europe in 1095. However, the resulting events of the first crusade arguably created many more long term problems than solutions. In a recent article from by author James Carroll, he compares the failure of the first and subsequent crusades to the Bush Administration’s crusade to avenge the 9/11 attacks.
Following the 9/11 attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States entered the War on Terror, which was aimed at combating international terrorism. On September 16th, President Bush addressed the nation and stated that “This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take a while.” (1) James Carroll reasons that President Bush’s use of the word crusade in this instance is meant to be positive, and that the word crusade is synonymous with a noble act of justice. Carroll also uses the word “crusade” to describe the US’s entry into the War on Terror, however, it means something different in his opinion.
Much like the first Crusade advocated for by Pope Urban II, he suggests that this modern crusade was a failure for many reasons. For one, Carroll shows how the objectives of the War on Terror were not exactly clearly defined, and often this led to confusion for the ground units deployed to fight. Similarly, the knights, peasants, and other able bodies that traveled to the Holy Lands did not exactly know the objectives of their conquest. Pope Urban II offered the consolation of “remission of your sins, with the assurance of the reward of imperishable glory” to every brave warrior, yet the actual objective of the crusade was not tangibly defined nor did it have an established end point (2).
In both instances, they were given a goal that was not concretely defined and therefore this led to confusion that ultimately cost innocent lives and resources.
The use of the word “crusade” varies wildly, and I believe it is most important to tread carefully when using it. People have used the term “modern crusade” to describe Hitler’s persecution of the Jewish population during the Holocaust, and that is a clearly negative connotation, just like James Carroll’s use (3). In the instance of President Bush’s speech, I believe it would have been appropriate to use another more neutral term (like campaign) to describe America’s involvement in the war- especially considering the region’s history and the demographics of the area at that time.
Word Count: 453
Sources:
- https://www.thenation.com/article/donald-trump-is-on-a-crusade/
- Pope Urban II: Speech at Clermont 1095 (Robert the Monk version)
- https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/millennium/m4/armstrong.html
The War on Terror: The Modern Medieval
Many throughout the years have compared our current goal to eliminate terrorist organizations, specifically ISIS, as the modern-day crusade. This both misuses the word crusade and misuses the word medieval. In fact, I think the use of the word crusade brings about an unnecessary antisemitism in the US. Many politicians have referred to our involvement in the war against terrorism as a crusade and likewise, some of the terrorist organizations tie the same parallel in an attempt to gain momentum and draw a comparison to the crusades in order to be divisive and separate the world into jihadist and crusaders.
Most dangerously, far-right political groups use the term in an attempt to justify their calls for Islamophobia. Noticeably news organizations like Breitbart make the parallel to support their argument for the expulsion of Muslim foreigners and the general isolation of the religion. In the most modern context, the use of words like medieval brings a context to the terrorist and the general middle east that suggest that they are savages, less than, of a less than civilized era. Using the word medieval to describe terrorist organizations suggest that their religion is somehow innately evil and prone to violence. Many people have pointed to text in their sacred book to make this comparison and justify their fear of the religion. It is interesting that these terrorist organizations, at times, also point to text in Bible that do the same thing. Instead, these terrorist organizations use their text and the history of the crusade to justify their use of violence in defense of their people. Much like these terrorist organizations, a far-right organization like the Kansas Crusaders due the same. Think of the name crusades, it suggests that there is some divine power that has demanded that we fight terrorist also pointing to experts of violence. Is this not the same ideology of the terrorist organizations?
Using the word medieval suggest that these terrorist have technology that is insufficient and their societies are less than sufficient to survive. It paints them as savages and tying this terrorist with any person that is from the middle eastern region is a very dangerous thing to do. It underestimates the ability of ISIS., in fact, this organization is a result of the breakup of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th century. It uses some of the same modern communications and movement techniques and it is so modern that our military has had to change our tactics to account for their insurgency style fighting. The uses of the word medieval to describe this horrible organization are not accurate and we should be careful to compare the two if we want to defeat them. Moreover comparing this to a modern crusade is yet another dangerous precedent to set. If we want to end terrorism, we should be careful to stop fueling their base by assuming the middle easter equals violent terrorist.
Words: 485
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/16/opinions/nothing-medieval-about-isis-perry/index.html
Not a Crusade but a …
Molly Swiger
Tim Cook is fighting for Americans to increase the privacy used in technology. BBC News labeled his urging as a “privacy crusade.” It is not unusual that the technology industry is being accused of tampering with user security, but it is peculiar that the accusation is coming from Apple’s Chief Executive Officer. In medieval times, the crusades were a series of expeditions made by Europeans to recover the Holy Land from Muslims. It was a religious war, backed by a strong tension between Christians and non-Christians. Rory Cellan-Jones, the author of “Tech Tent: Tim Cook’s Privacy Crusade,” incorrectly categorizes Cook’s lobbying as a crusade. Instead, he should have used words such as campaign, promote, or work. The modern definition and usage of crusade differs from the actual Crusades.
Tim Cook explains the surveillance tactics being employed by companies online. User data is being stored and then traded and used against them “with military efficiency.” Companies take advantage of the lax security in order to increase their profits. Tim Cook favors Europe’s new privacy law: the GDPR. He believes that the United States should create something similar. Cook also acknowledges that some users will not be in favor of new regulations, as there is a trade-off between free service and advertisements. If users are going to see ads they might as well be relevant, right? However, Cook argues that Apple will not be able to reach its full potential without complete user trust. He is not the only big name in favor of the GDPR either. Mark Zuckerberg also believes GDPR-style regulation is not only necessary, but inevitable.
In contrast, the medieval Crusades included eight major military expeditions between 1096 and 1291. Both Christians and Muslims were jockeying for control of holy sites. The battles were extremely violent, bloody, and ruthless. They ultimately ended in the defeat of the Europeans but the reach of Christianity was extended far into the West, increasing the wealth and power of the Pope and Roman Catholic Church. Trade and transportation, and subsequently demand for supplies, also increased. Culturally, there are still remnants of hatred toward Christians for their actions during the Crusades.
Obviously, Cook’s urging for increased security carries a magnitude nowhere near that of the cause of the Crusades. Specifically, as there is no violence or religion involved in his technological campaign, it is not proper to refer to it as a crusade. One may argue that the cultural significance of changing privacy laws is enough for it is be labeled as a crusade. However, the privacy debate is focused more on the individual’s safety, rather than a difference between American and European culture. The GDPR is simply a model that Cook and Zuckerberg believe will benefit user safety. Tim Cook may strongly believe in privacy reform, but his struggle will never reach the ruthlessness or violence that occurred during the religious conflicts and therefore cannot be named a crusade.
Word Count: 486
Work Cited:
Cellan-Jones, Rory. “Tech Tent: Tim Cook’s Privacy Crusade.” BBC News, BBC, 26 Oct. 2018, http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45993776.
“Crusades.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 7 June 2010, http://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/crusades.
“Tim Cook.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Oct. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Cook.
The West in the Pre-Modern World 