The term “Orientalism” has always implied some kind of caricature of the eastern world. It was originally coined as a way of describing how the West imagines the East as its negative to shore up self-confidence and justify conquest: “The Oriental is irrational, depraved (fallen), childlike, ‘different’; thus the European is rational, virtuous, mature, “normal,’” Edward Said wrote in Orientalism. Now, reverse “the Oriental” and “the European” and you have an idea of the new Orientalism, where the enlightened East becomes the foil to a decadent, violent, barbaric West.

The new Orientalists aren’t academics, policymakers or Wall Street Journal opinion columnists. They’re podcasters, bloggers and influencers, and as trust in western institutions wanes, political influence is increasingly in their hands. 

The Orienfluencer usually feels abandoned by the West in some way, that their world has failed to live up to its promises. He (or she) may claim to be “disillusioned” – hence his faith in new or alternative media – but he hasn’t really let go of his dreams. He just projects them on to the East instead. Depending on his politics or even just his personality, he might dream that China promises order and competence; the Islamic world, unabashed masculinity; Russia, a return to tradition; the Emirates, wealth and abundance; Singapore, a thriving alternative to democracy.

The “Chinamaxxing” trend – in which young people started wearing slippers inside and dreaming about life under the CCP – illustrated one of these fantasies. Online, people made memes saying “you met me at a very Chinese time in........

© The Spectator