“Us and Them”

Orientalism

The term Orientalism refers to images of the “Orient” or Eastern-based cultures as being completely different from Western thought or ideals. Used to express European imperialistic attitudes and prejudice toward Eastern cultures and people in the 18th and 19th centuries, the term has recently been used to describe the negative view in the West of Arabs and other Middle Easterners.

For instance, after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Virginia, anti-Muslim sentiments have spread across the United States, creating an “us versus them” mentality between mostly moderate and right-wing Christian American groups (but other religious groups as well) and Muslim Americans. Although many Muslims have renounced groups such as Al Qaeda or the use of violence as a way to solve problems, Muslim Americans have increasingly been the subject of discrimination perpetrated by not only the U.S. government but also the mainstream public.

Orientalism represents a bipolar relationship between Western and Eastern societies and hence, an “us versus them” mentality regarding Eastern societies by the Western world. In his 1978 book, Orientalism, Edward Said was critical of Western philosophy and prejudice against Eastern cultures. Said's central argument was that all discourse and philosophical stances are ideological in nature. As such, any discourse by Westerners creates a biased divide between the West and the East. According to this view, Westerners typically hold the opinion that Eastern cultures and societies are untrustworthy, irrational, and dangerous and have anti-Western mentalities—that people in the East are an inferior group compared with their Western counterparts.

...