Sunday, March 25, 2018

American Orientalism

Orientalism is still very prevalent in the United States/the West. We need to expand our mindsets and see people from all parts of the world as full people just like us, and not just two dimensional stereotypes. We need to accept that just because we do not understand someone's language, culture, etc., does not mean that they are beyond our understanding. People are all the same- everyone goes out with friends, goes to school, etc.

Even just in the U.S. people always assume someone who is a minority is not an American.

For example, for me being Chinese living in the U.S., people have always assumed that I am from China. People are always surprised when I tell them I was born in America, even though they don't really have any reason to think that I wasn't, other than the fact that I am Chinese. And even if I was from China and had an accent, that would not make me a different person than I am right now, except that I would speak another language. I think that is a concept a lot of people do not fully grasp- that someone who speaks another language still has the same thoughts you do, except in a different language.. We need to start seeing people who are other ethnicities than us as people we can get to know and relate to, and not just shallow stereotypes.

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