President Obama Signs Bill Eliminating 'Oriental' From Federal Law

[brinny]

Who is demonizing it ? This is about federal legal language, not restaurants. Do you think the law should have stood as written, or is the new language clearer?

Think about it.

popcorn?

 

[TLK Valentine]

Yet the word and all it's connected to in the names of businesses, etc. will be demonized?

Brilliant.

Talk about rabbit holes.....

LOL!

How many people do you think said the same thing when "quadroon" fell out of fashion?

Darn that political correctness!

 

[Uncle Siggy]

Talk about rabbit holes.....

And all of Congress wants to hide in it...

 

[brinny]

How many people do you think said the same thing when "quadroon" fell out of fashion?

Darn that political correctness!

quadroon?

 

[brinny]

And all of Congress wants to hide in it...

LOL!

 

[Uncle Siggy]

Guess this is more important than trying to fix the economy and unemployment issues...

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

Think about it.

popcorn?

I thought about it. The language is clearer and Obama isn't coming after rug shops. If anyone is being demonized unfairly, it's Obama. Can't criticize him for this action, so pretend he's going to outlaw the word and criticize him for that.

 

[brinny]

I thought about it. The language is clearer and Obama isn't coming after rug shops. If anyone is being demonized unfairly, it's Obama. Can't criticize him for this action, so pretend he's going to outlaw the word and criticize him for that.

Yes, you are clear on your opinion.

Thank you for sharing it.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

Yes, you are clear on your opinion.

Thank you for sharing it.

How about your opinion on the matter at hand. Do you think the law cited was better before or after the language was changed?

 

[brinny]

How about your opinion on the matter at hand. Do you think the law cited was better before or after the language was changed?

I read it more carefully, and i may have been a bit hasty in my responses. i don't object necessarily to those who felt this may have been necessary.

In that case i apologize.

 

[TLK Valentine]

quadroon?

My point exactly.

 

[brinny]

My point exactly.

LOL!

 

[smaneck]

Speaking as a historian, the term Orientalism has come to refer to an attitude of scholarship which paints the west as virile and the east (pick an east, any east) as effeminate. It was part of the language inherited from the 19th century which justified imperialism in that part of the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism

 

[Glass*Soul]

Yet the word and all it's connected to in the names of businesses, etc. will be demonized?

Brilliant.

Talk about rabbit holes.....

LOL!

Nope. It is not considered inappropriate to use the word oriental to describe things other than people.

 

[brinny]

Nope. It is not considered inappropriate to use the word oriental to describe things other than people. Rugs and restaurants may continue as is.

Thank you kindly for the clarification.

 

[Glass*Soul]

I'm not sure you're using "equivocation" right. I just noted that if the word has any connotations, they're positive ones. Whereas you equated the word with a wholly negative word.

When you look up Orient, or Oriental in the dictionary, there are multiple meanings given. We're talking about the word Oriental being used to describe Asian people, one of the several meanings you will find given. Our discussion has nothing to do with the quality of pearls or having one's sense of direction intact. It is OK to speak of the orient of a pearl or to describe an individual as being well-oriented, to call rugs or restaurants Oriental. The fact that you can find definitions that are unequivocally positive does not make using the term Oriental to describe people from Asia OK. It is better given the history of that particular usage of the term not to continue use it to describe people no matter how positive it may be in other contexts. Now this will not be done any longer in federal legislation such as Title 42. More appropriate terms will be used.

BTW, don't be underling equated after I already told you I did not mean my flake example to be a one-on-one comparison but rather a lighthearted illustration of the definition of equivocation. Sheesh.

Exactly what the word means: they are "of the East". And that could apply to someone born in New York or London, given a basic knowledge of human sexual reproduction.

Not sure I'm following you here.

 

[Chesterton]

Speaking as a historian, the term Orientalism has come to refer to an attitude of scholarship which paints the west as virile and the east (pick an east, any east) as effeminate. It was part of the language inherited from the 19th century which justified imperialism in that part of the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism

Language doesn't cause or justify imperialism.

When you look up Orient, or Oriental in the dictionary, there are multiple meanings given. We're talking about the word Oriental being used to describe Asian people, one of the several meanings you will find given. Our discussion has nothing to do with the quality of pearls or having one's sense of direction intact. It is OK to speak of the orient of a pearl or to describe an individual as being well-oriented, to call rugs or restaurants Oriental. The fact that you can find definitions that are unequivocally positive does not make using the term Oriental to describe people from Asia OK. It is better given the history of that particular usage of the term not to continue use it to describe people no matter how positive it may be in other contexts. Now this will not be done any longer in federal legislation such as Title 42. More appropriate terms will be used.

What makes it not OK?

BTW, don't be underling equated after I already told you I did not mean my flake example to be a one-on-one comparison but rather a lighthearted illustration of the definition of equivocation. Sheesh.

I underlined it to show that you equated, and I did not. And you're at least the second person in the thread to equate oriental with an insult. I wish ya'll would stop; I find it offensive.

Not sure I'm following you here.

If an individual was not born in the east, the word oriental could still apply if their parents, or parents' parents were.

 

[smaneck]

Language doesn't cause or justify imperialism.

Oh, it can. Read Edward Said's Orientalism.

 

[Glass*Soul]

If an individual was not born in the east, the word oriental could still apply if their parents, or parents' parents were.

What if they were born Downeast? What if they went up to Boston? Bet you didn't think of that!

 

[Chesterton]

Oh, it can. Read Edward Said's Orientalism.

I glanced at the Wiki. You must love that book. In the second paragraph it says he blames Arab culture on Arabs internalizing what Westerners thought it was. Reminds me of a joke I heard from a black comedian on TV who said he and his friend were so insulted by a white couple thinking they might rob them that they went ahead and robbed them. I'll bet that book's a hoot.