The West vs. The Orient

Many people have the idea that the "west" also known as the United States is superior to the "East" or better known as the Middle East/Asia. I recently read a part of "Orientalism" by Edward Said, and the book had various western conceptions of the orient.

The perceptions that came to be were the result of the British and French. The British had colonies in the East at this time, while the French didn't but were trying to acquire some. The study of Orientalism began in the early eighteenth century and focused on the oriental language to translate it into european languages. the rulers of the colonies believe they couldn't rule properly without information on the people they were ruling.the colonies came to the conclusion that the Orient existed to be studied and that studying was done by Westerners who believed themselves to be superior to the "others", which is how they described the East. The Westerners believed the Orient existed to be ruled and dominated.

Even though this ideology began a couple of centuries ago, it has continued to be a strong ideology in todays society. According to "Orientalism" The West is seen as modern, rational, democratic, and ultimately superior; while the Orient is seen as exotic, exaggerated, and basically uncivilized. This explain why in 2003 the U.S. decided to invade Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein and establish a democracy there. This is only one of the many countries that the U.S. invaded to establish a democracy. Once again insinuating that the West is superior. Many people would agree today that we have the best form of government, now although we do have a great and complex government it has its flaws. In my opinion, certain Europen countries have a better system of government than the U.S. Specifically the ones with universal health care and free education, which the United States lacks to achieve. From my personal experience to countries I have been to, I would have to disagree that only the West is rational and superior. In fact, I find that countries in the Orient might be superior in the sense that instead of just learning one language during childhood, they actually learn at least one more besides their native language. While in the U.S. we aren't taught a second language until high school, and that does not necessarily mean that we end up learning it. In my opinion, I feel that only knowing one language (English) makes us ignorant. The fact the Americans think English is the official language makes me question our education system. The U.S. does not have an official language because we are considered a melting pot.

This topic is very controversial and we will never have a definite answer as to who is superior the new world or the old world; both have their downfalls and successes. As long as these countries are run by people of different cultures, races, and backgrounds our questions of who is superior will not be answered.