doh-dough

Ali Sama: are you trying to prove my point or defend your statement? the definition you just gave doesn't match your use of oriental in regards to oriental philly cheese steaks....mmmm....cheese steaks....

ewilen: just in case you haven't noticed, i did state initially that some people Will get offended, not all. i just pointed out the ones that will. and telling from your picture, you're not in any real position to tell a person of color what they can and can't feel offended about. in in the case of "dogma in linguistics in the service of politics," i guess it's acceptable to call black people negroids and yellow people mongoloids. especially when being said to have evolved from snakes/reptiles(mongoloids in that case). that's not offensive, derogatory, or the least bit racist right? by the way, indians Are included in the term "asian." i'm pretty sure pakistanis are too but not 100%. whether or not individuals define themselves as asian is another matter. and yes, it would bother me if they felt that they were excluded if wanting to be included in that group, which i'm pretty sure they are of anyway so you don't really have a point there. i think you have some stereotypes on what "asian" actually is and it's be better to completely quote me instead of taking bits and pieces of what i say. snipets ocassionally lead to misinterpretation.

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connotation - an idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word or thing like i said in the rest of the paragraph, people that know the word WILL be offended by it. if they use it, they must not be educated on the connotation and history of the word oriental. the actual meaning was never used to describe general easterly locations to begin with. it's a eurocentric word that described asia and asians. it's infused with stereotypes and proliferates ignorance and racism. is the term outdated? yes. but your definition and use is most definitely incorrect.

the term oriental has a strong racist connotation when referring to people. oriental and yes, Occidental were used to describe "yellow"(more on this later) people. those terms are highly offensive to people that are educated in the history of the words and participated in the civil rights movement of the 1960's. when the term "black power" was being used by black activists, asian activists coined the term "yellow" in conjunction with power, brother, sister, etc. the general rule of thumb is to never use the word oriental. it's the asian equivalent of negro. the only acceptable use is when refering to a rug. and even that use is a bit borderline. if you know what nationality it is, you should use it: japanese food, chinese food, indian food, etc.; never oriental food. i'm sure that most people on this board know what different countries sushi and peking duck are from. standing from the point of view being a minority(i happen to be chinese), using racist terms like niggas, chink, fag, etc. are about reclaiming identity and the empowerment to define ourselves. its not about double standards or hypocriscy. being politically correct is not all b.s. its about making sure that future generations not reverting back to the way things were when racism was still even more mainstream than it is today. the term "reverse racism" should speak volumes whenever you hear it. by the way, never talk about how "you love oriental women" when you first meet someone Asian(which happens a lot more than you may think). it's extremely ignorant, sexist, and borderline racist. and in the wrong situations can cause you to get smacked in the head with a bottle of vodka. true story. and lastly, here's something to think about: asian/pacific islanders are one of the smallest ethnic minorities in the country, i forget the percentage. but did you know that affirmative action doesn't apply to them?