By Dr Majid Khan
Since the West started colonization the other regions of the world, literary work from Western writers also came out however, in such books the people of the East were depicted as downgraded or subhuman. Edward Said, a Palestinian intellectual, literary theorist, and historian of the colonial narrative – said explained how colonialism works, now not just via armies, but via literature; now not just thru conquest, but through anthropology; no longer simply via oppression but justified thru narrative. He showed how the West painted a picture of the East. Snake charmers, belly dancers, thieves, the extraordinary, the sensual, the depraved.
Edward Said explains that Orientalism reflects specific lenses of observation, selection and manifestation of colonial bureaucracies. Following this idea, it can be said that there is a specific sense of superiority and feeling of alienation in the attitude of Orientalists. These Orientalists and their interpretations of the socio-economic values of colonial regimes reflect this specific approach and represent a sense of superiority and colonialism.
Edward Said underlines an important aspect that one thing the Orient could not do was represent itself. Evidence of the Orient was credible only after it had passed through the refining fire of the Western writers’ work. This is the worst, that could happen to any community, where no one is believed to be credible enough outside of the world.
As a matter of fact, the unique lens, through which non-Caucasians have been portrayed, as stupid and deprived is still practical in Western media. Said saw it in 19th-century Western literature and we can see it across current tradition: switch on the news, read the newspapers, and have a look at the images. What tales are you being informed? Us versus them; The rational as opposed to the irrational; Civilization versus barbarism; Africans, corrupt despots, starving sufferers. Latin Americans: drug lords, soccer gamers, dictators. Arabs: terrorists, misogynists. Asians: software program engineers, religious lovers. Muslims and Arabs are special targets for Western media, where they have been portrayed as stupid, barbaric, extremist and subhuman. According to Dr Jack Shaheen, over 3 hundred movies were made until 2006 in Hollywood against Arabs and Muslims.
In the modern world, Hollywood is the biggest tool of the West portraying other communities, nations, countries, and religions as per their desire. Dr Hamid Dabashi, Professor at Columbia University argues that it is time for a reality check and to come to terms with the fact that “Hollywood” as an abstraction is in the business of misrepresenting everyone. It does not commit to the truth. It has made a lucrative business of deluding the world. Native Americans, African-Americans, Arabs, Asians, Latinx, Muslims, Africans – everyone on planet Earth is misrepresented for the simple reason that at the epicentre of Hollywood as an industry stands a factual, virtual, or fictive white narrator telling the world he is the measure of truth and wisdom, joy and entertainment.
It is a matter of fact that Orientalism is an integral part of European material civilisation and culture. It represents that part culturally and even ideologically as a mode of discourse with supporting institutions, vocabulary, scholarship, imagery, doctrine, and even colonial bureaucracies and colonial styles. Such thing we can see nowadays, for example when China is becoming a new economic giant, the Western powers align together against it with all of its forces to stop it.
The concept of orientalism is not only seen as something in media or literature its makes and maintains the hegemony of the West over other nations. Said explained: Orientalism can be discussed and analysed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient, dealing with it by making statements about it, ruling over it. In short, Orientalism is a Western-style of dominating restructuring and having authority over the Orient. Said further explains that Orientalism is the Western style of dominating, restructuring and having authority over the Orient. Said pointed out: that European culture gained strength and identity by setting itself off against the Orient as a sort of surrogate and even underground self.
According to Dr Hamid Dabashi, the power of Western media we can see in today’s Europe, their hatred of Judaism and Jews has successfully transformed itself into the hatred of Islam and Muslims. Dr Dabashi further argues that today, a Zionist propagandist like Bernard Lewis is the chief ideologue of the Neocons’ hatred against Muslims and imperial designs on their homelands.
The academic tradition of Orientalism consists of transmigrations and a transmission process. Therefore, a large number of writers, poets, economists and imperial administrators have accepted a fundamental distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories. There is a large difference between East and West in the interpretation of facts domestically and internationally. Such facts could be seen in Western literature and Eastern side.
Dr Dabashi of Colombia University underlines that today, a close and critical reading of Said’s seminal masterpiece requires an even more radical dismantling of the European project of colonial modernity and all its ideological trappings. Said paved the way and pointed us in the right direction. The treacherous path ahead requires not just the sparkles of his critical thinking but also the grace of his courage and imagination.
In summary, Orientalism says that social institutions (including global social institutions – i.e. the international media) are controlled by Western powers and, therefore, work towards fulfilling their interests. In the modern world, 90 % of the world’s media is owned by six conglomerates and they decide what to put in the mainstream and how to present the reality. They present the reality as per their ideology and the rest of the world follows this. Such framing has been proved and established in many scholarly studies that how they make a reality for us; a manufactured reality and a fabricated truth.
Dr Majid Khan is a PhD Scholar of media, from Australia. He writes on Image building, Psychological warfare, Image Warfare and Propaganda.
