Orientalism: The Arab Spring andU.S. Travel BanPresidentDonald Trump has continuously urged Arab and Islamic leaders to unite andcontribute their share in the name of defeating Islamist extremists. He hasmade an impassioned plea about undermining terrorists all the while toning downhis own harsh rhetoric about Muslims. This would indicate that the West, led byTrump is engaged with developing a people’s uprising throughout the Arab worldthat can be commonly referred to as an “Arab Spring”. The countries mostinvolved in an Arab Spring would be Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen. The West, led byTrump, has recently singled out Iran as a primary source of providing financingand support for militant groups. His words have resonated with the views of hisWestern backers and have delivered the unmistakable message to Middle Eastextremists: We want you out of influence. The president has not used the term“radical Islamic terrorism” in his exhortations, a signal that he hasfinally taken advice to use a more moderate tone in the region after using thatunfortunate phrase often as a tool by which to galvanize the fledgling ArabSpring. But yet the US president displays a penchant for Orientalism in histhinking and that is evident in his attempt to whittle down very complexproblems into convenient sound-bites. It is true that terrorism has spread allacross the world. But the path to peace begins with the Arab Spring, a termgiven to the “wave ofcitizen revolts that are toppling, challenging or reforming regimes” (Khouri,2011). Trump’s approach though contains elements that cannot bedifferentiated from that of classic approaches concerning Orientalism. Theleader of the free world has told leaders from numerous Muslim-majoritycountries representing more than a billion people that their future is in theirown hands. Trump declares: “A better future is only possible if yournations drive out the terrorists and drive out the extremists. Drive them out!Drive them out of your places of worship, drive them out of your communities,drive them out of your holy land and drive them out of this earth”(Holland, 2017). The president’s actions and words concerning Middle Eastpolicy provided an opportunity to show his strength and resolve, and alsodemonstrate an unwitting incorporation of the tenets of Orientalism into hisrhetoric. Orientalism can be defined as “a political vision of reality whosestructure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, the West, us)and the strange (the Orient, the East, them)” (Said, 1979). In contrast to thevested interest that the Western world has in propagating the Arab Spring,Trump’s domestic policies include the ongoing travel ban on predominantlyMuslim countries. The conflictbetween East and West is often simply portrayed as one between good and evil.That observations smacks of Orientalism in its most basic form. This isideological conflict that exists, not conflict between civilizations. Thedesire to propagate the Arab Spring is clear in the rhetoric delivered in aforceful tone that Washington will partner with the Middle East but expectedmore action in return. But there is still much work to be done in the sphere ofEast/West relations. That means honestly confronting the crisis of Islamicextremism, and the Islamists, and Islamic terror of all kinds. The terror facedby many Muslims is definitely tangible and an affront to the notion of basichuman rights. But Orientalism fans the flames of conflict. Islamist extremismis often responsible for this aspect of Middle Eastern instability. The term“Islamist extremism” refers to Islamism as a political movement ratherthan Islam as a religion, a distinction that the Western world sometimesseriously overlooks in its attempts to explain the frequent strife that makesthe region so controversial. The connection that Canada has with this ongoing issue constantly promoted by US President Trump aligns with oil prices and immigration. The fear of terrorism is something that Trump leans on to promote his security-obsessed right-wing ideology and political stance. It is largely responsible for his travel ban on Muslim countries. The fallout from this ban is painfully apparent in the human cost. Families are torn apart as they wait for clearance at major U.S. airports. This too becomes an illustration of the basic ignorance at the core of all forms of Orientalism. This has not gone unnoticed by many American citizens. They express their outrage and frustration with the US leadership by staging acts where they “stormed airports to protest Trump’s travel ban” (Ball, 2018).  Such actions have also tied as diversion from other issues plaguing the White House. Interestingly, these acts highlight the differences between the US and Canada in terms of attitudes towards religion. Whereas Canada interprets religious beliefs as mainly outlets for faith and prayer rituals, Americans understand religious identity as potentially holding a degree of violence or terrorism. The result of that belief is that millions of integrated American citizens who innocently hold Islamic beliefs merely as religious comfort are misidentified as terrorists by the Trump administration. This affects daily life for those who complete such everyday activities as using public transit; they are often in a heightened state of fear due to the overwhelming negativity that surrounds the reporting of terrorism-themed news and events. This is a direct consequence of the Orientalist approach to understanding the world. Oneof the faults of Orientalism is that it is an attempt at reducing what areoften military campaigns and their relationships to desired democracy to asimple mathematical formula. Nations that undergo a military intervention arebelieved to be some 15% more likely to make democratic political systems apriority. And that is the type of linear thought that Orientalism seeks toincorporate. “That Orientalism makes sense at all depends more on the West thanthe Orient, and this sense is directly indebted to various Western techniquesof representation that make the Orient, clear, visible, “there” in discourseabout it” (Said, 1979). Therefore, we rely on our own Western-developedperceptions about what the Middle East is and isn’t. This is inherentlydangerous though. Anger towards Western political ideologies run rampantthroughout the Arab world. Up until relatively recently, suicide bombers werethe norm and not the exception within many Muslim countries where the populacehad grown tired of their leaders’ constant capitulation towards Westerninterests. It isexpressed that demonstrating the banner of support can be an unobtrusivetechnique for presenting or showing an enthusiasm for national issues taken upby outside influences. Yet definitely those at first encouraged by itsappearance will wind up frustrated with an implied helping hand that yields notangible outcomes. In such confused circumstances, it might inversely affectthe individuals who eagerly welcome the ramifications of direct outsideinfluence or mediation. It would be a tremendous break in confidence to leavethe individuals who cheered a normal show of bolstered support in such a harshglare. This can be considered as another reason to get Orientalism out of theminds of Western interference in the Middle Eastern ideologies. The so-calledArab Spring will do fine under its own steam and could probably benefit from anabsence of US-led cheerleading. Slowly but surely, the Middle east is adoptingthe tenets of Western-style democracy. No longer is it true that “Islam isinherently antithetical to American democracy, and Muslims presumptivelysubversive and suspicious” (Beydoun, 2017). Finally, itis startling to note just how complacent the North American public has becomein its treatment of Trump’s Muslim country travel ban. The travel ban imposedon non-U.S. citizens was a shock to the system of these airports, where manytired, hungry, and stymied people where essentially left with no recoursewhatsoever about being able to plan their own travel itineraries. The slightdifferences that exist in personal approaches to implementing such rules areoften not in existence in US politics where the concept of shocking and awingseems to be coming more and more commonplace. A few scant years ago, at JFKairport in NYC for example, the “Islamophobia rising to the fore during the2016 presidential campaign was not created by the candidates; rather, it wasembedded in established American law, policies, and political rhetoric”(Beydoun, 2017). It is somewhat likely that President Trump may have requestedthat Canada obey the travel ban but here in Canada it is pleasant to believethat such short-sighted Orientalism does not pervade political and legalthought when it comes to law and policy.In conclusion,it can be observed how Orientalism infiltrates Western thought and leaves uswith the erroneous sense that the rest of the world needs some kind ofleadership and correction that only we in the West can provide. The twinexamples of the Arab Spring and the Muslim travel ban provide examples thatillustrate the dangers of including Orientalist tendencies into our collectivepolitical and legal consciousness.  Thetopics are lightning rods for controversy and the basic ignorance that becomesinserted to them through Orientalism is the reason for this. Orientalism, itcan be concluded, leads to a fundamental sense of Islamophobia. This unfortunatepremise can be defined as “the presumption that Islam is inherently violent,alien, and unassimilable . . . and the belief that expressions of Muslimidentity are correlative with a propensity for terrorism’’ (Beydoun, 2017). Itmust be said that such fear should not be allowed to permeate political thoughtin the world as it stands in 2018.ReferencesBall, M. (2018). Redder. Bluer. Trumpier. America Is About to Be Even More Divided. Time. Retrieved November 2018 from http://time.com/5448815/midterms-2018/Beydoun, K. (2017).‘‘MUSLIM BANS’’ AND THE (RE)MAKING OF POLITICAL ISLAMOPHOBIA. Holland, S. (2017). Trump tells Middle East to ‘drive out’ Islamist extremists. Reuters. Retrieved November 2018 from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-saudi-idUSKCN18H00UKhouri, R. (2011). Arab Spring or Revolution. The Globe and Mail.Said, E. (1979). Orientalism.Get Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!Find out more