Jacob Calvillo's comment

I will be posting a comment regarding "the bloody countess." Has anyone seen the movie Stay Alive? It was a crap movie, but it had an okay way of telling the tale of Elizabeth Bathory. Why do you think that they chose her tale to use as the base of the movie?

The Bloody Countess Reflection

I have to say that after reading The Bloody Countess I will think twice before judging a pretty girl before and after getting to know her. From the reading it seemed that Erzebet Bathory looked like a beautiful girl who couldn't hurt a fly, in the public eye. This can be observed by the fact that Ferenez Nadasdy, a courageous soldier, married her and never discovered or wasn't smart enough to find out the truth of his marriege to a monster. However, this made me think a little bit of how Bathory was able to pull this off. When Bathory is finally caught and punished for her horrible acts of murder and torture she says that it was her right as part of the nobility to perform such acts on people. Throughout her years of torturing and murdering she never felt any regret or repentance because she always saw it as her right to be able to commit such acts.

Another important aspect of the reading that I noticed was of the enormous gap between the nobility and the peasants. Erzebet tortured, mutilated and killed hundreds and hundreds of innocent young women peasants and just because they were peasants nobody, not even the proper authorities did anything to stop the murders. It wasn't until Erzebet went after the "blue" blooded young women that something was finally done. This shows that the peasants were literally seen as animals in the 1600's in Eastern Europe. The nobility were able to get away with murder. However, it also shows the weakness of the nobility in its ability to control its own kind. Erzebet also murdered nobility but in a way also got away with it because all they did was put her in house arrest for the rest of her life. The nobility was afraid that the punishing of one branch of nobility would weaken the entire nobility as a group and therefore were afraid to do anything about the mass murdering.

The Bloody Countess

After reading "The Bloody Countess", I am amazed at the similarities in the views towards women and sexuality it shares with Dracula.

Throughout the piece, there are numerous occasions of heavy sexual descriptions, as well as many of the violent behaviors of Countess Bathory being ways of her receiving pleasures that are similar to sex. After reading Dracula and seeing how women with rampant sexual appetites were viewed as demonic, I can't help but notice the same sort of feelings being insinuated in "The Bloody Countess".

I looked up some more information on this story. I even googled some images. I found one painting/drawing on the first page of my search that I thought related really well to what I was talking about above. Unfortunately, I can't post it on here because it depicts two woman with no clothes.

In the picture, the Countess is shown in her all white dress, and a veil covers her face. Behind her are two women and a skeleton each with three figures clad in all black. One has the face of a raven (I believe), and the other in the shape of some other grotesque monster. To me, the picture shows these women dancing in a very riskay manner with these dark beings. These dark beings are demons, and by showing the voluptuous women dancing with these demons the artist is depicting how being filled with such carnal desires is demonic.

If you wish to see the picture yourself, its pretty easy to find. Just go to google images and type in "the bloody countess". On the first page, there are two different times this picture appears so you can't miss it.

quote by John Lennon

"It's the fear of the unknown. The unknown is what it is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love hate, all that-- it's all illusion. Unknown is what it is. Accept that it's unknown and it's plain sailing. everything is unknown--then you're ahead of the game. That's what it is. Right?"
John Lennon

I think that this quote relates closely to Dracula. It was the fear that sent everyone in the novel into a frenzy, trying to protect one another by fixing everyday problems hoping that would take the fear away. The first half of the novel, most of the characters were in denial that a creature was the thing causing all of this chaos. As soon as they accepted that it was something unknown that was killing people, they took immediate action. Dracula, himself, accepted the unknown. He accepted that he was the unknown and after that he had a breeze killing people and doing his thing. He wasn't afraid of the unknown world that he doesn't live in but rather intrudes in. He conquered the fear and accomplished what he wished to do.

Holly Fowler's comment

I'm commenting on the image that is blaming immigrants for everything. In this image immigrants are being portrayed as these dark and haunting creatures, much like the "other". They have red eyes which is symbolic to someone being demonic. People are blaming them for taking away all the things they once had in their lives even though the fault may be their own. The immigrants are not being portrayed as bad people but as bad creatures, suggesting that they are not civilized enough to be a human but rather be a creature.

"Otherness" in Dracula

When i was reading the other night i found this passage from Dr. Sewards diary that just screams of "The Other". It's shortly after the death of the Un-dead Lucy when Van Helsing is trying to introduce Seward to the idea of Vampires.


"You are clever man, friend John; you reason well, and your wit is bold;but you are too prejudiced. You do not let your eyes see nor your ears hear,and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to you. Do you think that there are things which you cannot understand and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? Bu there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men's eyes,because they know-or think they know-some things which other men have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all;and if it explain not,then it says there is nothing to explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs,which think themselves new; and whichn are yet but the old, which pretend to be young-like the fine ladies at the opera. I suppose now you do not believe in corporeal transference. No? Nor in materilization. No? Nor in astral bodies. No? Nor in the reading of thought. No? Nor in hypnotism-"

Van Helsing is trying to get Dr. Seward to look beyond what he already knows to see what actually is. He is trying to have Dr. Seward embrace something that is different and out of his world. And when I say his world I mean what he knows to be the world. For example, Ive grown up in Southern California all my life. I know that there is more to the world than this, but I "KNOW" Southern California. Living in Southern California up until September 11th,2001; my friends and I had never heard the word "terrorist" or "terrorism". Until Dr. Seward encountered un-dead lucy, he would have never had to think twice about any evil spirits or demons such as the Count.

The bolded section: "Ah, it is the fault of our science.." shows, to me anyways, that it is the fault OUR of society that puts an "other" into the position of "the other". I'd rather discuss this bit in class because I'd like to be able to, well, discuss it with it everyone.

(sorry for any mispellings or grammatical errors...did not use WORD)

Irish vs Chinese

I will be commenting on the picture entitled "The great fear of the period that uncle sam would may be swallowed by foreigners. In the first scene, we all see easily the fear of the period; Uncle Sam is being swallowed by an Irish man on the left, and a Chinese man on the right. In the second scene, we see that the consumption of Uncle Sam is nearly complete, and the Irish man and the Chinese man are almost face to face, kind of looking at each other, waiting to see what's going to happen next. In the final and third scene, we see that the Chinese man has conquered the Irish man, is standing alone, with half an Irish man protruding from his mouth, and a new found hat on his head. In all these scenes, there is the evidence of a railroad behind the characters. I presume that this is probably the Transcontinental Railroad, where many Irish and Chinese were hired to complete the project. Finally, at the bottom of the picture is the words "Problem Solved". Now, I thought that this was totally ironic because in the very end, Uncle Sam is still not alive. He was still swallowed and is presumably dead, and now we have a Chinese immigrant left standing. If the fear of the period was that uncle sam would be "swallowed" by foreigners, then it does the people no good if uncle sam is still not alive. By the word swallowed, I am getting a sense of the immigrants invading and taking over jobs that the white men have so long had possession over. In addition, I am getting the sense that the picture itself, is not so much of a fear of uncle sam being swallowed, but more like a persuasion for employers to hire a majority of Chinese immigrants as opposed to Irish immigrants. The Irish have always had the stereotype of being drunk, and possessing foul language, which goes to say, that the Chinese are probably more easily bearable. I believe the picture is propaganda for people to hire more Chinese immigrants as opposed to Irish immigrants.

Jesse Luersen's Comment

I will be commenting on the image that says, "Blame them for everything". This image is showing a group of people who are supposed to be representing immigrants burning in Hell. The sign blames the immigrants for taking their jobs, wives, and spreading diseases. They are using immigrants as their scapegoats and blaming them for anything and everything that goes wrong in their life. I find it particularly interesting that the immigrants are shown as dark figures, with red scary eyes. Much like a creature you see in the night, or a werewolf. Also the writing on the poster is in black and red, red reminds most of us of blood. This image really portrays them as dark, evil, creatures of their time.

an interesting poem

here is an interesting poem related to the phrase "for the dead travel fast."


http://infocult.typepad.com/dracula/2009/05/for-the-dead-travel-fast.html

Colter Rios comment

I will be commenting on the “Harpers Weekly: Journal of Civilization “post. I find this picture particularly interesting because this image illustrates an Irishmen be equal to that of an African American. African Americans were heavily scrutinized in this time and this image is portraying that Irish folk were treated equally as bad. I relate this illustration to Dracula in a sense of the immigrants being The Other. Never being an immigrant myself I can never really relate or truly have the same thoughts that they were having that moment in time. This image also is interesting in the way they portray both the Irishmen and the African American profiling them to have certain body language, facial expression, even dressing them in somewhat stereotypical clothing. They even go as far as illustrating the African American being shoeless.

Alyssa Good's comment

I will be commenting on the “Harper Weekly: Journal of Civilization” post. This cartoon illustrates the struggle of African Americans and Irishmen. These two races were greatly discriminated against, and this cartoon portrays the fact that they were treated equally at the bottom of the social chain. This cartoon was made many years ago because of an immigration issue. At present, there is still an immigration issue, and other races are being put down on the same scale. I can personally consider this illustration to be a part of The Other because I have never been the immigrant or the race that was/is discriminated against. I can sympathize toward these people, but I cannot truly understand how they felt about the situation because of not having experience with immigrating or being a part of the minority.

Emily Ramirez's Comment

I will be commenting on the very last image that shows our ex-president George W. Bush. This image states "Be Afraid! Because Paranoia is Patriotic" picturing Bush in the center and then in the faded background, Saddam Hussein and Osama BinLaden.
During Bush's reign as president, he emphasized the racist idea that anyone who was not white and came from the Middle East was most likely a terrorist or friends with a terrorist. After the events of September 11, 2001, terror made its home within the United States, entering the hearts of millions of residents of the nation. Bush took advantage of this and began his campaign of fighting the supposed "War on Terrorism". Both he and his cabinet skillfully manipulated the minds of many citizens to believe that being afraid was the correct thing and that the best way to take care of this was to essentially be racist and give up personal freedoms. An example of this being the Patriot Act which was signed less than a month after the 9/11 attacks. Sly as a snake and cunning as a wolf, Bush stripped freedoms from many and wrongfully accused many of being illegal or terrorist while emphasizing phrase, "Be Afraid! Because Paranoia is PATRIOTIC".

Luis Gutierrez's Comment

I will be commenting on the sign that says, "Blame them for Everything". This sign shows an image of scary looking people as the background of the sign and with the words "Blame them for Everything" and " Hell" in very big words. This poster is promoting that essentially everything that is going on wrong with the country is the immigrant's fault. If you don't have a job, its telling you that an immigrant stole it from you. If your wife left you, its telling you that its because an immigrant swept her off her feet and took her from you. This image unjustly and ill mindedly says that all immigrants are bad and that they are creatures from hell. This picture doesn't say that only the Irish are bad or that just the Italians are bad it says that they are all bad and gives them a value of that of something faul and terrible like garbage or rats, just as an example.

Thoughts on "America's History of Fear" by Nicholas Kristof

Ryan sent me a very interesting article by a New York Times columnist, Nicholas D. Kristof . In this piece, Kristof suggests in this article that the fear of Islam Americans seem to have today is nothing new in the history of the United States. He says that in moments of assimilation, well-meaning American "worriers" target new minorities because of what he says is the "menacing" fear they embody. I'm not entirely clear what he means by "menace" and "menacing" and would have liked for him to clarify some of that in the essay, which is well-thought out overall. Ryan and I both think that this article ties in so nicely with the fear of the Other that we've begun discussing in class. Why is it that we fear what or who we don't know? Why do we feel as though our house (the nation) is threatened? The bottom picture declares that Paranoia is Patriotic. What does that mean?
So, in the interest of having some conversation about this, I'm attaching some pictures I found on the internet while searching for "immigrant" "fear" and later, "Irish" "Black". Please respond to one of these images in a few sentences


Fear of immigrants was widespread in the United States. In this cartoon, published five years after the Haymarket Square riot and one year before the Homestead Strike, illustrator Grant Hamilton placed a judge scolding Uncle Sam: "If Immigration was properly Restricted you would no longer be troubled with Anarchy, Socialism, the Mafia and such kindred evils!" From New York Harbor behind them comes a horde of arriving immigrants labeled "German socialist," "Russian anarchist," "Polish vagabond," "Italian brigand," "English convict," and "Irish pauper." (http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=3599)