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I don't know where the previous posters are living but it's clearly not the UK. "Oriental" is in fact the preferred term for East Asians here. It's what they call themselves, it's what's on all of the government forms, it's all over. Whether or not it's offensive is irrelevant to this discussion. It's just a fact that this is the term that's used.
Why should it be offensive? "Oriental" literally means Eastern. Is "Occidental" offensive?
Why should it be offensive? "Oriental" literally means Eastern. Is "Occidental" offensive?
Why should the N word be offensive? It is just a corruption of a word meaning black. The answer is that the meaning of words comes from how they have been used over the decades, not just where they originally come from. Of course, it's possible to argue that 'oriental' is an acceptable way to refer to people, but for me that argument would have to be concerned with how those people felt about being referred to in that way, not what the word may have originally meant.
Why should the N word be offensive? It is just a corruption of a word meaning black. The answer is that the meaning of words comes from how they have been used over the decades, not just where they originally come from. Of course, it's possible to argue that 'oriental' is an acceptable way to refer to people, but for me that argument would have to be concerned with how those people felt about being referred to in that way, not what the word may have originally meant.
Good point, although I don't think oriental was always used negatively (more just matter of factly), although by extension it was used negatively also when people had a negative view. I'm sure oriental was used positively at times. Same with negro. I actually don't see why negro is offensive these days (a pretty recent thing) since it was used just as oriental. '******' and '*****', however, were generally used negatively (although 100 years ago '*****' was actually used rather matter of factly too).
Why should it be offensive? "Oriental" literally means Eastern. Is "Occidental" offensive?
I definitely grant you the logic of the O word pairing but where's the logic in a lot of this PC stuff. In the states "Occidental" seems archaic and I've only seen/heard it as the name of a S. Cal. college or as the name of a petroleum company. So, if by extension "Oriental" is also archaic, so be it.
On the *period* TV series Boardwalk Empire, a black character refers to blacks as "Libyans" and whites as "Nordics." A small circle of friends (multi-racial) who are fans of the show have been using Nordic and Libyan amongst ourselves. The Hispanola and Oriental friends are feeling left out. :-)
My Japanese wife prefers the term "Oriental" to "Asian." Her argument is that "Asian" is more of a specifically geographical term, while "Oriental" has richer, more complex cultural connotations -- especially when contrasted with "Occidental", as has been pointed out by other posters here.
Her view is that Westerners who feel that the term "Oriental" is somehow offensive are transferring their own sensitivities to people who do not share their views. "That's their problem," she says. "I don't have one."
How about the notion that people of Asian heritage that speak English as a first language be more inclined to say Asian is PC and Oriental is not. People who are from the Orient aka non-native English speakers will not have an issue with being called Oriental and also think PC means Personal Computer. Let's face it, Asian is the safe word.
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aka non-native English speakers will not have an issue with being called Oriental and also think PC means Personal Computer. Let's face it, Asian is the safe word.
