Word 'Oriental' outdated, not offensive
Come on. What's the ruckus regarding Ward 2 (Etobicoke North) Councillor Rob Ford's remarks?
Victoria Shen of the Chinese Canadian National Council takes offence at Ford's use of the term "Oriental people".
Many people do not know that "Oriental" is no longer politically correct.
As an Asian-Canadian, I knew that "Oriental" was outdated but did not realize it was offensive and derogatory. I had to phone a dozen friends to find out their opinion. All agreed it was outdated but not a single one found it to be offensive or derogatory to the point of causing tension.
It appears that a while back, some Asian-American activist decided that "Oriental" was not a good word and that "Asian" was more accurate.
This is what Wiki says: "The 'Orient' is a term historically used in Western culture to refer to Asia. To describe a person as an 'Oriental' is now considered somewhat impolite in the U.S. (the term Asian is used widely instead), but does not carry any such connotations in the U.K., where the word 'Asian' commonly refers to people of Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani/Sri Lankan descent."
I wonder why Shen invites us to review Edward Said's Orientalism. How relevant is this?
Even if Ford had said "Asian," Shen writes "So while the term 'Asian' may be more socially acceptable, any generalization about a racial group is racist." You just can't win.
And if Ford had been politically correct, Shen writes "Politically correct speech does not mean the absence of racism." You just can't win.
Not satisfied with just Ford, she overturns all stones in search of racism when she writes "...people of colour remain woefully under-represented in city council". Not Ford's fault I hope.
Let's be understanding of Ford's 'somewhat impolite' use of words but without malice. Shen writing that Ford's remarks are unacceptable is one thing, but to say that they were racist is quite another. Ford's intentions were good and hardly could be categorized as racist comments. How many of us have not opened our mouth in public and put our foot in and said something impolite or outdated?
'Racism' tends to be a misused and abused word sometimes. In today's politically correct world, one is accused of being a racist if you simply disagree or criticize. Regardless of whether Ford's opinion is right or wrong and whether he unwittingly chose politically incorrect terminology, I doubt if this is considered racism and worthy of censure as written by Shen.
D. Sung
