I had a rare encounter with a racist today.

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orientalcat1.jpg


End cat racism today.
 
ishibear said:
That's my favorite. Ugh.

Stomach growling now. Great now I gotta go cook something at 2 in the morning. :(
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That's when my best cooking experiments happen. hunger and desperation and lack of ingredients breeds creativity. It also helps to have a packet of ramen around...or some left over rice.

PhantomHound said:

End cat racism today.[/QUOTE]

"I'm just a cat. Not Asian. Not oriental. Just a cat! A Feline-American."
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CeramicDragon said:
Great, so we have people defending a racist they have never met. When is it ok to argue with someone about what is offensive and what is not to their face?
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Yea I totally agree. If the guy didn't argue and just apologized he wouldn't be a racist. The fact that he had to justify that he wasn't doing anything wrong is the problem.
 
foxtrot3d said:
Nobody was talking about the use of the word "negro" in Spanish where it means something totally different and is pronounced differently. We were talking about its use in America where its meaning is totally different and known to everyone.
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read my original post. i said i use it freely because where i'm from we use it the way it's supposed to be used. then you replied saying, "wait, why are you using it?" and i answered you. suddenly, i'm supposed to be looking at the term the way you're looking at it. and why is that again? my original point was pertaining to people use terms differently and just because they use it does not mean they're racist, just as i use the word negro to talk about the colour black.

"oh but sorry we are talking about the american definition" yeah but i never talked about the "american edition" did i?
EmptySpace said:
oh come on. i am asian and as long as the person does not have any intentions of being racist, i am not going to lecture him/her or label the other person as racist.

orient means east. yes, oriental was used by the grandfathers of your grandmothers to mean a different thing, that does not mean the definition of the word oriental is forever changed. even asians use oriental in different things as a descriptor.

where i'm from, we use negro and oriental freely because we use them using their true definitions and not as a means to berate someone.

then again, 'murica made those words taboo because they take words from other languages then use them the way they want to.

so i say you went overboard, especially labeling someone as racist even though they're not one.
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did i ever say i was using it freely as a derogatory term? no. you were curious as to why i use the term and i answered you clearly. now you want to push the idea that i had the wrong idea all along? i already answered you why and how i use it. the point isn't what i use but how i use it, and that the world out there sees things differently and use words differently (and correctly, might i add). my point was, "hey i use these supposedly derogatory terms but to me it isn't offensive because i've been using it the way it's supposed to be used." that's my point. so no, don't limit my words to their american definitions.
 
I had wings for dinner.

Ramen is tasty, though. I saw what I can only assume is superior ramen at the store the other day. I'm assuming it's imported, because it was expensive. I think I'll buy some tomorrow.
 
Actually, I am confused about how oriental is offensive, I have never heard that term used in any offensive context, ever. I have spent a lot of time with asian people during my uni years, I had 3 chinese girlfriends and one japanese girlfriend during those 4 years.

I don't want to come across as offensive myself but I will explain why, so apologies in advance.

Orient is the blanket term for the far east, so an oriental to me was just a name derived from that term that can refer to anyone from that particular cluster of countries, and it was used because many cultures of the orient are diversified that they are simply referring to location rather than race, since there are many kinds of asian people. By contrast take a chinese person and an indian person, both asian but totally different culture and even in appearance. Also one is from the orient and one is not.

Like I mentioned, oriental is derivative from orient, that's not to say just because it is derivative doesn't mean there isn't any offensive connotations to the word, it's just I have never seen it used that way and so I've never even classed the word as offensive, at all. To me the word just went through similar derivation as the word used to describe people born in a particular time period (millennials derived from people born in the millenium).

Anyway, I've never needed to call an asian person an 'oriental' anyway, after spending a lot of time with people from many different far eastern asian countries I can tell which country a person is from almost instantly in most cases anyway that and the fact the need to label someone in conversation has never really come up.
 
Sketchbag said:
Growing up in Vancouver I've met quite a few Asians who dislike being labeled as Asian. They're Canadian. It's similar to how minorities in America don't want to be seen as African-American or what not (it was a trade-up but can still do better). I don't have actual sources but I do know previous co-workers (who came and still live in South Korea) who didn't like being called Asian either. They were Koreans. People are nuanced this way.

Words do change over time but "oriental" and "asian" are the same word. It's just packaged differently.

I don't call Asians Oriental because I wasn't raised in a region that used that descriptor. I contest that it's really just an over reaction when Asian is the same word and has the exact same meaning. The only real big difference is, and this is widely contested, that white people didn't create Asian; however, oriental was popular long, long ago in the Middle East.

It's a muddy word. You can be offended by it or not, it's just benign and there seems to be a lot of backlash just because.
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Sketchbag, at it once again.
 
ishibear said:
Seriously who the fuck uses "oriental" to refer to Asians? I swear it's like every damn day now, someone uses the dumbest terms in an attempt to be clever or smart or some shit when addressing minorities.

This reminds me of the "exotic" thread. Who the hell has the gall to think calling people this shit is appropriate? Oriental? Wtf, WHY?

I'm sorry you had to deal with that asshole, OP. You have every right to be upset with how he responded to you.
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I think I rather be called exotic than ethnic - which is something I hear a lot. I visited a friend who lives in the south & her parents and siblings tell me I have "ethnic features". Was never sure how to take it.

Her father is a racist & has said things that made me sick to my stomach. He called me a greenhorn & an immigrant who doesn't understand American living. I told him I'm a second generation American, but he said my "immigrant ways" blind me & my "culture and heritage" doesn't fit in with him or his family. At that point I politely told him he was ignorant & shouldn't judge me based on my last name or features. He proceeded to tell me that an "ethnic boy like me with black features" - never really knew what he meant by black features - would never be allowed to date his daughter.

I left the house & ended my visit a week early because of him.
 
I wouldn't have used your exact words, but you aren't wrong for trying to correct him. He's a turd for acting the way he did.

The term oriental is weird to hear when it's used to refer to a person. I don't really get offended if someone calls me that, but if they continue to persist and try to tell me to lighten up or whatever after I tell them to stop using it... nope. Screw you, dude. D:
 
So this went from talking about "oriental" to ramen.


Okay.


Personally, I wouldn't use the word oriental to describe an Asian individual.
 
Ingueferroque said:
You can't just brand him a racist over using that word.. but I guess I'm about to be banned again! Poor usage of words, though. And you definitely have a right to be offended about it.
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He was made aware of it and he refused to acknowledge it. At the very least, he was aware he was being offensive and preferred the comfort of his tradition over correcting himself. Hell, Butter Lady used the same defense when called out for saying the word nigger so OP is on point.
 
As someone with an asian background myself, I don't think oriental is such an offensive term. Also, I can get behind the fact that people growing up in the past use words differently.

Well, you are free to have your own opinion, but if this is one of the rare racist encounters you have, you should be happy.
Try getting spit on the head by some old guy in the park or get hit by an half eaten apple from another old guy while you walk past his apartment window. Both of the examples are still better than what black people (I am sorry if anyone feels offended by this term) probably experience.
 
catfish said:
I wouldn't ever call someone 'oriental' but I had no idea it was racist. Just though it was kind of old fashioned word. What's racist about it actually?



Is kind of how I figured it as well actually.
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It's not racist per say but it's an outdated term that many don't like being referred to as. It's not immediately racist if the other person didn't know that someone doesn't like to be referred that way but if they keep stressing the point that they are right and it must be their way then it can go into racist territory. Well, that's my opinion on it anyway.
 
Mineshaft_Gap said:
Something got under my skin today...

My roommate's dad came out to the apartment visit her, he and I were introduced to each other and somehow the conversation veered into the subject of my family, which led to race. Whereupon he used the word oriental to describe my family and I. At first I let it slide but then he kept saying it. I just sort of figured that maybe he didn't realize it was rude and rather than allow him to continue embarrassing himself I politely pointed out that "Oriental" isn't the acceptable nomenclature when referring to a person of Asian ancestry.

I was surprised to be met with some resistance. The guy started going on about political correctness and how it wasn't offensive. He went so far as to pull up the definition on his phone to support his argument. He gets down to the point where it says "sometimes offensive" and rather than lose steam he changes his stance from "It's not offensive" to "It's the word I grew up with." I didn't want to get into an argument with the guy but I said "that's the excuse racists use when they use the word nigger." He said I was full of shit and I excused myself from the conversation.

I don't think I was being overly sensitive. I didn't call him out to start an argument, I legitimately thought he just didn't know. I would want someone to tell me if I was saying something offensive without realizing it so that I don't find myself in a similar situation later on with someone who might get really pissed off. He's gone now but things have been a little awkward with my roommate since he left and I got back home. I don't know if it's reasonable for me to expect she should apologize on his behalf. It's kind of weird now knowing that the person I live with comes from such an ignorant background but I don't hold it against her. I just know if the situation were reversed I'd be positively mortified if I were in her shoes.

</bloggaf>
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Are you kidding me? Those are the actual words you said? It's not even close. You see Oriental noodles at the grocery store but they're not gonna be selling nigger rice. Gotdamn OP. I think you ended up saying something far more offensive than the other guy did.
 
As an Asian, I don't understand why "oriental" is any worse than "asian". Just seems like a weird thing to get bothered by.
 
Erico said:
So you're saying that because a word that has antiquated racist connotations in the US, but is perfectly fine to use in Mexico (in a another language altogether), means that the word is OK everywhere.

Understand context, please.

And Chinaman is just an outdated term as Oriental and has no place in the 21st century to describe an Asian person. (Well, in the US at least).
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My point that saying "It's a word I grew up with" is a perfectly acceptable reason. The stigma of the word seems to be a rather recent thing (as in, within a few decades), and the entire world (the world doesn't revolve around the US -- shocking, I know) uses it to this day and it's not seen as a derogatory or racist word at all.

The guy brought up the definition of the word, which does back him up in that it's a word used for that cluster of countries. His more pressing priority was to clarify that he isn't a racist (which I seriously doubt he is) by utilizing that resource, which I also think is fine.

It's not like people are getting a letter in the mail saying "hey guys, Oriental is not cool 'k? we've decided it's racist" to let him know of that.
 
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