Western Imperialism, or, modern day imperialism for that matter, is a difficult and volatile topic to discuss or decipher. The reason for the hindrance in the denotation of Western Imperialism as conflicting with modern day moral values, and political policies, is the fact that modern day imperialism relies on the confines of the democratic mindset in order to help it survive. Meaning, that this incarnation of influential control consists of a gradual dependence of the imperialist country by the country being imperialized. The problem with classifying certain exchanges as imperialistic, is that the classic and accepted constraints of imperialism do not always resonate with instances of modern day imperialism. Augurality may not be consistently present, referring to original imperialism.
Edward Said’s Orientalism attempts to delve not only into instances of modern day imperialism, but the mindset behind a perception of inferiority towards the Orient, the epistemology of which, he dubs “Orientalism”. Orientalism indicates the study, depiction, and reflection of Eastern (The Middle East and Asian) culture by western intellectuals. Said attests that the fact that these institutions exist is an indicator of the perceived notion by the West that the Orient is inferior to Western cultural advances, being seen as a curiosity, needing to be studied. The notion of inferiority to the West mirrors original imperialistic advances that occurred during the last few hundreds of years. He insinuates that all Eastern institutions directed towards the West are resulted from policies from the west, generations before current institutions. He states “Anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the orient…”₁ is an Orientalist, purveying the notion of why the fact that Orientalism is such a prevailing study, breaching philology, etymology, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and human studies of the like, it creates a rift between the West (the Occident) and the Orient. When...