Edward Said

            Edward Said is viewed to be a cultural hero within my family. Having been raised in a Syrian-American family whose father left Damascus following the 1967 war with my mother from Tartous, Said's Orientalism is portrayed to be "the truth" within my family. Living in the United States as an Arab-Muslim is not particularly difficult for me but it is extremely frustrating when having to defend one's culture to a nation who essentially has very little knowledge of the Middle East aside from popular Hollywood films, and the media's misrepresentation of Arab-Islamic politics. 

            I was raised watching uneven debates on CNN between the PLO’s representative to Washington Hassan Abdul-Rahman and the CNN anchor who teamed up with the AIPAC representative in asking trap-door questions loaded with logical fallacies which neglect the very issues of occupation.

             I remember when my 11^th grade World Religions teacher, Mr. Sanders asked me to explain why “MY country Syria” supports terrorism against Israel in accordance to Shariah law. I laughed, I told him that I was an American like him, then explained that the Al-Assad regime is one the most “secular” regimes in the Middle East, gave reference to Hama where in 1982 nearly 10,000 civilians were killed in an attempt to wipe out the Muslim Brotherhood, then explained that the state of Syria does not adhere to Shariah law, and that the notion that Shariah law condones terror is outrageous. The fact that I found myself defending the dictatorship that my family fled scared me. Unfortunately, this teacher’s worldview is widely believed and propagated by mainstream television outlets. There needs to be nationwide course on the topics of Arabic Culture, Islam, distinguishing Arabs from Islam, and Islam from whatever stereotypes that currently exist.

            It is important to note that Said himself is not a Muslim, he is a Christian, and this is extremely telling of what he is advocating for because this is not a religious nor a cultural war, this is an argument dealing with prejudice, discrimination, and intolerance of the non-Eurocentric peoples who have had their cultures and religions misrepresented subtly and persistently for hundreds of years. There truly needs to be a scholarly reexamination of the “Orient”.

            The most essential matter that I took away from the film was the idea that the Eurocentric prejudice is “subtle and persistent”. The discrimination is not glaring to those who are unfamiliar with Middle Eastern culture. The example of Aladdin was enormous, when it was said “They will cut off your ear if they don’t like your face, it’s barbaric, but hey its home!” Most families watching the movie did not notice that statement, and if the parents did, it’s not too foolish to assume that they might have thought it was nearly factual, but I remember the expression of my parents’ faces. The nineties were filled with films that had the “turban-wearing” bad guys killed in drones with terrible Arab accents, who looked remarkably Mexican. These subtle yet persistent stereotypes subconsciously forced the masses to create completely outlandish non-factual perceptions of Middle Eastern and Islamic society. The masses already assume who the “bad guys” are when an attack occurs, the masses know everything they need to know about the Palestine-Israel Conflict (the Palestinians are always at fault).

            I do not see the controversy in what Said advocates, the simple notion that the victors of wars record the accounts in which how the events take place should lead any reasonable person to reexamine how the history of the Middle East has been recorded.  Said’s death is truly untimely, he was champion in the eyes of millions, his elegance in argument will truly be missed and his departure has created an enormous vacuum of intelligence in the field of Orientalism.