A really absurd thing is how the same lazy narratives are deployed across such a giant range of different societies. Like Morroco, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, and so many other places. All those are basically the same, yeah?
Bolshechick
joined 2 months ago
How would you describe orientalism? I'm Asian and grew up in the US. I don't really get it, and maybe a lot of discomfort I've felt in my life would make more sense if I could identify when I see it.
How would you describe orientalism? I'm Asian and grew up in the US. I don't really get it, and maybe a lot of discomfort I've felt in my life would make more sense if I could identify when I see it.
Like think about the myth of Thermopylae: 300 brave Greeks sacrificed themselves holding off the countless Persian hordes, keeping the Greeks free of the despotic Persian empire.
(Just ignore the thousands of Greeks that were there who weren't the 300 Spartans, the fact that Sparya wasn't exactly a free society, that Persia was a better society in basically every way, that the reason they didn't conquer the rest of Greece was more that their supply lines were stretched that far away from thier power base, etc)
We tell ourselves the same sorta myths now
How would you describe orientalism? I'm Asian and grew up in the US. I don't really get it, and maybe a lot of discomfort I've felt in my life would make more sense if I could identify when I see it.
It's basically a bunch of bullshit the amcient Greeks thought about others, especially Persia, that has been transmitted with little changes through thousands of years through "western" culture, though who exactly the "west" and what the "orient" is has changed.
The west is full of free individuals, the east are unthinking slaves to despots. Western men are properly masculine, eastern men are either effeminate or have a savage, animal masculinity. Eastern women are titillating and "exotic". Westerners are brave and noble warriors, easterners are a disorganized "horde", if they ever win its just cuz they have superior numbers and no regard for human life. Only the west has real civilization, others are either savages or overly civilized or "decadent" Etc. Etc.
Once you know about it, you see it fucking everywhere, throughout contemporary society and going back literally thousands of years in history, literature, philosophy, etc. It's sickening. The "west" needs to be destroyed, materially, morally, ideologically.
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There is stuff you can get to coat your lenses. You spray it on, let it dry, and for a few months your lenses won't fog up at all, from anything. It's pretty sick