2. Hotspots

- “Several generations of Americans have come to see the Arab world mainly as a dangerous place, where terrorism and religious fanaticism are spawned and where a gratuitous anti-Americanism is inculcated in the young by evil clerics who are anti-democratic and virulently anti-Semitic.”

(pg.200, par. 5, Said)

I chose this hotspot because I feel like although Said might be exaggerating a little too much; he does make a good argument when stating that Americans are still continuing to stereotype Arabs. Although these are not views that I associate with Arabs, I feel like over the past decade, and especially since “9/11” many Americans have started to make false assumptions that anyone who is Arab is dangerous, or a terrorist and it is sad because it is obviously not true. Blaming an entire culture or religion for the wrongdoing of a small group of people that associate with that religion is completely wrong, and it would be the same thing to associate all white males as rapists just because a story shows up on the news every now and then stating that a rare amount of them are. I think that this type of racism is paid little attention to, and I think it is a major problem that needs to change.

- “Every empire however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate.”

(pg.200, par.4, Said)

In this hotspot, Said uses this as an example to explain how the United States government is being hypocritical and doing exactly what they claim not to do, because it is what all other empires do. Said is saying that the U.S. claims they are educating and liberating Americans, and not trying to plunder and control like other empires like the Middle East for example, but in reality, when the U.S. government shares their biased views to Americans, giving a bad reputation to Arabs, it is a completely different type of power and control that they are imposing. Although they might not be imposing physical or violent power like other empires, they are still on a mission to control us, not to educate and liberate us like they pretend to be doing.

- “The ceremony of innocence is drowned”

(pg. 221,line 6, Yeats)

I chose this hotspot because I felt like it was one of many examples that supported my interpretation of the poem. I believe that Yeats is fearing the second coming of Jesus because he thinks that Jesus has changed, and has become a beast-like creature, which explains why this line is talking about a loss of innocence. He seems to be making a comparison from what Jesus was before, innocent to what he predicts he will be when he comes back the second time, which is a creature, something that is not pure or innocent at all, hence the description of the loss of innocence as “drowning”.

- “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?”

(pg.222, line 21, Yeats)

Very similar to my previous hotspot, this quote is another example of my interpretation of the poem, because it is once again talking about a revelation that is birthing a beast into Bethlehem. I found this poem interesting because I have never heard of anything before reading this that has referred to Jesus as a beast or creature during the time of his resurrection.