Edward Said

Edward Said saw the view of the Orient as being a creation of Europeans. To him, Orientalism was created so the western powers would have a way to dominate the people of the Orient. The western powers would justify this in the same way a parent would justify dominating a child, by telling them that it was for their own good. This lead to Europeans having a social construct of themselves that was not accurate. They labeled the Orientals as mean, cruel, savages, ect. and in turn labeled themselves the opposite of these. What Orientalism says about us is that we have made our own reality and have not taken into account the actuality of things.