Orientalism thrives on word of mouth. Without the generalizations of the Eastern area of the world, the normalized structured thought would have never been passed down through generations. These structured ideologies of being an “orient” are taught as facts, rather than opinions, which allows the western world to maintain their hierarchy which was created with orientalism. By establishing demeaning traits of these oriental people, the westernized culture has been able to create a prejudice view, of the eastern countries of the world. Modernized technology has created an even larger gap between the western world, and the supposedly inferior eastern countries.
American mass media shows the public the bad stories of the middle east. CNN will show the poor living conditions, and constant fighting of the middle east, which makes Americans believe that it is like that everywhere. These media outlets are doing exactly what Edward Said states about Orientalism, which is the power of turning myths to facts, which fuels the stereotypes of oriental people which should have never been established in the first place. After a trip to Lebanon I was able to understand the outside view of orientalism. When I was there, I noticed that none of my preconceived notions of these people that have always been pushed on me where true. I now understand that the myths of orientalism can be changed just from seeing the viewpoint of the other side. I would still have false understandings of their way of life, and other cultural actions they take, in which western media outlets falsely portray.
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