you still see this kind of thing. canada's sitting prime minister, justin trudeau, took a recent trip to india and what followed was an example of orientalism taken to it's most ridiculous extremes. everybody involved - the prime minister, his wife and his advisors - appear to have been living in the same fantasy reality, with this. his father was actually quite keenly aware of this sort of nonsense and would have barfed if he were alive to see this (although he would have never allowed it to happen, either).
but, i also have a sneaking suspicion that the root cause of this was that a young justin found some kipling on a book shelf somewhere, and never fully undid it's effects.
and, i think that this is really all that said is truly pointing out - that western perspectives of the east remain startlingly out of date. it's less that those stereotypes are completely wrong and more that they're anachronistic, and little attempt was made by western intellectuals to stay up to date on changes happening in other parts of the world.
one could imagine that a barbary pirate making a stop on the coast of new england in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries may have had some colourful stories to bring back to north africa about the new england puritans. reading those stories today wouldn't be wrong, exactly. but, it would certainly be wrong to apply that concept of puritan protestantism to modern boston. i mean, the irish hadn't even shown up, yet.
one can only imagine how the ancient inhabitants of providence would react to lightning bolt.
so, i mean, it's a valid point, and everything. but, it's maybe overblown.