Orientation

The ethymology of the word "orientation" hints at the specific function of the Middle East for the West. Of course there have been and still are other loci of orientation. The orientation either to the United States or to Russia during the Cold War. The Graeco-Roman focus of, for example, the Renaissance.

In the past twenty years the Middle Eastern orientation has become more important in the West.

One of its factors is the end of the Cold War and thus of the enforced orientation either towards the United States or to Russia.

Another is the yet increasing importance of Middle Eastern oil in the face of rising global energy demand.

A third is a reinforced importance of Christianity in formulations of Western identity. This turn is accompanied by a turn towards the Middle East, the geographical origin of Christianity. The success of The Passion of the Christ is a manifestation of this turn.

A fourth is the expansion of the European Union and the question raised by this process as to where Europe ends or should end. It is striking that the old EU had little hesitation to incorporate a great number of economically weak nations that shared its Christian tradition, such as Poland, Estonia, Bulgaria, and Romania, and that it still hesitates to incorporate similarly economically weak nations that do not share that heritage, such as Bosnia, Albania, and Turkey.

A fourth factor of the growing importance of Middle Easter orientation is the notion that the Middle East is an important – if not the most important – locus of challenge to a globalizing concept of Western identity. Derrida has pointed out that Middle Eastern theocracies are the only nations in the world which refuse to represent themselves as democracies (Schurken, 48-49). The spectacular attacks of 9/11 of course support localizing this challenge in the Middle East – and have massively been used to support such a theory (G. W. Bush: "why do they hate us? […] They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other" (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html).

This growing importance gains part of its strength from the ongoing function of the Middle East as the locus of exotic places, fantastical stories, and comical characters that has lost little of its power. This is indicated by the success of the movies Hot Shots and The Mummy.