Prompt #2: Engaging with the Iliad

A gun store in Kingston, Tennessee is offering a discount on new guns if you say you are a Christian. The owner, Bryant Williams, has said, "If Christians are going to be targeted we need to protect ourselves...The best way to protect yourself is with the best weapon available, and that happens to be a handgun." To summarize his reasoning in giving Christians a discount on guns in his store, Williams has said that he believes that people are being targeted for their beliefs and that he does not want to hide his faith.

Just as violence in the Iliad was the most effective and profound method of solving problems, some people in today's society tend to believe the same thing. In order to get what you want in the time period of Homer, you would display power and authority to convince others to fight for you as violence was seen as the solution to most problems. This can be seen in Book II, lines 522-524: "Agamemnon the lord of men did not resist. He commanded heralds to cry out loud and clear and summon the long-haired Achaean troops to battle. The cries rang out. The battalions gathered quickly." Agamemnon's overbearing and assertive personality was strong enough to have his army abandon thoughts of retreat and fight instead. Although today's society does not necessarily promote this kind of leadership that praises violence as the only means to the end, there are those who believe that preparing for a violent situation will be the safest method of solving problems, and maybe even preventing the problem from happening in the first place. Bryant Williams is similar to Agamemnon in that they both believe that violence is a very real occurrence and want to prepare for it.

The fact that religious people are being persecuted today is very real, controversial, and violent. However, does this justify the need to arm oneself if he or she is living in a society in which a majority of people share the same beliefs in the first place as Bryant Williams does? Is Bryant Williams justified in his beliefs to arm himself and other Christians for being "targeted" even though he lives in a majority Christian part of the country? If one were to ask Agamemnon in Homer's time, the answer would be yes. However, we do not live in the times of Homer.