Posted on 09/29/2014 9:27:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Last week, Vice President Biden referred to Singapore’s former long-serving prime minister Lee Kuan Yew as the “wisest man in the Orient.” Biden was criticized for saying “Orient,” which is a perfectly innocuous and rather charming word. Unfortunately, it appears that, at some point, someone decided it was racist, and instead of being corrected, he was indulged.
It’s not clear why anyone thinks the words “Orient” and “Oriental” are racist. “Orient,” according to the OED, refers to “that region of the heavens in which the sun and other heavenly bodies rise”; conventionally, it means “east.” Strictly, an Oriental country is a land of the rising sun; idiomatically, it’s a land in East Asia. Presumably, a rising sun is included on certain Oriental flags as a reminder of which adjective the enflagged wish not to be associated with.
In 2002, the state of Washington banned the use in state documents of the adjective “Oriental” to describe people of East Asian extraction. New York followed suit in 2009. Following the New York ban, an “Asian pop columnist” was asked, on NPR, “Why is Oriental such a loaded term? Why do Asian-Americans find it offensive?”
He answered: “Well, you know, I think history really does play a huge role in this. And when you think about it, the term Oriental itself kind of feels freighted with luggage. You know, it’s a term which you can’t think of without having that sort of smell of incense and the sound of a gong kind of in your head.”
So, some people think “Oriental” is racist for the same reason anyone who uses it uses it: It’s poetic, it’s evocative, it has character. People use the word “Orient” for the same reason the Cubs still play at Wrigley Field. It’s the reason Frank Lloyd Wright used the word “Usonian” to replace the bland and imprecise word “American.” “Usonian” never caught on, and now “Oriental” is being choked to death and replaced with the flavorless, meaningless adjective “Asian.” Does “Asian” mean “East Asian,” or does it mean “Russian,” or “East Turkish”? Of course, “Oriental” is pretty broad too — but it’s no broader, culturally, than “Slavic,” is it? Or “Balkan”? Shall we abolish the world “Celtic” and replace it with “European”?
“Orient” is just one member of an unfortunate group: inoffensive words being shunned out of an excess of caution. As you might say someone from Spain is a Spaniard, people have taken to saying someone from China is a “Chinese.” Obviously, that’s incorrect — “Chinese” is an adjective; what you want there is a noun. The noun is “Chinaman,” like “Englishman,” or “Frenchman,” but it has become verboten. “Japanese” is misused in the same way. I’m not sure what the noun is. “Jap” is universally regarded as racist, and I won’t argue that it isn’t — though I’m not sure why it’s more offensive than “Brit” or “Swede” or “Finn.” You wouldn’t say, “He’s a Jewish.”
I am not defending the use of the word “Jap” — it’s not inherently racist, but that’s the convention; it’s too late to save it. I’m not defending offending people for no reason. I am, though, defending the use of the word “Orient.”
It’s not too late for “Orient.” If we tacitly accept the abolition of distinctive words because people mistake their distinctiveness for offensiveness, soon we won’t have any interesting words left. (First they came for “Orient,” and I did not speak out, because I never used “Orient”; then they came for “bagel,” and I did not speak out, because there were no inoffensive nouns or adjectives left.) Anyway, Mr. Biden should be forgiven. Surely, his word choice was occidental.
— Josh Gelernter writes weekly for NRO and is a regular contributor to The Weekly Standard.
2) I can hazard a guess about why many Asians object to the use of the word Oriental - my guess is it comes in response to the late Arab leftist academic Edward Said who wrote a book called "Orientalism," essentially a history of the world written through the prism of white people viewing "the Orient" as exotic, violent and backward. So they see "Orient" and "Oriental" as racist. Said was a nut and I don't happen to buy his theory myself, but who cares? In order to not be a jerk, I think I can make a small effort to try to call people what they themselves to be called.
kind of feels freighted with luggage....FEEEELS wrong? Then it must be OK to use as a gaffe..
She did write a book with an actual racial slur in its title. It was published as "And then there were none" in the US, but had a much more offensive title in the UK and elsewhere.
“I could never figure that one out either. Occidental is okay.”
The Left invents controversies over language in the attempt to increase its influence on American culture.
It’s just one aspect of their totalitarian impulse.
If you give in to their demands it results in you being less free. You will constantly have to be careful to avoid committing a Thought Crime by using the English language in the way that comes natural to you.
This isn’t a small deal because the PC Left works to get these values institutionalized in big business, academia and government. Say something that violates the commandments of political correctness and you can get in big trouble if you work at one of these places.
It seeps into the culture through innocuous sources like sports talk shows where the hosts are reliably against the Redskins name, for the gay agenda, and on the cutting edge of race and Islamic sensitivity.
Oriental assumes a basis in the west since Asia is only east from Europe or the Americas This appears to consider Europe or the Americas as primary. It takes a sensitive soul to object but, reasonably, a term like Asia is more accurate.
Well, if you should mention Asian to a Brit, he's likely to think you're refering to a muslim........
Originally the word meant that “you were orienting yourself in the direction of Asia” when leaving on a trip there. An oriental therefor was someone “orienting” not the people of Asia.
Don't send them my way, because I will literally make their pointy little liberal heads explode with a withering barrage of soul crushing, non-PC language that would make a reasonable person projectile vomit profusely.
What’s even funnier to me is “People of color” vs “colored people”.
;-)
The whole thing is really, REALLY stupid.
While its always fun to watch Democrats get caught in their own net, they never really are caught. Instead they’re written off.
Claims of racism and insensitivity are intended for conservatives and republicans which is why I oppose getting wound up about Democrats doing it. All this oversensitive PC BS needs to be tossed in the trash along with hate crime laws.
....ORIENTAL RUGS.
FWIW my wife has always referred to herself as “Oriental” rather than Asian.
Very simple. Orient means East. It is Eurocentric because Asia is only East of Europe. If you are in Asia, Asia is not east of you.
I am the the least PC person and I get that Oriental is not cool. Doesn’t make sense.
Ancient Greek pottery of about the 7th century B.C. is called the Orientalizing style because it shows influences from the Near East...they weren't in contact with China.
Just don’t insult my teutonic heritage. LOL
Mr. & Mrs. Wong were expecting a baby. When born, the infant had blue eyes & wisps of blond hair.
The husband said, “Two Wongs don’t make a white.”
The wife replied, “This was purely Occidental.”
Please...don’t...ban...me.....
The Japanese are actually pretty racist about themselves.
I remember a commercial for a product called “Pearl Cream”, in which an Oriental woman used the word “Oriental”.
“Oriental is less specific than Asian”
Its exactly the opposite. Oriental indicates the far east culture of Asia such as Chinese, Japanese, etc.
Asian includes Iran, Pakistan, Indians, people in Russia up near the Ural mountains, etc.
You say “Asian” I have no idea whom you are describing. A bearded Pakistani Moslem, a Taliban guy from the hills, or someone from Peking or Tokyo. It often makes a big difference in understanding what we are talking about.
You say “Oriental”, and it is far more specific.
It isn't.
PC, when it goes beyond common courtesy, is Thought Control.
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