4B hotspots

The first hotspot from Edward Said's article came from page 199: “Britain ruled the vast territories of India with only a few thousand colonial officers and a few more thousand troops, many of them Indians. France did the same in North Africa and Indochina, the Dutch in Indonesia, the Portuguese and Belgians in Africa.” When Said says this, he refers to the fact that all of these Imperial nations experienced uprisings by the locals, as a result of the harsh treatment of the locals. The point is that the U.S. is now the imperial power in the Middle East and that, if we are not careful, we could find ourselves in the same position. I wanted to point out that this is very interesting, considering the fact that over 200 years ago we too played the role of the colony being mistreated by its imperial counterpart. I feel that, if we are not careful, history will repeat itself and we will have flipped roles, becoming the imperial power. It seems as though there is a pattern here, and we must learn from the past mistakes of our former enemies and apply what we learn to our current situation.

My second hotspot from this article can be found on page 200: “the media runs the vilest racist stereotypes about Arabs.” I find it interesting that, although we claim to be a “free country” with just and righteous standards, we certainly have a strong opinion of other nations. It definitely says something about the U.S. that the Wall Street Journal, one of the most read periodicals printed in our country, would publish such a racist article. This means that the editors thought that many people would agree with it and find it interesting. I feel that this demonstrates that the American media can sometimes give America a bad name.

My first hotspot for this article is as follows: “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold” (Yeats, 221). I feel that this is a description of what Yeats felt the world was coming to at the time the poem was written. I think that perhaps he thought that the world would soon fall apart and that people would desperately be in need of God's help. However, according to Yeats, God would send a beast to destroy mankind once and for all. I think that perhaps this poem was greatly influenced by the fact that the world had just ended the First World War, and that Yeats felt that this was the beginning of the world's destruction. Also, the great depression was only a few years into the future, and the world was likely beginning to feel economic strains.

My second hotspot from this poem was: “That twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle.” (Yeats, page 222) I think that this is even more proof that Yeats was describing the current situation of the world, since it describes the “twenty centuries” that mankind has lived through. This passage also has significant religious undertones (as well as the rest of the poem), and seems to indicate that mankind has been “sleeping” since Jesus left the earth, but now it will be awakened. Yeats seems to have the attitude that his vision is different than others' and that his is correct. While reading this poem I continually got the impression that Yeats thought that the world would be surprised at the time of the Second Coming, and that he would be able to say “I told you so.”

Log 4B hotspots

In “Stereotyping of Arabs by the U.S. Ensures Years of Turmoil” by Edward Said, he described how the United States' involvement in the Middle East is similar to Britain's involvement in India during the time of the British Empire. Te first hotspot for me was when Mr. Said said “At least since World War II, American strategic interests in the Middle East have been, first, to ensure supplies of oil and, second, to guarantee at enormous cost the strength and domination of Israel over its neighbors.” (Said 200). This passage interested me because I feel it accurately describes Americas policy in regard to the Middle East. I feel that America's greed and thirst for oil is what drives us to stay involved in the Middle East, and we pay no attention to the status of the citizens living there. Most of the Arab countries dislike our activity there, and only feign there belief in our principles. As Mr. Said puts it “Americans are sufficiently blind that when a Middle Eastern leader emerges whom our leaders like – the shah of Iran or Anwar Sadat – it is assumed that he is a visionary who does things our way not because he understands the political game (which is to survive by humoring the regent authority) but because he is moved by principles that we share.” (Said 201). The second hotspot for me was when Mr. Said pointed out the ignorance of the American people, which is likely due to people like Bernard Lewis who do everything they can to slander Arabs to make us think that Arabs all all like the extremists. Mr. Said ends by saying that we are in for more years of turmoil in the Middle East if we don't do something about our own ignorance.

I was never really good at analyzing poetry, so I had a lot of difficulty understanding “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats. The poem was pretty short in comparison to other poems that I have read, so I actually managed to finish it unlike some of my other experiences. This doesn't mean I knew what was trying to be said, however I began to get a better idea after reading it a second time. The first hotspot for me was the title for me, as I know what it traditionally refers to in christian culture. I figured that it would not have the same meaning in the poem, and only got confused by reading the poem. What I gathered was that the poem was describing the second coming, only instead of the Savior returning it was some sort of terrible beast. This was strange because I know the second coming as Jesus returning, but this was about something terrible instead. The second hotspot was on line 12 when Mr. Yeats said Spiritus Mundi, I was curious as to what that phrase meant, so I looked it up. I learned that the phrase means the spirit of the world. This refers to the belief that every human mind is linked to form a single greater intelligence. I don't really see how this fits in with the rest of the poem, but after looking into it, I learned that Yeats believed this greater intelligence could cause universal symbols to appear in the minds of individuals. I'm not sure Yeats actually believed in this single intelligence, but if he did then it could be the cause of the vision he describes in this poem. I personally believe that Yeats was only doing good writing, and never saw any sort of vision. I am still unsure of the full meaning of the poem, but perhaps it is better that way.

Log 4B

I found two hot spots while reading this essay. The first hot spot that I found was on page 200. It reads: “Cynthia Ozick in The Wall Street Journal… speaks of Palestinians as “having reared children unlike any other children, removed from ordinary norms and behaviors”

The second hot spot that I found was on page 201. It reads: “Underlying this perspective is a long-standing view-that denies Arabs their right to national self-determination because they are considered incapable of logic, unable to tell the truth and fundamentally murderous.”

I found two hot spots while reading this poem. The first hot spot that I found was on page 221, lines five and six of the poem. They read “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere, the ceremony of innocence is drowned.;”

The second hot spot that I found was on page 222, lines 21 and 22. They read “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?”

Writing Log 4B

While reading “Stereotyping of Arabs by the U.S. Ensures Years of Turmoil” I found it hard to find just two hotspots in this essay.

The first hotspot that really made me think was “Sever generations of Americans have comet o see the Arab world as a dangerous place, when terrorism and religious fanaticism are spawned and where gratuitous anti-Americanism is inculcated in the young by evil clerics who are anti-democratic and virulently anti-Semitic”. (200) This is taking about how the U.S first started over in the Middle East for oil and then started to say that they were going to reform the government. And because of that American’s now see the Arab world in a light that is not correct at all. I would say that he does have a point over the years of just are lifetime alone America’s opinion of Arabs has gradually been getting worse as time goes on. We do see Arabs as people who hate all American’s when many people in America have a hate for Arabs. On the other hand Said’s opinion seems to be very bias.

The second hotspot I found in “Stereotyping of Arabs by the U.S. Ensures Years of Turmoil” was “We are in for many more years of turmoil and misery in the Middle East, where one of the main problems is to put it as plainly as possible, U.S. power.” (202) This hotspot is really concluding the whole essay, and saying why he thinks that the Middle East is having so many problems. I think that Said’s opinion is very bias and one sided. First is yes the U.S. being over there may be causes even more problems than need for. And might not be helping any of the problems that have existed for years. Second it seems to me that he is very quick to blame mostly all the problems and turmoil all on the U.S. with out looking at the bigger picture. Said seems to over look the fact that the Middle East has been in so type of fight or war since biblical times, and that will probably never change. But all he seems to be doing is pointing fingers at everyone else. I don’t think that it matters weather or not the U.S. is there or not the Middle East would probably still be in turmoil and in a war with someone or with themselves. I think that he had a few good point but over all he was just pointing fingers and just putting all the blame for the Middle East’s problems on the U.S. and no one else.

The second story that I read I found it very hard to come up with hotspots. I think it was hard to come up with hotspots because it was in poem form and was hard to understand. It seemed at one point to be talking about the end of the World and then about God’s second coming I guess but I’m not really sure.

My first hotspot was “The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out”. (222) To be honest I have no idea what this is talking about but I can only guess. Since I’m not really sure exactly what this poem is talking about my guess is Yeats is referring to when the Bible and even the church say that the world will end when God comes for a second time. So when he says “The Second Coming!” I would believe that he is talking about God, and the end of the world. The lines that follows my hotspot is “When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi”. (222) I tried to look it up to see if I could get a better understanding but I couldn’t seem to come up with anything thing really other than this poem.

My second hotspot is “And what rough beast, its hour came round at last, / Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?” (222) I once again have no idea what this is talking about either. I would just have to guess that it is either talking about God coming to Earth a second time at the end of the world and that he is guess that he might be born in Bethlehem once again. I can only guess that this whole poem is about the world ending and God’s second coming like the Catholic Church teaches but I am not quite sure because there are only little hints that this is what it might be about.

4B

During “Stereotyping of Arabs by the U.S Ensures Years of Turmoil”, it was hard to find any hotspots that stood out to me. The first spot I chose to write about was on page 202. It says that “We are in for many more years of turmoil and misery in the Middle East, where one of the main problems is, to put it as plainly as possible, U.S. power. What the United States refuses to see clearly it can hardly hope to remedy”. This is the same thing that he's been saying throughout the rest of the paper, just condensed. I think that he is hypocritical because he talks about the U.S judging the middle east and here he is judging the U.S
Also, on page 200 where it says that the U.S propaganda talks down on the Middle East. Yes, of course there are Americans that talk down about the middle east. Are we just suppose to ignore the terrorist attacks we've seen come from groups in the middle east? It's not easy to be uplifting about the people who have began to tear your country apart. Maybe not everyone in the middle east is dangerous, but it's hard to think about anyone else except for the ones that created 9/11. Everyone has opinions and I'm sure the middle east doesn't always say the nicest things about the U.S.

After reading “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats, I had two hotspots. The first one was on page 221 where it says, “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned”. This was one of my hotspots because really, it sounds creepy. I don't really know what the whole poem is saying but it sounds like the world is coming to an end or being attacked in some way. When it says that the ceremony of innocence is drowned, it sounds to me like everywhere something bad is happening and the innocence is being taken away. The whole poem sounds like something major is about to take place, I'm just not sure what it is.
My second hotspot was on page 222. It says, “A shape with lion body and the head of a man, a gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, is moving it's slow thighs, while all about it reel shadows of the indignant birds.” This was one of my hotspots because I can picture this image in my head and it makes me feel included in the poem. I also thought it was weird that he said it was a shape with a lion body but with the head of a man. To me, this sounds like something in the old times so it makes me feel like this poem isn't recent. I think I don't know much about what's going on because it's an old Christian poem and I'm not too familiar with those are the stories that they tell. After researching what “The Second Coming” is, it said that it was Christ coming back to earth. If this is true, I think this is a weird way of showing it happening. If I were to imagine Christ coming back to earth, I would picture more of a pleasant picture, not one that sounds so scary. I think that the shape that he is describing is suppose to be Christ coming back, and that doesn't sound like what I would imagine for that scenario. I would pick more of a human, or wings or something bright and beautiful. That's why this poem confused me. Not to mention, I'm no poet.

hot spot 4B

My first hotspot is “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold”(221). This line engaged me right at the beginning of this poem. I personally believe this statement is very strong. I think it is true in many aspects of life, many things cannot stay strong. Whether it be the world, relationships or simple things I truly believe in this happens all the time. I chose this because it really made me think of how things starts to fall apart in the first place. It is true the center cannot hold. The center falls apart and then everything else crumbles into pieces. I wish I understood this poem more so I knew exactly what the author was talking about, i think it would help me be able to relate more. So although I agree with this sentence I do not fully understand it. My second hot spot is found on page 222. “Surely some revelation is at hand.” I chose this as my second hot spot because it makes me ask a lot of questions. I wonder what kind of revelation is the author thinking about? When does the author expect it to happen and how? I think this is a creative statement and I just wish this was a story not a poem so I knew the answers to all my questions. I think if I understood this poem more I would be able to answer my questions in further depth.
“StereoTyping of Arabs by The U.S” written by Edward Said is about Imperialism. “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”(200). I think this is the main point of this story. That people can get away from imperialism, and that we judge arabs and their imperialism based on race, and religion even if they are more on U.S side then the Arabic's side. I do not think the author is trying to get us to do something in particular besides inform us about imperialism and the Arabic's in a slighter negative way. I chose this quote as my first hot spot because I first think it helps to get the main point across that all empires think there better then others. I also chose this because this story was very confusing and this quote just stood out to me. Not only did It help me understand this story I think I can also relate it to many other things. Every one and every thing thinks there better then everyone else. Really they are being biased and not opening their eyes to reality. I think this quote is interesting yet at the same time confusing because what if one really is a lot strong then the other.
My second Hot spot was found on page 202. Said says, “ What the u.s refuses to see clearly it can hardly hope to remedy”. This was my second hot spot I chose because it gives a point of the authors viewpoint that the u.s needs to open its eyes and see more clearly. Hopefully all the damage that has been done can get fixed and that the u.s will be restored back to its original state. The other reason I chose this as my hot spot was simply because I thought it was a good ending that led the audience with questions to be asked. It also left us with thinking about what needs to be fixed and how we can help to get it to the point of restoration. I wish I understood this story more I think if I new more about what was going on in the world I would. It makes me want to go out and research to find out what the author is actually talking about because he kind of lost me. I also am not very engaged in story’s that are about the world. So I think this story is okay, it would be better if I could understand it more.

writing log 4b

It was hard to find a “hotspot” in this short essay. On page 202 Said explained that Arab’s feel, “that’s the way the Arabs are” when it comes to their stereotypical interpretation from the West. In other words, because the U.S. and other Western Countries see the Middle East as a dangerous and extremely tense place, the Middle East needs to be a dangerous and extremely tense place. I would certainly hope that that is not true. Because if it is true then the Middle East might actually be worse then we thought it was. The fact is that only a small segment of the Middle East is truly dangerous. These dangerous men are the extremists and the rest of the population is actually rather gentle. This small extremist group is just obtusely dense when they come to interpreting their religion. I would hope that Said’s belief that the rest of the Middle East acts the way they do only to live up to their name is false.

My second “hotspot” was on page 200 when Said talked about how American propaganda talks down about the Middle East. Said says that American’s source of information about Arabs and Islam is woefully inadequate. I would have to disagree with that. Most Americans do have a negative stereotype on the Middle East but are we not entitled to our opinions. Especially, after all the terrorist attacks that we have seen around the world mainly caused by some crazy sub group of the Middle East. I would also declare that the Middle East holds stereotypes about the U.S.

I am by no means a poet, so this poem was tough to decipher. I got a religious vibe from it, mainly because of “The Second Coming” but that vibe was further strengthened by lines like, “Slouches to Bethlehem to be born?” and “That twenty centuries of stony sleep.” But I really do not know what this poem was about. Maybe Jesus is the falcon and God is the falconer in the beginning of the poem. And Jesus loses God while he is on earth, thus leading to his crucifixion.

My first “hotspot” is the line, “that twenty centuries of stony sleep”. If that is in fact a reference towards Jesus Christ and his time spent in the cave after his crucifixion then it is wrong when it uses the word “centuries”. Jesus according to the bible was only in the cave for less than two weeks. I actually think that it was the seventh day, so a week. I thought that saying “twenty centuries” was a bit of a stretch even for poetry.

“Hotspot” number 2 is about all the animals mentioned in this passage. Lion, falcon, man, birds, and beast, are all mentioned in the poem. It was hard to follow what each animal was a symbol for. Maybe the animals weren’t even symbols but just imagery. Either way it was difficult for me to understand what Yeats was trying to say and all the animals switching throughout the poem didn’t help. This poem was ultimately difficult to understand for me, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. It’s probably great.

Writing Log 4B hotspots

The first hotspot I found was on page 200. Said contends “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”

The second hot I found in Edward Said’s article was also on page 200. “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.”

The first hotspot I found in Yeats’ poem was on page 221 lines seven and eight. “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

The second hotspot I found in Yates’ poem was on page 221 as well, line 3. “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;”

Writing Log 4B Hotspots

My first hotspot was on page 201 and it states, “Underlying this perspective is a long standing view—the Orientalist view—that denies Arabs their right to national self-determination because they are considered incapable of logic, unable to tell the truth and fundamentally murderous.” I chose this because it was interesting to me. Since the U.S. is at war I always-perceived Arab states like Iraq to be bad. I don’t pay close attention to the media when it comes to stuff like this—so that’s partly my fault—but I just assumed that all these places Said talks about were as he said “unable to tell the truth and murderous.” He brings a point of view that is not normally thought of. It doesn’t make me change my views on things, but it does make me think that I may not have all the facts and that I shouldn’t be so easily blinded by things I hear.

“We are in for many more years of turmoil and misery in the Middle East, where one of the main problems is, to put it as plainly as possible, U.S. power. What the United States refuses to see clearly it can hardly hope to remedy” (202). This is the last paragraph of the essay and I believe Said writes this to try and sum together everything he was saying in a few short sentences. In my opinion though, it’s just repetitive. He pretty much says the same thing throughout his whole essay, but just in different ways and by using different example. Although his essay got me thinking, it also is less credible in my opinion because he is very biased. He has one view throughout the whole thing and he doesn’t really show any positive reasons to why the U.S. may be doing what they’re doing.

“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” (221). These lines jumped out at me. To me, Yeats is making a powerful statement in those lines. To say that “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;” shows how things are beginning to break and become unstable. In the next line when he says, “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” this makes me feel like the center has finally broken and now there is chaos. I believe that these lines could also be used to describe other aspects of life and not just what he means in his poem. I feel like it just shows when things start getting bad and everything finally breaks and when anarchy comes, it’s the confusion.

My next hotspot was on page 222 and it reads, “Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are the words out when a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi troubles my sight.” I chose this because it seems as if in the beginning of the poem Yeast is talking all about the chaos and anarchy, but when he gets here, he starts to have some hope that change is coming. By saying that “The Second Coming is at hand” he is starting to believe that things are finally changing. But, shortly after he sees something “troubles his sight.” To me this shows how he was finally looking forward to something, but then something scary distracts him and lessens his excitement. This was an idea that I liked because I think it relates to many other things in life. The idea of change and being excited that gets shot down by something that’s not foreseen.

Megan Vaccarella

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.