Oriental is the term and we're done talkin' about it.


Posted On: Tuesday - May 15th 2018 7:04PM MST
In Topics: 
  Political Correctness  Curmudgeonry  Race/Genetics

OK, after already suggesting that I'd beat this horse to death in the future, in the previous post and back on Saturday, I'd better get 'er done. However, upon searching, I noticed that this PSPP (Peak Stupidity Pet Peeve) has cropped up not just once, as I'd assumed, but twice in the more distance blog-past. Our annoyance with using the term "Asian" for "Oriental" was discussed in a post featuring Aja, the great song by Steely Dan, in addition to the mention of the older, more mellifluous English names for places in China, with the accompanying Rod Stewart song, Every Picture Tells a Story, Don't It?.

Let's hope this doesn't crop up too many more times, but it's gotta be fixed, dammit! I think using "Asian" for "Oriental" started sometime in the 1990's. "Oriental" means "Eastern", just as "Occidental" means "Western" from its Latin roots. As far as the Europeans were concerned, way back in the past all the way to those Roman times, the people in China/Japan/Korea/SE-Asia, (whatever those countries were called then) lived way to the east. Europeans were not called Occidentals, simple because the Orientals didn't use Latin words, and the Euros (Occidentals) didn't need to call themselves ANYTHING but Greeks, Franks, Anglo-Saxons and what have you.

From Steve Sailer or a commenter of iSteve, after some discussion there, I did learn that the good folks in Turkey and parts near there were also called Orientals way back. "Think about the Orient Express railroad. It doesn't go to East Asia." they explained. Good point, I figured, as I had thought that train DID go all the way to China. OK, so you've got people somewhat to the east, the "Middle East", and those in the Far East who, let's call them Orientals again, please, not Asians. Why?

I'll tell you why - because all of the people below live in Asia!:

There's a Korean, a Siberian Russian, an Indian, an Indonesian, and a Saudi Arabian.
THEY ALL LIVE IN ASIA.

Got it? It's the biggest continent in the world and has people of widely varying racial and ethnic groups in many nations. Political Correctness works in strange ways, but is in general based on not hurting people's feelings. The Peak Stupidity blog does not aspire to be PC in any way anyway, but in this case, I don't even see how feelings could be hurt. How is being called an Easterner an insult!?

The pics above had guys with various hairstyles and headgear. Maybe that is confusing things. How about this lady? What type of Asian is she? Answer, from this view, who cares?*



* Feel free to put in your guess in the comments section. Winner gets the girl for one night.**

** Virtually only, as Peak Stupidity is on a low budget after bidding entirely too much on that giant rabbit sculpture at Sotheby's.

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