The
BOLT
Instagram: @shspublications
Twitter: @shspubs
August 2017 Volume 18, Issue 1 lightningboltonline.com Sage Hill School 20402 Newport Coast Drive, Newport Coast, CA 92657
Snapchat: shspublications
Dynamic Duo to Lead StuCo Wilson and Carroll Plan For a Successful Year Michelle Hung Seniors Miles Wilson and Ashton Carroll stand at the helm of Student Council this year as its president and vice president. Wilson and Carroll have served on Student Council together since their positions during the 2015-16 school year as sophomore co-chairs. Since then, they have worked side by side on “everything from planning sophomore year pep rallies to setting up dances,” said Carroll. The two leaders believe that experiences drawn from two years of collaboration, not to mention their close friendship formed over those years, will allow them to lead Student Council to a successful year. “Our long history working together in the past has allowed us to grow comfortable with each other’s strengths and weaknesses and given us the ability to recognize the ways in which we are able to support each other,” Wilson said. As president, Wilson’s primary role is to organize and lead Student Council meetings and events. Wilson promised to stay organized and proactive in order to respond effectively to concerns from students and faculty alike. “I believe that it is my duty to voice the students opinions to the Administration and act as a bridge between students and the faculty above them,” Wilson said.
AMANDA DUONG | The Bolt
WILSON INSPIRES STUDENTS President Miles Wilson pumps up incoming freshmen at the New Student Orientation on Aug. 17. Working alongside Wilson, Carroll has a prominent role in making executive decisions on the behalf of Student Council. Her other roles as vice president include leading town meeting, overseeing clubs and helping to plan dances, pep rallies and other school wide events. Student Council is already hard at work planning new and exciting activities for this year and restructuring and improving upon various elements from last year. “We want to introduce more school wide events, such as lunchtime bingo, scavenger hunts and movie nights,” Carroll said. “We also are working towards restructuring town meeting to redirect the focus on showcasing our schools talents,” she said. By increasing the frequency and quality of school wide events and placing a stronger emphasis on school spirit, Student Council aims
“
AMANDA DUONG | The Bolt
VICE PRESIDENT Ashton Carroll
to achieve greater prominence in the community and play a more active role in student life. With this goal in mind, Wilson urged students to step out of their comfort zones and take advantage of all that Student Council has to offer. “It seems that students have gotten more comfortable with the many changes that have been made to Sage
Hill’s campus,” Wilson said. “I hope that this school year students will direct their focus towards the work of Student Council.” Wilson and Carroll are excited to implement these new changes and overcome any obstacles they may face throughout the school year. In particular, Wilson noted low turnout at dances as a challenge that Student
SAGE SNAPSHOTS
This book inspired me to trust my instincts. – Alexis Kelly
Editorial, Page 2
AMANDA DUONG | The Bolt
PRESIDENT Miles Wilson
Council has had trouble with in the past, and proposed a solution. “This year we plan on incorporating more social spaces into our dance venues so that people who don’t want to dance to loud music can do other activities instead,” Wilson explained. Carroll remarked that each new year brings a new set of challenges, but expressed confidence in Student Council’s ability to problem solve and learn from any mistakes. “We have a very new group of members in Student Council so there’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to knowing what is expected and how to be most productive,” Carroll said. “While this may mean Miles and I need to take a more forward role in opening up the school year, new members mean new ideas which are always welcomed!”
Feature, Page 3
”
Daily
One Hill of a Sport
Life
Community, Page 4
Cross Country this Summer
Sports, Page 6
Opinion, Page 7
2
Editorial
The Bolt August 2017 Sage Hill School
Hannah Woodworth Before he was the star of the hottest musical on Broadway, he wrote a series of essays defending the newly written Constitution of the United States. Alexander Hamilton’s efforts led to the ratification of the first amendment which protects freedom of the press. Freedom of the press is a license for journalists to share the truth in a safe way. In turn, it allows readers to feel connected to their community and informed on what’s going on around them. Part of the beauty of high school journalism is that the staff inherently has a personal
relationship with their readers. Under the protection of Education Code 48907, high school students are under the same journalistic rights as professional journalists. Journalists are entitled to all sources of information and the right to investigate stories freely. Additionally, journalists cannot be censored by a person or organization that they are writing about if everything being written is factual. Konnie Krislock, former Publications adviser, works tirelessly to both protect the student voice and guarantee that students are treated the same way as professional journalists. “If I have a legacy, then that
is my legacy. I am fiercely dedicated to protecting [student journalists] rights,” Krislock said. On our Publications staff particularly, our writers are free to express their beliefs safely and effectively. We don’t need to say what the administration, parents or anyone wants us to say. We are able to write primarily for our fellow students. “The first thing I learned is that the administration is not there for you,” Krislock said. “I am there for you.” One goal on staff is to keep our readers informed on everything going on around our community. Whether it is the homecoming football game or
the robotics competition or the recent presidential election, we will be here to accurately report, investigate and share our beliefs. On staff, another one of our greatest objectives is to expose our students to real-world issues. We urge them to generate their own ideas and opinions on controversial topics, giving a taste that not everyone will necessarily agree with their opinions. In exchange for all of this, we ask our readers to treat our publication respectfully. By law, no one can tell us what to write, how to write it or can reveal our sources. It is our right to share our truth.
THE BOLT
T
he Bolt, published seven times a year, is a student newspaper and serves the public forum at Sage Hill School. Its content - news, editorial, opinion, and feature - is protected by Education Code 48907, the state student rights law and the California Constitution which guarantees all citizens the right of freedom of speech and of the press. The Bolt accepts signed letters to the editor from members of the Sage Hill Community which may be posted as comments to our website, lightningboltonline.com, or addressed to editor-in-chief Hannah Woodworth and put in her mailbox on campus. These letters may not exceed 150 words or they will be edited for inclusion.
Editors-in-Chief Michelle Hung, Niva Razin, Hannah Woodworth Editorial Board Jonathan Chance, Karli Davis, Amanda Duong, Daniel Fishman, Genesis Gonzalez, Madison Harrison-Weiner, Richard Horn, Sarah Kim, Jenny King, Trevor Klein, Isabella Mora, Stephanie Morris
Yuna Baek
Halah Biviji
Ashwin Chona
Alexis Kelly
Valentina Lin
Sydney McCord
Nico Collins
Polina Mogilevsky
Jo Farkas
Rown Oliphant
Miranda deBruyne Jacob Gibbs
Genesis Gonzalez Linda Hachim
Lily Humphrey
Monis Mohiuddin Cammi Phillips
Haley Rosmann
Alicia Theoligides-Rodriguez
Feature
The Bolt August 2017 Sage Hill School
3
Stop Blinkin’ About It A Crash Course On The Book In Common Daniel Fishman Throughout childhood, parents are suggested to teach a common philosophy: think before you act. Naturally this makes sense. We think: “Okay. Don’t make an irrational decision. What should I do? What am I wanted to do? How am I ‘supposed’ to respond?’ Yet as everything we have been taught goes through our hectic mind in the heat of the moment, we often overlook subtle hints that dictate the better option of what we should or should not do in the moment. Canadian journalist Malcolm Gladwell wanted to prove and highlight this idea in his book Blink, first published in 2005. In the book, he discusses successful decision making skills and how to better judge the world around us. “It’s a very thought-provoking book,” senior Mathew King said. “I learned a lot that will help me better read other people’s expressions and thoughts in real life.” The book teaches readers when to judge a situation in the blink of an eye and when to really think through a situation. He argues that when something looks odd, when a face shows fear or perplexity, or when something or someone makes you feel a certain way, not to discard that valuable information because it could allow you to make a quicker, more insightful, and safer decision. Senior Mackenna Strohmei-
er said, “learning about the unconscious aspects of our minds in Blink was very interesting. It is important that we are aware of
Though it is important to try to discard biases on religious groups, cultures, genders, and other groups, it is still important
stereotypically dangerous, he should not hang around and get too close to that person, especially if he gets the vibe that
any biases that we are not conscious of due to the way society has ‘primed’ us so we can live a life that reflects our own morals and values.”
to make interpretations on other people. For example, if a man is standing near someone of a group that is unjustly and
he is in a bad situation and if the person is making him feel like something is going on. Now that does not mean that all people from that ethnici-
ty, sexuality, race, etc. will make the man feel uncomfortable or that he should not hang around people of a given group, it just means he should judge the situation that he is in and make a quick assessment of the person who is standing right in front of him. Alexis Kelly, a Sage student, said, “one concept from the text that I found very interesting is the idea that our split-second decisions can be just as good or better than our carefully planned out ones. This book [also] inspired me to trust my instincts more.” The book taught all students something important to help them make fewer mistakes in the moment. Gladwell’s book expresses a philosophy that has the potential to impact everyone’s lives through changing the way in which its readers make decisions. Senior Justin Camp said, “I genuinely think his book can help us all to gain better insight into the decision-making process, which can further help us to succeed not just academically, but athletically and socially as well.” The book can teach anyone how to make better, faster, and smarter decisions in given situations. Unlike the other book-in-commons from previous years, Blink has taught students tools that will help them in their everyday lives. As Malcolm Gladwell put it, “there can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis.”
Polina Mogilevsky
er assume anything. “The biggest thing that I took away was to not assume from first glance, which was precisely my mistake when going into this camp,” said reporter, Jacob Gibbs. When asked if he could give any advice to any future Newspapers2 reporters, Gibbs said, “... never write an article solely because you feel obligated to, but write articles your are genuinely [interested] in.” “One of the most important design skills I learned was the concept of a Center of Visual Impact (CVI). This idea suggests that every page have one element that draws readers’ focus. Often times a picture, this section of the page should be 5 times larger than the page’s next biggest component, “ said designer, Stephanie Morris Employing this design tool allows readers to instantly know where to aim their attention, and thereby sparks readers’ interest in the rest of the article”. Incoming senior and selftaught photographer Amanda Duong described the Newspapers2 photography program as “very informative and eye
opening” Duong advised future photographers “[not to] be afraid to find different angles and if [they] don’t feel uncomfortable when shooting, then [they’re] probably not close enough”. All of the classes got a chance to collaborate on the third day and formed groups to go find and write a “maestro” story in one day. Each group had at least one reporter, an editor, a photographer and in some cases a multimedia manager. In approximately four hours each group was supposed to find an interesting story on LBCC’s vast campus, get an interview and have a final draft along with visual representation by 4 pm. On the last day of the camp, the students were judged on their maestro projects and their overall work in their respective fields. The winners received a certificate of excellence and a monetary gift. The day was finished off with a large Mexican buffet. Overall, based on feedback from the attendees, Newspapers2 seemed to be a positive and helpful experience for Sage Hill’s publications team.
LAURA LYONS | The Bolt
CELEBRATING JOURNALISM At the Long Beach City College members of the Publication staff display certificates of completion after 4 days of newspaper camp.
That’s How Much We Love Publications
Staff Sharpens Skills at Summer Camp
The journalism program Newspapers2 is mandatory for Sage Hill Publications members and took place from 31 JulyAug. 3. Its focus is teaching writers, editors, photographers and designers to produce a newspaper or news site. The camp was previously located at Pierce College, Woodland Hills and California State University, Long Beach, but relocated to the spacious Long Beach City College in 2016. This year, the Sage staff was part of four major groups: reporting, photography, editing and design. Hannah Woodworth, Editor-in-Chief, said“This was my first time attending the camp, so I had no idea what to expect”. “The program was very well-rounded, teaching me… how to manage an entire staff, teach new writers, and create the strongest publication possible.” “I believe that what I learned from this camp will allow everything to run smoothly”, Woodworth said. As a reporter, one must nev-
4
Comm
The Bolt August 2017 Sage Hill School
Dear Freshmen, Welcome C’mon Lightning, Strike!
Town Square: The Heart of Sage Hill
The new Brett Jordan and Family Tennis Center, finished last spring, enhances school spirit by giving students the opportunity to cheer on tennis players on home courts. In addition to being used by the girls’ and boys’ tennis teams, the tennis courts are used for Sage Fit, a physical education course offered at Sage.
AMANDA DUONG | The Bolt
PUMP IT UP The girl’s varsity tennis team comes together to conclude their practice and boost morale with their routine cheer.
Rocking in the Rock Garden The rock garden is the space outside the lower Humanities building on the side of the library. Besides being used for the last year’s annual Back-to-School Dance, the rock garden is a space used by teachers as an outdoor classroom and by students to study or hang out.
BLINDLY CRAWLING INTO SAGE Three blindfolded incoming freshmen feel thei tion on Aug. 17. Metaphorically, the example of crawling through town square is mea high school. THIS DANCE ROCKS Students dance to the beat during last year’s Back-to-School Dance, held in the rock garden.
AMANDA DUONG | The Bolt
munity
The Bolt August 2017 Sage Hill School
5
e to Our Colorful Campus
Daniel Fishman, Michelle Hung
Hands-on in the Lab In our fairly new Lisa Argyros and Family Science Center, students have the opportunity to work in a dual-classroom environment. Labs are connected to the classrooms in order for students to maximize class time.
Each week, the whole school participates in student-run town meetings every Monday. Skits, performances, and announcements take place during town meeting. Also, town square is used for the annual class dodgeball game. Every day, community members eat lunch in or around town square, lying on the grass (turf) and listening to music. Town square is the heart of the Sage Hill campus.
AMANDA DUONG | The Bolt
SCIENCE GETTING MESSY Graduated seniors Elijah Soto (left) and Carlos Orozco (right) dissect a fetal pig in their Human Anatomy and Physiology course.
Diving into a New Year If you did not know that we have a pool by now, then you are probably living under a rock–likely one in the rock garden. The newly-built pool is the latest and only part of the Sage Hill Aquatic Center. Throughout the year, the pool is used by swim and waterpolo teams that compete in CIF.
AMANDA DUONG | The Bolt
ir way around town square in a game of musical chairs during New Student Orientaant to give an idea to the class of 2021 of what awaits them in the bigger picture of
KICKING OFF A MEET Sage swimmers dive into the pool as they begin a backstroke race.
AMANDA DUONG | The Bolt
6
Sports
The Bolt August 2017 Sage Hill School
ONE HILL OF A SPORT Cross Country’s Dedication to Training This Summer
Jenny King | The Bolt
WARMING UP The 2017 cross country team is preparing for a new season by coming out to the track during the summer and warming up with several stretches.
Rowan Oliphant | The Bolt
Karli Davis Since the middle of summer vacation, the cross country team has been hard at work preparing for this year’s season. With incoming freshmen, and new additions to the team, this season is bound to succeed. “The girls’ cross country team is looking really awesome,” junior Maya Jaffe said. “Throughout summer training, we have been challenging ourselves to add on mileage and push the pace. We have really strong runners this year and are hoping to continue to improve as
the season arrives.” This year’s seniors are Ashton Carroll, Calvin Brown, Vinod Sardesai, Eric Frankel, Yena Chung, and Alfonso Sanchez. They are excited to lead the team and showcase all the hard work they have put into the cross country team throughout their time at Sage. The team is also looking forward to having incoming senior Brooklyn Button be a part of the team. She is transferring to Sage this year and will be a great addition to the cross country team. “She is an amazing runner and very friendly,” junior Alice
PREPPING FOR THE SEASON Senior Team Captain Ashton Carrol leads the warmup alongside Juniors Kylen Patel and Alice Warden as they stretch before running several laps. Warden said. “She has been running for a long time and has a lot of experience with cross country, which will definitely help us. She will definitely be one of our fastest girls, if not the fastest.” The cross country team is expecting great things from the incoming freshmen as well. “There were a lot of incoming freshmen that came out to practice every day during the summer who have great potential to becoming a varsity
runner,” junior Kylen Patel said. Though the team is excited to take on this year’s season, they are sad that they will have to move on without Julia Lowe, who was on the team all of her four years of high school. “Miller says that the time that Julia was here it was called the ‘Julia Era’ because she had such an impact on the team,” Jaffe said. “The team dynamic will definitely be different without her,” Warden said. “But I’m really
looking forward to this season.” With all the hard work and dedication the cross country team has been putting into training this summer, there is no doubt that they will have one of their most successful seasons yet. “I think I am going to have a strong season and hopefully the best one I’ve had yet at Sage!” Patel said. The first Academy League meet will take place on Sept. 19 at Cerritos Park East.
Acing the Season Girls’ Volleyball Prepares to Go Far Jacob Gibbs The girls’ volleyball team has been hard at work in the gym preparing for another season of serves, sets, and hopefully more success to come. Ready for another great season, the girls’ volleyball team has been working all summer to repeat their great success from last season. They practice during the summer often; the team said that they try to get into the gym as often as they can with the help of Coach D-Thom. This practice is soon to pay off, as their first game is coming
up on Aug. 24, against San Juan Hills High School. Sophomore Dani Beder said the team “feels confident about this season … we could even go undefeated [in the league] for the second year in a row.” The team is excited to take in some new members this year, even though several seniors left the year before. Sophomores Hana Stauss, Ashley Sung, Zoe Mazakas, and Ashley Sarkisian are excited to be bumped up to varsity. The varsity team is also looking forward to having freshman Emily Elliot join their team in the fall.
They all concluded that they have been coming to Sage over the summer to go above and beyond, while preparing them for the rest of the reason. Over the summer they have been “going into the weight room at 7 a.m. to lift weights and practice some other agility exercises,” sophomore Ashley Sarkisian said. Leslie Frankel said, “Personally, the squats are the most helpful for me, since they improve my leg muscles for increasing my verticals.” The girls on the Sage Hill volleyball teams are ready and determined to conquer anything in their path.
Jenny King | The Bolt
SPIKE THAT BALL Senior Kayla Gratzer spikes a ball during a pre-season practice.
Opinion SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
The Debate Over Summer School Heats Up Halah Biviji As school starts, we will all inevitably be asked how we spent our summers. Some of us will say camps; some of us will say sports, but for the majority of us, the answer will be summer school. But is summer school the best way to spend summer vacation? Many students choose to take summer school classes to finish the requirements for a subject. “I took summer class because I wanted to get my science requirements out of the way, so I could add other courses that would contribute to what I want to major in college,” junior Charlene Gao said. In addition, students take classes in the summer to get ahead.
“
The downside of this is that the students lack a strong foundation because summer school is too short and rushed. The material is taught at a rapid pace, and students do not have enough time to fully digest and understand the material. When they try to build on this foundation with harder classes, they struggle, and they fall behind students who took the prerequisite classes in the normal year. Although, it really just depends on the class, as some classes are more equipped to be taught at a fastpaced environment than others. “Having a short course is a double-edged sword,” junior Karishma Raghuram said. “Because it is short, you have to compensate and learn massive bulks of info within short time frames,” Raghuram
I took summer class because I wanted to get my science requirements out of the way, so I could add other courses that would contribute to what I want to major in college.
– Charlene Gao
“Generally, our students take summer school classes to get ahead in particular subjects so they can take higher level courses in those areas before they graduate from Sage,” Frank Smith, director of College Counseling, said. “That would be viewed as a positive by colleges since students are attempting to maximize their academic experiences while here,” Smith said.
”
said. Furthermore, if a student is having a bad day or has to miss a day, the student falls behind by a week’s worth of normal school because of how much material is taught in a day. “I don’t like how in summer classes, you get a lot of information that you would get in a week’s worth of classes in one sitting, and then you have a quiz on it the next day,” Gao said.
On the other hand, focusing on one class at a time allows students to excel because they can divert all of their attention to the one class. Students have less distractions, and classes are often smaller, which means they are able to receive more individual help. “I like how summer classes are fast and the material is fresh in my mind when I take tests because I just learned it,” Gao said. Incoming freshmen benefit from summer school because summer school provides an opportunity to meet classmates and get acclimated with the campus and teachers before school starts, so they transition well to the school in August and feel more comfortable. Summer break is meant to be a vacation. By taking a summer class, students do not have the ability to relax their minds, so when school starts again, students are not refreshed and risk burning out. Many students forget what they learned in the school year during the school year and struggle to get back into “school mode” when school starts. “Students who do not use summer to enhance academic learning lose two months of math and reading ability every year,” Farooq Ansari, the founder of the Solving the Summer Learning Gap Club at Sage, said. “Students who use summer for academic progress advance one month in math and reading,” Ansari said. However, summer school is not the only academic enhancement available in the summer. Students are able to complete internships, camps, get jobs,
The Bolt August 2017 Sage Hill School
7
MADISON’S MOVIE REVIEW
Slow West (2015) Madison Harris-Weiner Slow West, with its subtle quirkiness, striking visuals and cynical look at love, is not a nod to classic Westerns but rather writer-director John Maclean’s own imaginative take on the genre. This indie gem is somewhat of a dark fairytale and Maclean makes a killer debut with a masterfully established atmosphere and slyly written script that should cement his newly found place in the film industry. With the opening lines “once upon a time” Maclean immediately gives Slow West the confused unease of a daydream; a tone he carries to the end with the grace of a seasoned director who knows just how much of himself to reveal in his film. Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee) has journeyed from Scotland to find his love, his heart, his soulmate Rose. He’s young, pitifully inexperienced and soon hit with the news that Rose is an outlaw, wanted “dead or dead”. Luckily (or rather unfortunately) for Jay an ill-intentioned bounty hunter (Michael Fassbender) forcefully offers his services as chaperone to Jay. The two, one a wide-eyed and trusting youth, the other a hardened and mysterious drifter, set off across the untamed land, both seeing it in a vastly different light, tolerating but somehow needing the other, both in search of the same girl and both heading toward very different ends. There is undeniable melancholy from the opening note along with a nagging sense that unreliable narrators can’t be trusted to present the story honestly or treat our unsuspecting protagonist right. No one seems to be on Jay’s side, even Rose. But, so blinded by love or too naive to even know what it is, Jay pushes on, staying unwittingly optimistic and utterly devoted. Although it is Silas guiding Jay across the frontier, it is perhaps Jay who is the wise teacher. “There’s more to life than surviving,” he tells Silas, exhibiting his unwavering hopefulness and develop new skills. Colleges may view these activities as more desirable ways to spend the summer and favor them to classes. Taking a summer class is a big time commitment and takes time away from these other activities. Overall, each situation is different, and summer school
and setting himself ahead of his time. Its stunning visuals, clear aesthetic and waltzing score could have easily turned Slow West into a self-indulgent wannabe art film. But thanks to Maclean’s careful hand, it never gets caught up in itself and it knows when its story should come to an end. DP Robbie Ryan creates landscapes that stretch out into distortion with exaggerated vastness. The brilliant colors with which the land is illustrated with paints the west in a new light that is simultaneously harsh and dazzlingly, allowing the audience to see it with the same wonder as Jay who is new to the land and also certainly Maclean who is new to filmmaking. But the feeling that it all is just an illusion is eventually realized in a shoot-out that devastates the landscape and leaves only two standing, allowing for no happy ending, at least for Jay who most deserved it. The last twenty minutes are startlingly gory but still executed with the same calculated detachment that turns Slow West into a meandering reverie. This is Maclean’s way; he presents a story that feels suspended in space which leaves audiences satisfied but still questioning. It’s hard to believe that this is his debut feature as his narrative is so confident and sure of itself. His casual use of unsettling violence contrasted with laconic humor echoes that of the Coen brothers and his visual atmosphere draws parallels to Wes Anderson’s trademarks but in the mix is an emerging style that is Maclean’s alone and astonishingly defined for only his first feature. Slow West is a crowd pleaser, yet completely clear in direction and beautifully confident in execution. It’s short and sweet, enigmatic at times but never dull and not the least bit predictable, but most importantly, it is just a small peek into what Maclean is destined to create in the future. Read more at madisonsmovies.wordpress.com
can be beneficial for some and harmful for others. “I think it depends on the class as some are easier to take over the summer than others because of the nature of the information taught,” Raghuram said. “It also depends on the student’s willingness to work hard and put in effort.”
8
The Bolt August 2017 Sage Hill School
Backpage
PRACTICING “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH” Following In the Footsteps of J.F.K. and Reagan in Dealing with North Korea Trevor Klein North Korea is the closest thing to hell on earth. There is no freedom of speech and the people are forced to worship Kim Jong-Un and the past supreme leaders like gods. Except for the communist party’s favorites, the people starve. The North Korean Famine in the 1990’s left up to 3.5 million people dead and millions of others malnourished. According to PBS, more than 75 percent of North Koreans still do not have enough to eat. The good jobs in North Korea are only available to people who are favored by the state. Many of them pay the equivalent of $62 a month, with the average person making $25-30 a month. North Koreans cannot even complain about their hunger because they have no freedom of speech. Even one bad word about the regime to a friend may lead to the imprisonment of the perpetrator and his or her family spanning across three generations. In other words, if a North Korean citizen bad mouths Kim Jong-Un, his or her grandparents, parents, siblings, spouse, children and grandchildren will all be sent to concentration camps or killed. Kim Jong-Un treats his people worse than any other dictator on earth, but he is worshiped like a god by his people. In one popular video, North Korean soldiers swam after Kim Jong-Un’s boat into a river as he left their military base and the people cheered as loud as they could in order to show their love for the supreme leader. The video was probably staged for propaganda and other state films but it was a very realistic scene. “In North Korea Kim Jong-Un is like Jesus,” a North Korean defector said in an interview with Fact Reality, “If you were a Christian and you
were to see Jesus aboard a boat by the river, wouldn’t you try to follow him?” Kim Jong-Un made his people love him by almost completely disconnecting his country from the outside world and reality, which is why North Korea is called the “hermit kingdom.” Kim also brainwashes them at an early age and tells them lies, such as his country has the highest standard of living on earth and North Korea has troops on United States soil battling Uncle Sam, who is considered public enemy number one. The main reason North Korea hates the United States is because of the Korean War. North Korea and South Korea would have been united under tyrannical communist rule if the United States had not defended the democratic south. In the North Koreans’ eyes, the United States divided Korea and caused years of deadly war. In the end there was a stalemate, but there was no peace treaty, so the war technically never ended, which means North Korea and the United States are still at war. In addition, North Korea resents the United States because the U.S. represents western capitalism and big business. As a communist country, who labels itself the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, they despise capitalism and the West. Today, the two nations are on the brink of nuclear war. If Kim Jong-Un has no problem treating his own people so inhumanely, even putting many of them to death, he would have no problem killing Americans, the people whom he hates the most, with nuclear weapons. North Korea, one of the world’s poorest countries, was able to develop nuclear weapons because the United States did not properly address the threat . In the 1990’s when Kim Jong-Un’s father Kim Jong-Il ran the first North
Korean nuclear tests, Former President Bill Clinton responded by giving North Korea oil, two light water reactors, and an electric grid, which was all worth billions of dollars. In exchange, he made North Korea promise to stop developing its nuclear program. Shortly after the deal was made, North Korea continued with its nuclear program. Over the next two decades, the United States continued to make ineffective deals with North Korea, and every time, the North Korean’s reneged on their promises and ran away with valuable resources. In reality, these deals are all attempted bribes made by the U.S. and none of them have worked. Former United States presidents Bush and Obama both made similar mistakes in dealing with North Korea. They never put their foot down and said enough was enough. In the Cold War, the United Stated was always stern in dealing with the Soviet Union, and the best examples were former Presidents J.F.K. and Ronald Reagan. J.F.K. stood up to the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis and prevented nuclear war without paying the Soviets a dime in bribes. He negotiated with the Soviets and made the Soviets take their weapons out of Cuba without paying them off; he simply agreed to remove the U.S.’s weapons from Italy and Turkey. This is very different than the Clinton, Bush and Obama approach to North Korea because J.F.K. prevented nuclear aggression without giving the Soviets anything of monetary value. He kept “peace through strength” at heart while negotiating as he did not resort to bribery. Later in the 1980’s, Reagan brought the Soviets to their knees by following the idea of “peace through strength.” Reagan went to the foot of the Berlin Wall, the barrier between freedom
and communist tyranny, and famously said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” One of the best examples of Reagan’s strength was the ending of the Iranian Hostage Crisis just minutes after Reagan was sworn into office. The American hostages were held for 444 days while President Jimmy Carter was in office, and were released immediately when Ronald Reagan came in. Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian President at the time, saw Jimmy Carter as weak, so he took advantage of him. He was terrified of Reagan’s strength, so he immediately gave in to Reagan without any negotiation. Strength in foreign policy protects American freedom. J.F.K. did it in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Reagan did it during the Cold War and President Donald Trump is now doing it with North Korea. By telling Kim Jong-Un he will be met with “fire and fury like the world has never seen”, he was following in Kennedy’s and Reagan’s footsteps by implementing “peace through strength,” and so far, it has worked. At least for now, Kim has backed down and he has said that he will not attack Guam. He is scared of the U.S.’s renewed strong foreign policy, like Iran was scared of Reagan after he was sworn in. Generally, I am not a Trump Fan, but I love how Trump stood up to Kim Jong-Un. While the U.S. military often gets involved when it is not necessary, we must stand up for ourselves when there is a direct threat to U.S. security and freedom. The North Korean threat will not go away with this victory, but to keep the peace, we must maintain our strength Negotiations with North Korea have never worked. We must never give in to the communist dictator across the sea.