Demanding the Orient equal the West reproduces the Orientalist creed

Evidence

Of course an obvious and easy answer is that the Orient should not be different from the West; it should not be more or less spiritual, more or less advanced, more or less domineering, more or less humane, more or less rational, more or less materialistic, more or less liberal, more or less superstitious, more or less effeminate, and so on. But then it is doubtful that the consequences of this answer would be satisfactory either, for such equations would produce an Orient in the image of Europe, precisely one of the major Orientalist creeds to which Said vehemently objected. — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 277

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to critiques of liberal universalism and Macaulayite assimilation — the trap that treating difference as deficiency and equality as sameness both fail to escape.
• DEEPTHINKING: A subtle double-bind: either the Orient differs (and is exoticized/inferiorized) or it matches Europe (and is colonially assimilated). Neither pole escapes the trap.