Orientalism

So I read and viewed several of the websites from the syllabus. I like the idea that the term "east" becomes synonymous with idea of different or foreign. Yes the Europeans did base the term on location with the Europeans of course being the place to start from. However, even those "in a the east" could continue to look east and see the US or Europe and define them in the same way that he Europeans defined those in the east, they are different. With all of these ideas of the exotic, sensual, and violent culture of the east I cannot help but wonder where these ideas came from. Yes, the Europeans did tell themselves that they were behaving selflessly, but still the ideas of the unknown and the different being viewed as less accurate seem to be present in both cultures. It is often quoted that people fear that which they do not know. This most likely has something to do with the way foreign society was classified but perhaps not everything. I like Said's idea that instead of defining what the "west" actually was, they compared it to its opposite and defined what it wasn't. This makes me think that perhaps none or only very little of the stereotypes of Islamic people were accurate and the rest of those stereotypes were just things opposite to what the west wanted associated with them. It did not really matter what the east was but rather what the west wasn't. Of course since east and west are opposites the would naturally have opposite cultures and one would be right and superior and the other wrong and inferior (sarcasm). This dualistic notion of a or b is present in many aspects of the western or European life, Ex: black and white, day and night, hot and cold.

I found the counter argument to Said's a little confusing, but I think I got the gist of it. Hope everyone had a good weekend.