I know this thread is old, but I stumbled across it today and I really wanted to put in my two cents.
My honey is Japanese and he reallllly dislikes the word Oriental, and has for years. He rolls his eyes and mutters, "White people telling us what to call ourselves." He wants to be called Japanese. His take on it is that Westerners are particularly bad at identifying Asians. It's the whole, "Everyone looks Chinese" thing that bothers him. He says Asians can basically tell each other apart just by facial structure or body cues. Westerners have more trouble identifying Vietnamese from Korean from Thai, etc. My honey says Europeans can tell each other apart by these ridiculously subtle cues; someone's extra sharp jawline and particular height means they're Russian, not Greek. They can identify those miniscule cues, but they can't take the time to learn the same subtle cues in Asian faces and bodies. Instead of taking the time to learn the difference, they just slap a name on everyone and call everyone Oriental. He says Oriental is a lazy term for people who can't identify Korean from Chinese.
I also realize some of this can be taken as reverse racism, and believe me, him and I have talked about that. I'm not here to say he's right or wrong, I'm only voicing his view on why he dislikes that word. Haha, if we want to derail, I have lots of things I'd like to say, but I'll keep it on topic. I'm only here to express why he finds that term offensive.
However, the term oriental rugs or gardens would be fine for him. It describes a feature, and isn't an identifier so he doesn't find it racist in that usage.
My honey is Japanese and he reallllly dislikes the word Oriental, and has for years. He rolls his eyes and mutters, "White people telling us what to call ourselves." He wants to be called Japanese. His take on it is that Westerners are particularly bad at identifying Asians. It's the whole, "Everyone looks Chinese" thing that bothers him. He says Asians can basically tell each other apart just by facial structure or body cues. Westerners have more trouble identifying Vietnamese from Korean from Thai, etc. My honey says Europeans can tell each other apart by these ridiculously subtle cues; someone's extra sharp jawline and particular height means they're Russian, not Greek. They can identify those miniscule cues, but they can't take the time to learn the same subtle cues in Asian faces and bodies. Instead of taking the time to learn the difference, they just slap a name on everyone and call everyone Oriental. He says Oriental is a lazy term for people who can't identify Korean from Chinese.
I also realize some of this can be taken as reverse racism, and believe me, him and I have talked about that. I'm not here to say he's right or wrong, I'm only voicing his view on why he dislikes that word. Haha, if we want to derail, I have lots of things I'd like to say, but I'll keep it on topic. I'm only here to express why he finds that term offensive.
However, the term oriental rugs or gardens would be fine for him. It describes a feature, and isn't an identifier so he doesn't find it racist in that usage.
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