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I think my Filipino neighbor is racist.

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Originally posted by: amdhunter
Pics of neighbor?
Click to expand...

She's kinda old (maybe mid-late fifties). Her granddaughter was playing with my daughter, and that's how we got to talking. She was actually talking about how bad oriental drivers are in San Jose (where she just moved from).
 
Originally posted by: dainthomas
Originally posted by: amdhunter
Pics of neighbor?
Click to expand...

She's kinda old (maybe mid-late fifties). Her granddaughter was playing with my daughter, and that's how we got to talking. She was actually talking about how bad oriental drivers are in San Jose (where she just moved from).
Click to expand...

Pics of granddaughter and daughter?
 
westerners think everyone from asia is the same, asians don't think so. chinese certainly don't think they are similar to filipinos who are considered sorta the mexicans of asia...and can get quite racist when referring to them as well, filipinos do it the other way around of course since they think all chinese they meet are rich and greedy lol.

 
Originally posted by: zinfamous
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: mrkun
Originally posted by: mugs
The thing is, oriental is the best word we have to describe the group of people it refers to. We usually call them Asian now, but that's not very specific. Indians, Pakistanis, Otherstanis, Turks, etc are also Asian. It would be useful to be able to use the word oriental to be clear about which Asians you're talking about. East Asian works, but no one ever says that.
Click to expand...

It's just regional convention. In North America, "Asian" is understood to mean Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. In the UK, it's different; but as long as you follow the local convention, there should be no problem.
Click to expand...

That ambiguity is the problem. 😉 It's not a big deal, it's just silly that we have this word that means exactly what we want to say, and it's not inherently offensive, but we can't use it.
Click to expand...

I was actually told more than 10 years ago (by a chinese fella) that "oriental" is derogatory as it refers to an item. ...like an oriental rug, or an oriental lamp, etc. To him, and apparently to his family and those he hangs with, the term seemed to be (possibly unintentional) used to dehumanize or objectify.

well, it was news to me. i was young, dude was young, I just took his word for it and figured "hey, learn something every day." I had never been Asian, so I figured he had more exposure and understanding about this than I.

Since then, I have mostly accepted it to be offensive, but I'm not so sure any more. I just don't use it. I only really see it used in the past, anyway, so I'm more "meh" on the topic.
Click to expand...

The Chinaman is not the issue here! 😛

That's really not why it's considered offensive though. It's really common for objects that are related to an ethnicity to be described using the name of the ethnicity. That's not an offensive thing to do, and it does not objectify people that belong to the ethnicity. The fact that people who think it's offensive don't even understand why it's considered offensive makes it even more absurd that it's considered offensive.
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: zinfamous
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: mrkun
Originally posted by: mugs
The thing is, oriental is the best word we have to describe the group of people it refers to. We usually call them Asian now, but that's not very specific. Indians, Pakistanis, Otherstanis, Turks, etc are also Asian. It would be useful to be able to use the word oriental to be clear about which Asians you're talking about. East Asian works, but no one ever says that.
Click to expand...

It's just regional convention. In North America, "Asian" is understood to mean Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. In the UK, it's different; but as long as you follow the local convention, there should be no problem.
Click to expand...

That ambiguity is the problem. 😉 It's not a big deal, it's just silly that we have this word that means exactly what we want to say, and it's not inherently offensive, but we can't use it.
Click to expand...

I was actually told more than 10 years ago (by a chinese fella) that "oriental" is derogatory as it refers to an item. ...like an oriental rug, or an oriental lamp, etc. To him, and apparently to his family and those he hangs with, the term seemed to be (possibly unintentional) used to dehumanize or objectify.

well, it was news to me. i was young, dude was young, I just took his word for it and figured "hey, learn something every day." I had never been Asian, so I figured he had more exposure and understanding about this than I.

Since then, I have mostly accepted it to be offensive, but I'm not so sure any more. I just don't use it. I only really see it used in the past, anyway, so I'm more "meh" on the topic.
Click to expand...

The Chinaman is not the issue here! 😛

That's really not why it's considered offensive though. It's really common for objects that are related to an ethnicity to be described using the name of the ethnicity. That's not an offensive thing to do, and it does not objectify people that belong to the ethnicity. The fact that people who think it's offensive don't even understand why it's considered offensive makes it even more absurd that it's considered offensive.
Click to expand...

He pissed on my rug, Walter!
 
Originally posted by: TruePaige
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: zinfamous
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: mrkun
Originally posted by: mugs
The thing is, oriental is the best word we have to describe the group of people it refers to. We usually call them Asian now, but that's not very specific. Indians, Pakistanis, Otherstanis, Turks, etc are also Asian. It would be useful to be able to use the word oriental to be clear about which Asians you're talking about. East Asian works, but no one ever says that.
Click to expand...

It's just regional convention. In North America, "Asian" is understood to mean Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. In the UK, it's different; but as long as you follow the local convention, there should be no problem.
Click to expand...

That ambiguity is the problem. 😉 It's not a big deal, it's just silly that we have this word that means exactly what we want to say, and it's not inherently offensive, but we can't use it.
Click to expand...

I was actually told more than 10 years ago (by a chinese fella) that "oriental" is derogatory as it refers to an item. ...like an oriental rug, or an oriental lamp, etc. To him, and apparently to his family and those he hangs with, the term seemed to be (possibly unintentional) used to dehumanize or objectify.

well, it was news to me. i was young, dude was young, I just took his word for it and figured "hey, learn something every day." I had never been Asian, so I figured he had more exposure and understanding about this than I.

Since then, I have mostly accepted it to be offensive, but I'm not so sure any more. I just don't use it. I only really see it used in the past, anyway, so I'm more "meh" on the topic.
Click to expand...

The Chinaman is not the issue here! 😛

That's really not why it's considered offensive though. It's really common for objects that are related to an ethnicity to be described using the name of the ethnicity. That's not an offensive thing to do, and it does not objectify people that belong to the ethnicity. The fact that people who think it's offensive don't even understand why it's considered offensive makes it even more absurd that it's considered offensive.
Click to expand...

He pissed on my rug, Walter!
Click to expand...

The proper nomenclature is "Asian American," please!
 
Originally posted by: newnameman
Originally posted by: dainthomas
Originally posted by: amdhunter
Pics of neighbor?
Click to expand...

She's kinda old (maybe mid-late fifties). Her granddaughter was playing with my daughter, and that's how we got to talking. She was actually talking about how bad oriental drivers are in San Jose (where she just moved from).
Click to expand...

Pics of granddaughter and daughter?
Click to expand...

Granddaughter is three and daughter lives in California. I'll ask for family pics next time and get back to you on hotness level.
 
You'll never hear an Asian use the world "Oriental." Does it make the term racist? No, but you have to wonder why that is.
 
Every Asian person I have met prefers and goes by Asian. So I use Asian. If an Oriental tells me that she prefers the word Oriental, then I will use that. I think it's just polite to refer to people as they instruct you to. Some people call that Political Correctness. I call it humanity.
 
Originally posted by: n yusef
Every Asian person I have met prefers and goes by Asian. So I use Asian. If an Oriental tells me that she prefers the word Oriental, then I will use that. I think it's just polite to refer to people as they instruct you to. Some people call that Political Correctness. I call it humanity.
Click to expand...
I prefer to be called yellow.
 
Originally posted by: Leros
Originally posted by: DayLaPaul
You'll never hear an Asian use the world "Oriental." Does it make the term racist? No, but you have to wonder why that is.
Click to expand...

Wrong.
Click to expand...

An Asian person will usually refer to another Asian person by their nationality. It's not that hard to tell the difference.
 
Originally posted by: DayLaPaul
Originally posted by: Leros
Originally posted by: DayLaPaul
You'll never hear an Asian use the world "Oriental." Does it make the term racist? No, but you have to wonder why that is.
Click to expand...

Wrong.
Click to expand...

An Asian person will usually refer to another Asian person by their nationality. It's not that hard to tell the difference.
Click to expand...

I know Asian people who consider there to be 3 kinds of Asians: Indian, Oriental, and Pacific Islander.
 
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