manifold
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #1
Does anyone remember?
All I know is that for most of my life, oriental was the de facto term used to describe any of the various mongoloid ethnicities of Asia. And then somewhere along the way, I don't remember exactly when, it was brought to my attention that the term oriental is offensive and that I should instead use the term Asian. Clearly that's less accurate, since it's not intended to include many other Asian ethnicities like Indian, Pakistani, Iranian etc., but whatever, I'll call anyone whatever they want to be called. But from a purely intellectual curiosity standpoint, I'd like to understand why the term was deemed to be offensive.
Can anyone explain to me why the term oriental is considered offensive?
All I know is that for most of my life, oriental was the de facto term used to describe any of the various mongoloid ethnicities of Asia. And then somewhere along the way, I don't remember exactly when, it was brought to my attention that the term oriental is offensive and that I should instead use the term Asian. Clearly that's less accurate, since it's not intended to include many other Asian ethnicities like Indian, Pakistani, Iranian etc., but whatever, I'll call anyone whatever they want to be called. But from a purely intellectual curiosity standpoint, I'd like to understand why the term was deemed to be offensive.
Can anyone explain to me why the term oriental is considered offensive?