They’re words. While somtimes words can be used to hurt people, if folks stop reacting in this way, eventually the words will stop showing up.
You know what? In some states it’s illegal for mutually consenting adults to have oral sex. Doing so is “getting one over on the system”. Or should they be ran out of town?
And the catch line “The terrorists have won” has been bandied about for around a year or so now. I’ve used it, and I’m not in Saudi. I very much doubt that Paul was saying that all the arabs around him are terrorists that are too stupid to filter their Internet backbone.
And feistymongol, that sort of thing you’ve posted right there above me is going to get you banned.
So why should I be banned for mine and the racist guy not for his? Oh wait, because I used terrorist and “blow up” in the same sentence? Please. It’s this type of double standard in U.S. society that i’m talking about.
Who cares if you get banned, Feisty? It’ll only vindicate your claim that white people are all a bunch of racist troglodytes! You should be glad!
Jesus, there’s just no pleasing you.
But yeah, Paul’s isn’t the same kind of virulent, immutable racism as yours is (no, it’s not because he’s white and you’re not). He can conceivably change his mind. On top of that, he doesn’t mean any offense. You do.
You’re using racism as a weapon. Paul’s just misinformed.
It’s like 1st degree vs. manslaughter–both get jail time, one less than the other.
I know what you mean about getting over on the system. I enjoy it myself. As far as FeistyMongol goes, just ignore the guy. Nobody is supposed to enjoy or appreciate Aian women except him. It seems to be one of the hot buttons that send him onto a spit-spraying frenzy.
I suspect that most of the people pinging you about getting over on the system have NO idea how irritating censorship can be.
Fiestymongol, “oriental” was a perfectly acceptable word among Asians on US college campuses at least through 1985. There have been some other threads on this subject where I have to admit I was quite the ass and have a new understanding of this word “oriental”.
I’ve put in a fair amount of effort trying to understand what changed between 1985 and now. The explanation that makes the most sense to me is that “oriental” has it’s roots a European colonial term (okay, I know the Latin is the real root), and therefore at best inherently negatively biased. I don’t like being called a “septic” or even a “yank” (if “yank” is used as the “polite” form of “septic”), and perhaps these words are somewhat equivalent.
Now, I would really like to see some cites or references about the word “oriental” and how it change from acceptable to verboten in the past 15 years or so. This is not a challenge, I would truely like to understand this issue better so I can explain it (to my Asian daughter among others).
I also know that at least some people from parts of the British Commonwealth use the terms differently. “Oriental” meaning from the Indian sub-continent and “Asia” from north/east Asia.
Paul In Saudi, if you are an American or talking with Americans, I would highly suggest using Asian instead of Oriental. Everyone will know generally what you are talking about, but no one will think you an ignorant bigot. Especially since your “definition” of oriental and asian is one you’ve made up.
I am amused you think I am “white.” (Or is that “White” now.) Oh well, I won’t take offense I guess.
I find the tern “Asian” to be impolite and nonspecific. All sorts of colors and types of people come from Asia. I was mentioning (but no fixating on) Oriental girls. (Maybe Orientals on Persian carpets.)
In other news, I see one girl is (supposedly) named “Greenburg.” This owuld lead to a distribution of Jewish-sounding names of about what I would expect in a sample of thirty-something.
As for my views on Arabs, well first off I could be an Arab for all you know. Anyway, all of us in our daily lives select the morality we reflect in our public and our private lives.
I won’t buy drugs because I am from Central America. Drug money kills people in my hometown. Other (North American) folks seem to think of doing tootise as a sort of civil disobediance.
As I said, each person chooses his own morality. Part of mine is that I don;t act like the student-government appointed hall monitor.
Tell you what, Feisty, why don’t you use those two words in conjunction next time you go through airport security? Maybe you’ll discover the difference.
Fiesty- You would get banned because you make a veiled threat to another member. You would get banned for numerous generally accepted racial slurs.
We here at the Dope are now probably going to launch into a discussion about the usage of the word “oriental”. Are you going to lamabast all of us for discussing it?
Because I have numerous friends of Chinese decent, and as far as I know, none of them have any problem with the word Oriental.
The vast majority Page 3 sites are banned. That is why I am so pleased that I have found a well-designed, fast site that is too small or too new to on the list.
Heck, even Iran doesn’t censor the net. Only Saudi and China other nations (like North Korea) ban it from the get-go.
And upon further reflection, why NOT use a word that means what I want it to mean? I write and try at least to choose words that express my thoughts. Lighten up.
Oh dear - add me to the list of those who had no idea that the word “Oriental” was offensive. I hope I’ve never distressed anyone by using it incorrectly through ignorance - I’ve honestly always thought it was a rather old-fashioned and exotic synonym for ‘East Asian’ and didn’t particularly ‘mean’ anything else.
You can add my Korean wife & 99% of her Korean friends to the list of people who didn’t know “Oriental” was offensive.
Funny thing is I picked up on it becoming offensive a few years ago (mostly from the SDMB) and stopped using it. Now I either use Asian or the country in question when known (even to my wife).
Back to the OP, I think it’s a damn shame there aren’t more Asian Playmates.
Never figured Oriental for an offensive slur, either.
Then again, I refer to my eyes as “chinky” in public and wonder why people glare. (I’m half-Filipino, but don’t especially look it… except for the CHINKY eyes. :p)
As one with relatives in Saudi Arabia, too, I’m pretty sure no heads will be rolling quite yet over Paul’s crimes of passion.
It goes back further than that. I went to elemenary, jr. high and high school with a large Asian-American student population. We all used the term Oriental and no one seemed to mind. When I was a college freshman in 1982, I was informed of the whole “Oriental is used to decribe furniture, Asian is used to describe a person.” Whatever. I changed the term that I used. It’s easy enough, just as descriptive and doesn’t offent people. My girlfriend at the time was of Japanese descent and she thought the whole thing was silly too but also used the term that was less offensive to some. Just another college student knee jerk PC thing.
I didn’t know Oriental was considered a slur by some folks until about six months ago. I’m not Oriental, I just didn’t know. If I had used the term “Oriental” I wouldn’t have intended any pejorativeness or racism, I honestly wouldn’t have known that there was a problem with it.
I don’t see any evidence that anyone had considered that Paul might have honsestly known that there was a problem – for some people, anyway. I want to apologize for the Dopers who attacked Paul on this thread – they have behaved like rubes, IMHO, assuming that everyone else knew about and shared their values.
Now I kinda wonder if the problem with “Oriental” isn’t one of the hyper-sensitive things that seems to have started the snitfest on this thread.
Let’s recall that it was Feistymongol who started the hijack on “oriental” in this thread, telling Paul that “Actually i’m hoping one of the terrorists blows you up you racist white son of a bitch.”
Let us also recall that in this thread, Feisty brags that “You mean after I cracked that guy’s head open like an egg he didn’t stop being racist? Maybe not but he certainly thought twice about it next time i’m sure.” and “I’ve since learned to fight back aggressively and without any type of compassion against those that seek to denigrate me because of my race. I’ve broken faces, kicked in car doors, and been convicted of assault.”
Two observations:
(1) Those of you who say that you’ve used the word “Oriental” in all innocence, without any racist intentions–it looks like you’re lucky that you never met Feisty in real life.
And,
(2) Why hasn’t this idiot been banned yet? He’s all but issued death threats in these and other threads. What on earth is it going to take?
giggle