The freedom-versus-terrorism dichotomy blocks clear perception of the Middle East

Evidence

Furthermore, it hardly needs saying that because the Middle East is now so identified with Great Power politics, oil economics, and the simple-minded dichotomy of freedom-loving, democratic Israel and evil, totalitarian, and terroristic Arabs, the chances of anything like a clear view of what one talks about in talking about the Near East are depressingly small. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 99

Categorization

• XREF: Names the moral binary that later Islamophobia readings will analyze: democracy-versus-terrorism as the contemporary form of Orientalist demonology. — connects to: The terrorist-label discourse justifies US support for Egyptian dictatorship — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 42
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 99