Things are perhaps acknowledged straightforwardly when they are embraced by our emotions. The saying that humankind is emotionally-driven, is not an untrue statement as our judgments manifest themselves first  there. Emotions are dynamic, they can’t be named as fixed, settled  and rooted to a particular place. That  our judgments are culturally based is true although they are in constant exchange with nature. Our cluster of judgments might smash into a wall and be torn into pieces eventually. 

In my early twenties, the West geographically was composed of Europe and North America.  People from the West are the reverse ones, and they always keep their distance with people. Less physical contact, less handshaking, less hugging and showing less emotions. Such behaviours would start manifesting itself when you physically enter their political border, handover your passport to them. So the British man, whom I categorically know as reverse, would not be able to give me the same feeling of warmth and naturalness in the same manner I grew up with my siblings. The Canadian barmen in Vancouver would never sincerely say “hey brother!” when giving me my drink. The Belgian tutor would not be able to shed tears when  told the reasons for my absence. My characterisation of the ‘West’ as unreal and disconnected to the truth smashed when I personally got in touch with the people.

When I dive into my deep thoughts I could not disconnect the fact that the first piece of my fabricated 'West' came out of the movies I watched. They were all true and I could relate some scenes in the movies as proof to formulate my judgement about the West. I don't want to cut the bill to my brain but as an ex-cognitive neuroscience student, I could say our brain doesn't perceive the scenes as disconnected: three distinct dots can be formulated as triangles in our imagination. Perhaps the easiest way to name 'others' was to categorize people based on the scenes you watched in the movies.

My simplification in understanding people from the West was very Cartesian as if was part of an equation. To understand the unknown you set up your formula, and put correct inputs in there then you come up with your expected results. Just like using SPSS to understand human behaviour.

How about our mother's lullaby we were raised with? The grief and pain that Jacop felt when he realized he had lost Joseph. In fact, Joseph was taken away to be killed, however Joseph’s brothers decided to not kill him but put him in a well instead. A group of people together with their camels dying of thirst, eventually approached   the well where Joseph was imprisoned. The group saved Joseph and brought him to today's Egypt and sold him to a majestic commander of Egypt. The commander purchased a beautiful Joseph to give his wife the Goddess Zuleyha as a present. Joseph was a slave, that law said. Nevertheless, he was raised by the goddess herself. As time passed, the Goddess Zuleyha realized that her feelings fort young Joseph were no longer a master – slave relationship but rather  love. However, Joseph disobeyed the goddess’ desires due to his loyalty to his master commander and their constant help in raising him in better conditions. No torture and imprisonment of years could still Joseph’s will. My mother used to narrate this epic melodically. But Youssef’s fate was not echoed merely in our home. I heard the same story with Erbane sung by a group of people in a religious celebration. The fall of Youseff into the well was singing in grief and honour. My current personality is not disconnected from the lullabies I grew up with.