Contradictions

I also find it fascinating that Orientalism embodies the ''modernity'' of the Western culture by emphasizing an exotic quality in contrast to ''Western progress.''

Contradictions abound at any time, and as Epic Encounters shows, Americans were both drawn to the Middle East as a religious origin and as a source of oil, but threatened by it as soon as it started to challenge their control and enter upon US soil.

Throughout our readings, the common theme is that such blatant contradictions underscore the fluid and calculated nature of racial images in the mass media.