Orientalism And Colonialism Essay, Research Paper

Edward Said describes Orientalism as the

ethnocentric way Europe approaches the Asian territories. Europeans

looked upon the people of the Orient and Arabic states as “gullible” and

“devoid of energy and initiative.” The invasion of European nations

proved a drastic decline in the natural prosperity of every nation they

encountered. Europe forced the destruction of these once great lands

by three methods; Anglo-based propaganda as a method of education, the

deletion of history from the invaded land, as well as, the assimilation

of their culture.

European propagandists played an important

role with the conquering of foreign lands. Domestic support fostered

in the European belief that they were improving the lives of valueless,

shiftless imbeciles. There is no doubt that the West felt significantly

superior to the East. This theory not only holds true to the Arabic

and Asiatic states, but also for colonized countries in South America and

Africa. Europe used their technological might and arrogant

attitude to exploit the globe. However, to gain support of domestic

citizens, European writings were used to paint a picture of a clan of people

living in darkness and void. The scholars of that day carefully

selected the publicity of their new conquests by cloaking it with a sentiment

of charity and Christianity.

Little recognition was given to the past

cultures of these people. The plan was quite simple.

They wanted to invade the territory, strip it of all its history and rebuild

its past in the manner the Europeans saw fit. This is a very wise

move in the tactics to strengthen the West’s cause. Not only does

wreck the morale of the invaded country’s inhabitants, but it sends a loud

and clear message that the history is insignificant and inferior to western

history. Deporting of local treasures, deleting historic

records and documents and defacing historic structures intended locals

to forget about the past grandeur and focus of the supposed bright future

of the West.

The third method used by the Europeans

is the assimilation of culture to the countries they colonized. Eurocentric-based

training and education children of the colonized states proved the modeling

of natives that were European in mind and values however unchanged in the

exterior. By assimilating native culture into their own they gain

more control and authority in that area. Indigenous children learning

western ways of culture and natives who aid in the European exploitation,

successfully gives the West control the land. In addition,

once a new culture is introduced to one generation, the possibility of

successful reinstatement of the past culture is nill.

In my opinion, the entire destruction of

the majority of the world’s nations was caused by Western influence.

Before European intervention, ways of life were individualistic.

In fact, the third world as we know it would not have been so if they were

simply left alone. There are still clans of people in the world

that live a perfectly natural and healthy life with their indigenous ways.

Greed and competition for raw materials caused Europe to branch out and

destroy the ways of life for millions of people around the world.

After decades from the end of colonization, what has the third world received

for the West? For the Aborigines, they have received the affliction

of diabetes. For the Native American, there is an affliction of otherwise

unknown ailments and sexually transmitted diseases. For the Inuit,

they have been stripped of their land and are now the poorest population

in America today. For the African, they have received a triple treat

of enslavement, broken families and the rape of their land’s resources.

Orientalism is quite possibly the most

inhumane theory the world has ever seen. By bringing destruction

in their wake and their dawn, colonization has brought starvation, illness

and poverty to infinite generations. We are now faced with countries

that once ruled the world lying helpless until support comes from the industrialized

nations. Exotic and priceless treasures of ancient civilizations

now lay in the libraries of rich western men. What would possibly

make men do this to millions of men, women, and children? Greed?

Power? I disagree with both, I believe the word is indifference.

This indifference comes from the bitter marriage of social Darwinism and

old-fashioned insolence.

Any humanist would see that before the

west intervened, each individual culture conformed to their habitat, past

experiences, and past knowledge. Even though they were not “modernized”

they still would have survived on their own just as they had been for centuries.

However, a race of people could not be heartless enough to admit their

destruction with a clear conscious and no remorse. They would not

their pack bags and leave a deserted crippled country.