The Western impression of Oriental and African cultures is largely distorted by the media. However, to what extent does the Western perspective of these cultures promote conflict, even violence and war? As a foreigner, I have been able to experience for myself the general impression that Westerners have of Eastern cultures. For the most part, the West’s impression of the East is mostly antiquated and outdated. In general, Westerners still think of Africa as one or a whole, instead of a multitude or collection of different nations, each with its own unique customs and cultures. The Westerners still think of Africa as filled with dense jungles and wild animals, along with poor and warring tribes—a divided people. Additionally, Westerners who have  not read Chinua Achebe or Chimamanda Adichie— Africans who can truly describe their own people and their own culture, cannot fully appreciate these cultures.  Yet, even those who have read these authors can have an inaccurate view. In a lecture discussing her latest works, Adichie recounts the shock of some Western college professors who read her pieces—they were shocked because she portrayed her nation with a modern perspective. She portrays an industrialized and organized African nation.
Many Westerners also remain ignorant of the fact that many of the problems faced by Africans are due to Western consumerism. The West has exploited Africa’s natural resources for decades—ever since imperialist expansion policies that began in Europe during the Industrial Revolution. Today, the West still exploits Africa’s wealth: her diamonds. The diamond mines of Africa will continue to be a source of violence and destruction as long as there are plenty of eager consumers who wish to buy diamonds. American consumerism and media is particularly to blame for the problems in Africa’s diamond mines, as diamond sales are promoted with slogans such as this: Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.
Many Westerners, especially Americans, also seem to hail Jhumpa Lahiri as a modern Indian writer; however, Lahiri never lived in India. In fact, she is the product of her Western upbringing. I remember reading her Interpreter of Maladies in ninth grade along with the rest of my classmates. While my English teacher hailed her as an extremely gifted writer who voiced the social issues faced by her people, I could not agree with such a proclamation. I recognized that she wrote well. However, how could she voice the issues faced by her people when she has never lived amongst her people? I found her impressions of India to be extremely negative—she focused on Diaspora, famine, poverty, castes. She ignored the Indian peoples’ resilience, their strength, their unity, their diversity. Lahiri was merely writing about India from a Western point of view.
Today, the West also faces issues with the Middle East and the general Western impression of the Muslim religion has come from the Western media’s coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the situation in Iran. In the United States, American casualty numbers are consistently emphasized in newspapers; whereas American headlines seem to forgot to discuss the thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths that arose from an unnecessary and useless war. However, when I was staying with my grandparents in India during the summer of 2007, I read Indian newspaper headlines chronicling the Iraqi civilian deaths and the United States’ numerous blunders in Iraq under the Bush administration. The language used by the newspapers of India and the United States served to emphasize different problems with respect to Iraq. The Indian newspapers tended to be more explicit about the number of casualties and the general chaos and plight of the Iraqi civilians; whereas the Philadelphia newspapers barely used a few lines to discuss the situation of the Iraqi civilians.
A lack of communication and understanding between the Eastern and Western nations will only lead to further misunderstandings and further violence. The only way to stop such issues is to demand that the Western media give balanced coverage of events around the world. The Times of India places a heavy emphasis on International news; whereas, the Philadelphia Inquirer merely focuses on local news, creating the ignorance of American readers with respect to International news and different cultural views.