Characteristics of Orientalism

Rachel Wasserman

November 1, 2010

ETH 125

Checkpoint: Characteristics of Orientalism, Prejudice and Discrimination

There are numerous differences between Muslims and Arabs. Muslims are people who accept the Islamic religious beliefs, whereas an Arab is a type of ethnicity or nationality. Muslims also speak numerous languages, while Arabs primarily speak Arabic. Arabs usually originate from the Middle East regions including Iraq, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Muslims are usually from everywhere in the world and are not necessarily from a particular area.

There has been new profiling and TSA policies that have taken place in the past two years. Under the new policies, security screeners will conduct full body pat-downs checks and conduct physical checks of carryon luggage for passengers traveling from countries which the U.S. considers to be a security risk. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is against the new policies because they believe they are being labeled and discriminated against based on their citizenship or where they may be traveling too. They also believe that the policies label innocent people as being terrorists. In addition, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) believe the new policies and guidelines stereotype American Muslims whom have family or spiritual ties to the Islamic world.

A characteristic of orientalism is power relations which includes the stories of myths and superstitions surrounding the Oriental culture. A second characteristic of orientalism is the distinguish between oriental and occidental cultures. This characteristic includes comparing and contrasting the two characteristics. Oriental and Occidental cultures are the complete opposite of one another and that is why they are used as a characteristic of orientalism. Orientalism and prejudice contribute to hate crimes because people generally don’t understand or want to understand someone else’s beliefs or differences. Hate crimes have also taken...