Sunday, April 12, 2009
King Tut
I thought the King Tut reading was very interesting. As I was reading it, I did not realize how much of an affect a piece of art could have on the United States and on the Middle East. After I was done reading it, I definitely thought that the United States had the economy on its mind. I do believe that the United States wanted the appreciation of art to increase greatly, but I do not buy that as the reason for the King Tut tour. With the Oil embargo that was placed upon the United States, they knew they had to find a way to get back into the oil mix. The article even said that United States wanted to use King Tut as a peace symbol between the Middle East and the U.S. I firmly believe that the economy of the United States is always on the mind of our government. While the United States might not admit it, I am sure that the U.S. use things such as King Tut for economy purposes. I see King Tut as a bridge between the Middle East and the United States, and I think oil was the main focus of the U.S.
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I agree that economic gains seem to be the most important reason for the United States to act, in order to maintain our superiority in the world in this area, as well as to insure that Americans are able to consume whatever it may be that they desire. I also thought that it was interesting that defense of our economic interests in the Middle East, in the context of the Tut exhibit, was profoundly racialized. Like the Tut gold, artwork, and history was trying to be assumed to be universally white and the property of its Western discoverer, the region's oil was also thought to be ours for the taking.
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