The Effect of Orientalism

I've always been aware of the portrayal of the Middle East as violent and chaotic, and I hate to admit that I've fallen into the trap of believing this false portrayal. Of course, I've never believed that all Middle Eastern people are terrorists, but I definitely had a picture in my mind of what it looked like there. I attribute my lack of understanding to Orientalism, the negative portrayal of the East in order to strengthen the image of the West. Growing up in today's America, it's hard not to view the Middle East as violent and corrupt. We see movies, play video games, and read articles all where they are depicted as violent and third world countries. I've never watched a movie taking place in the Middle East where violence isn't a prominent part of the movie, or the characters aren't part of violent groups. Many video games take place in the Middle East, but unfortunately, they are all shooting games. However, the hardest part to me is watching the news when a terrorist attack occurs, or war breaks out, but never seeing the news highlight a positive event that happened in the East. When all I see, hear, and read is negative, orientalist, views of the Middle East, it's hard for me to imagine and believe anything different. Now that I've become more aware of orientalism and the conscious, negative portrayal of the East, I feel obliged to do more research to become more educated on the topic.