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As an Asian American, I am and have never been offended by the term "oriental", ch*nk, J*p or g**k.. they are only words... so what?
This is a great post. They are just words and our society has become so caught up in it that even words that are not offensive are now considered offensive and no one knows why. Thank you for this miu
You are wrong! The color of the skin does not define race. Many African-Americans have white skin, they are a dime a dozen. The best definition is someone that has European ancestry.
I DON'T care what you think about "me": my ethnicity is American. Period.
Just like a person born and raised in Mexican of full Japanese family: that person's ethnicity is "Mexican" AND will also be tagged "Hispanic" here in the US
This is a great post. They are just words and our society has become so caught up in it that even words that are not offensive are now considered offensive and no one knows why. Thank you for this miu
Actually, you have unintentionally made my point - by noting that folks don't know the context of why these words are offensive. If you go into history, you will know.
And I have been called these words before and they weren't terms of endearment, believe me.
A Chinaman's chance was an old 19th century saying that someone had NO chance...it is rooted in racism.
It's probably no accident that African Americans who most object to using the N-word are of an older generation and understand the legacy of exclusion and racism towards their community.
I don't think your answer is sufficient to explain why oriental is offensive.
Who decides one term is archaic and the world must now adhere to another? Did you wake up one day and say, "hey, I hate being called Oriental". No, you did not. You just got talked into thinking Oriental was offensive. It isn't. There is nothing offensive at all about it. How long will "Asian" go before that will be considered archaic and we will all start to use another word?
So, here we are, no one really knows why society now finds non-offensive words offensive but we have to obey because if it bothers someone, isn't that enough?
Here is one dictionary's entry for Occidental
(Occidental)
A native or inhabitant of the Occident.
And the same dictionary's entry for Oriental
(Oriental)
offensive
A person of East Asian descent.
(there are other definitions, I only included the ones about people)
They expressions are the same, one is for east, one west, otherwise identical. Yet, with oriental they added "(offensive). It is, somehow. offensive. Why? It isn't anymore archaic than occidental. No one seems to know.
It's the context and how they're used.
Oriental is for things and objects, like rugs. The use referring to people is archaic.
And frankly, you never hear Occidental used to refer to people or places, with the exception of, say, Occidental College in Los Angeles. Must less than Oriental. Frankly it's rarely used today as well.
Why are you trying to be obstinate about this? Do you insist on calling Mumbai Bombay or Istanbul Constantinople? Just go with the flow. Things change.
I am Vietnamese. Born there, raised here, speak English with a Texas twang as my friends and family say, and I am overweight like the rest of America.
The Hispanics call me Chino.. They don't know and I don't care. We just laugh
The white American friends can't figure me out. They don't know and I don't care. We just laugh.
The Orientals or Asians can't tell what Es I am. (Vietnamese, Taiwanese,Japanese,)
Last week I stopped in a Vietnamese restaurant, my Mexican/American gf. Is cute sexy and sweet and talks to everyone. She orders in English.
The little waitress turned to me and I ordered in Vietnamese. She freaked out and asked if I was Vietnamese. She thought I was Mexican cause my woman was Mexican.
I ve never been offended. I don't take it too seriously. Call me what ever. Just serve me good food.
That's the problem with this country. Everyone is easily offended by silly words.
We are too politically correct that it's not real any more.
As an Asian American, I am and have never been offended by the term "oriental", ch*nk, J*p or g**k.. they are only words... so what?
Don't worry, people are mad for you, I'm sure they can think up some reason why you are not mad, something like you are just hiding your true emotions....just as those Redskins....
Again, Oriental is proper to describe THINGS, not persons. The legislation deals with references to individuals.
Why is that so hard to grasp? Is the legislation that difficult to understand?
You are just parroting what some misinformed person told you. It was never a term used to describe just things? Some Leftist Radical from the 70s decided he didn't like and that is why people decided to get butt hurt about it.
There are:
Oriental Restaurants (Guess they should close these racist restaurants down)
Oriental Hotels (They should close them down)
Oriental Theaters (They should close them down)
Oriental Art (Burn them)
Books on the Orient (Burn them too)
Departments of Oriental Studies at Most Universities (Guess they just study things and not people)
Kind of ridicules when Leftist Americans decide what should be offensive to the rest of the world even when the word was never meant to be offensive
I am Vietnamese. Born there, raised here, speak English with a Texas twang as my friends and family say, and I am overweight like the rest of America.
The Hispanics call me Chino.. They don't know and I don't care. We just laugh
The white American friends can't figure me out. They don't know and I don't care. We just laugh.
The Orientals or Asians can't tell what Es I am. (Vietnamese, Taiwanese,Japanese,)
Last week I stopped in a Vietnamese restaurant, my Mexican/American gf. Is cute sexy and sweet and talks to everyone. She orders in English.
The little waitress turned to me and I ordered in Vietnamese. She freaked out and asked if I was Vietnamese. She thought I was Mexican cause my woman was Mexican.
I ve never been offended. I don't take it too seriously. Call me what ever. Just serve me good food.
That's the problem with this country. Everyone is easily offended by silly words.
We are too politically correct that it's not real any more.
A Vietnamese dude told me that his people are of basically "Chinese" family. This guy was from Vietnam.
You are just parroting what some misinformed person told you. It was never a term used to describe just things? Some Leftist Radical from the 70s decided he didn't like and that is why people decided to get butt hurt about it.
There are:
Oriental Restaurants (Guess they should close these racist restaurants down)
Oriental Hotels (They should close them down)
Oriental Theaters (They should close them down)
Oriental Art (Burn them)
Books on the Orient (Burn them too)
Departments of Oriental Studies at Most Universities (Guess they just study things and not people)
Kind of ridicules when Leftist Americans decide what should be offensive to the rest of the world even when the word was never meant to be offensive
Uh no. I've known this for ages. My parents were raised under a British-based education system and even they unlearned it long ago. My father is of South Asian (Indian) descent. So terms like East Asian, South Asian etc. are not foreign to me. I have relatives who are of Chinese descent and no, they do not refer to themselves as Oriental.
Again, Oriental is proper to describe THINGS, not persons. The legislation deals with references to individuals.
Uh no. I've known this for ages. My parents were raised under a British-based education system and even they unlearned it long ago. My father is of South Asian (Indian) descent. So terms like East Asian, South Asian etc. are not foreign to me. I have relatives who are of Chinese descent and no, they do not refer to themselves as Oriental.
Again, Oriental is proper to describe THINGS, not persons. The legislation deals with references to individuals.
It's not a big deal.
Enlighten yourself and look it up. I even attached a link. "its not a big deal".
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