The Term ‘Oriental’ Is Outdated, But Is It Racist?

LOS ANGELES TIMES – OPINION: It is now politically incorrect to use the word “Oriental,” and the admonition has the force of law: President Obama recently signed a bill prohibiting use of the term in all federal documents. Rep. Grace Meng, the New York congresswoman who sponsored the legislation, exulted that “at long last this insulting and outdated term will be gone for good.”

As an Oriental, I am bemused. Apparently Asians are supposed to feel demeaned if someone refers to us as Orientals. But good luck finding a single Asian American who has ever had the word spat at them in anger. Most Asian Americans have had racist epithets hurled at them at one time or another: Chink, slant eye, gook, Nip, zipperhead. But Oriental isn’t in the canon.

And why should it be? Literally, it means of the Orient or of the East, as opposed to of the Occident or of the West. Last I checked, geographic origin is not a slur. If it were, it would be wrong to label people from Mississippi as Southerners.

Of course I understand that some insults have benign origins. “Jap,” for example, is simply a shortening of the word Japanese, but that one stings. As 127,000 Japanese Americans were carted off to internment camps during World War II, they were repeatedly referred to by their fellow citizens and the media as Japs. It was meant as an insult and understood as such. Clearly context is important.

The problem with “Oriental,” San Francisco Chronicle columnist Jeff Yang told NPR, is that “When you think about it, the term … feels freighted with luggage. You know, it’s a term which you can’t think of without having that sort of the smell of incense and the sound of a gong kind of in your head.” In other words it makes Asians sound exotic because it was in circulation at a time when exoticizing stereotypes were prevalent. » | Jayne Tsuchiyama | Wednesday, June 1, 2016

I stumbled upon this article yesterday after a discussion I had had with a cousin of mine about the word 'oriental'. Apparently, she had used it in discussion with a friend of hers; and her friend cautioned her about the use of the word, and asked her if she should be using it at all! I was dumbfounded. Visitors to this website will have noticed that I use this word rather frequently, because I like the word. In fact, it is a rather beautiful word. I knew that some people were a little sensitive about the word, but I took no notice, putting it down to wokeness and/or political correctness. I am neither woke nor politically correct; and nor do I ever intend to be.

For your information, when I use the word 'oriental' or Orient, I use them in their geographical sense. No more, no less. In my humble opinion, they are lovely, benign words. By the way, I was never aware that anyone should ever think they were "outdated". That never even occurred to me. I shall continue to use these words in my writing. I am not giving them up to please the politically correct brigade. FYI, I also like the words occidental and Occident. The words Orient and Occident go hand-in-hand. This nonsense of banning words that might be offensive should and must stop.

Furthermore, while I am writing about this, I am totally traditional in my use of pronouns. I use the words 'he' and 'him/his' and 'she' and 'her/hers' unapologetically. I am not going to use 'them', etc., in order to avoid their use. You bastardise the language if you want to; I am not for bastardising the language. If you come across such usage on this blog, it will be either because they are the words of others or because I have used them inadvertently. Moreover, and for total clarity, I use 'he/him/his' for persons who have 'dangly bits' and 'she/her/hers' for persons who don't. For those transitioning, I shall await to be informed of their choices. But having never met anyone who has transitioned, I doubt that it will become an issue.

I hope I have made myself crystal clear. I also hope that no one will take any offence, because no offence is intended. – Mark