Blog for Week of February 17th

The poem A Roosevelt has altered my way of thinking about American intervention in Latin America. Before this class, I had the perception that Latin America was helpless to react to the United States' involvement in the area. To add on, I also thought that the United States was completely dominant over Latin America to the point that Latin America didn't even know what was happening, but this wasn't the case. Contrary to what I used to think, Latin America was very much aware of what the United States was doing. This can be seen throughout Rúben Darío's poem A Roosevelt, where the author states, "Beware. Spanish America lives! There are a thousand cubs set loose from the Spanish Lion. For God's sake, one would need to be, Roosevelt, a terrifying Sharpshooter and a mighty Hunter to hold us in your ferrous claws." Latin America is aware of the power and prestige the United States holds; however, they are not willing to give in to American demands. Latin America knows what it has and what its capabilities are. Although the United States is being bullish in the way it acts, Latin America still shows respect towards them. On the flip side, Latin America wants to be given the same respect from the United States as it shows towards America. 

Comments

  1. Brooke KolarFebruary 18, 2022 at 1:26 PM

    Hi, Ben! I also had a similar view of the US's intervention in Latin America. It always seemed that the countries of Latin America were helpless and the US was helping them not hindering them. I never realized that they could be collectively strong against the US, but this class has definitely changed my opinions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jackson HicksFebruary 18, 2022 at 5:56 PM

    Hey, Ben! I really liked your post! I also spoke about To Roosevelt, and how the poem affected how I look at US and Latin American relations. It's awesome to see we share very similar experiences and new mindsets. I like how your post closes, speaking about respect. I believe that is a very good point, and I am happy you addressed it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Médar SerrataMarch 10, 2022 at 1:45 PM

    Thank you for your post, Ben. I'm glad to see that you appreciate Dario's perspective on US intervention in Latin America. It is a perspective still shared by many Latin Americans today.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog for Week of Sept. 23

I need to come up with some sort of name to address the people who are reading my posts. It's boring just saying hey everyone. Anyways, something that caught my attention during the week was the story of Ferdinand van Olmen. In 1487, only a few years prior to Columbus, van Olmen was given permission to sail west with the hopes of discovering new resources and land for Portugal. He attempted to go west across the Atlantic Ocean with high hopes, but he ran into difficult winds and storms that made the voyage impossible. Strangely enough, the weather had a tremendous impact on our world history. Since van Olmen set sail in winter, the winds were pushing against his ships. Columbus, to his fortune, set sail when the winds were in his favor and helping him towards what would become the New World. Imagine if van Olmen had succeeded and ended up discovering the New World for Portugal. The entire structure of Latin America would be based on Portuguese culture and language. The people today...
Read more

My Response to Annika's Post Week of October 28th

 I really like how you compared the example from the movie to today's standards. It's interesting how materialistic objects can portray what someone is worth or at least appear that way. Much of what is perceived by others of ourselves is what we like. Just because someone takes an interest in something doesn't mean their personality is always the same. I think that humans are too quick to judge each other based on outward appearance instead of personal interactions.
Read more

Blog for Week of October 28th

 I thought the city of Potosí in current-day Bolivia was very similar to many towns in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. People tend to live around where the money is, and in both Michigan's U.P. and Potosí, there was labor needed for the mining industry. Although Potosí and the U.P. had very different primary mining resources available in copper and silver, the results of the mining industry remained the same. Large populations developed around the mining communities because that was where resources were most necessary. Additionally, many of the miners in both Potosí and the U.P. had to deal with extremely difficult conditions. A lot of the work was done by immigrants or people who had come from far away for the work. The miners did not have many other choices other than to work in the mines because of their social statuses and backgrounds. Consequently, the mining industry in both communities created booming trade industries. The Upper Peninsula would grow as a series of mining tow...
Read more