767
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 20:
Line 20: − + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
no edit summary
Random House's ''Guide to Sensitive Language'' states "Other words (e.g., Oriental, colored) are outdated or inaccurate." This ''Guide to Sensitive Language'' suggests the use of "Asian or more specific designation such as Pacific Islander, Chinese American, [or] Korean." <ref>"Race, Ethnicity, and National Origin." Sensitive Language. [http://www.randomhouse.com/words/language/avoid_guide.html#race Random House]</ref> Merriam-Webster describes the term as "sometimes offensive,"<ref>"Oriental." [http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=oriental Merriam-Webster]</ref> Encarta states that when the term is used as a noun it is considered " a highly offensive term for somebody from East Asia" <ref>"Oriental." [http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861684868/Oriental.html] </ref> However, the same reference also defines the adjectival usage as "relating to East Asia (dated)" or "high quality".
Random House's ''Guide to Sensitive Language'' states "Other words (e.g., Oriental, colored) are outdated or inaccurate." This ''Guide to Sensitive Language'' suggests the use of "Asian or more specific designation such as Pacific Islander, Chinese American, [or] Korean." <ref>"Race, Ethnicity, and National Origin." Sensitive Language. [http://www.randomhouse.com/words/language/avoid_guide.html#race Random House]</ref> Merriam-Webster describes the term as "sometimes offensive,"<ref>"Oriental." [http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=oriental Merriam-Webster]</ref> Encarta states that when the term is used as a noun it is considered " a highly offensive term for somebody from East Asia" <ref>"Oriental." [http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861684868/Oriental.html] </ref> However, the same reference also defines the adjectival usage as "relating to East Asia (dated)" or "high quality".
According to widely accepted textbook guidelines, there are many racially insensitive terms and concepts (including the word ''oriental'') which are to be avoided when used in conjunction with Asian people. Author and historian [[Diane Ravitch]] has documented the undesirability in an attempt to highlight how political correctness is undermining our educational system. Thus when referring to Orientals the the following words are considered inappropriate and therefore banned from usage in modern textbooks:
According to widely accepted textbook guidelines, there are many racially insensitive terms and concepts (including the word ''oriental'') which are to be avoided when used in conjunction with Asian people. [[Diane Ravitch]], a former assistant [[Secretary_of_Education| secretary of education]] under [[Bill_Clinton|Clinton]] and [[George_Bush|Bush]](considered by many to be "one of the country's most spirited and respected education analysts" <ref>http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/6184665p-7139626c.html%20| Sacramento Bee, February 27, 2003 "Editorial: Policing the vocabulary Textbook sensitivity goes fanatic"</ref>) has documented a series of images and depictions which are banned from textbooks and references. Supporters of the traditional usage of the term ''oriental'' are frightened by how easy it is to ban a word from American textbooks. Toby Merrill of the [[Yale]] Book Review states:
::''All it takes to forever banish a word or image from schools across the nation is a well-placed, vocal group to lobby the Board of Education in either of these states. It is in the California market that publishers feel the most pressure from the left.'' <ref>http://www.yalereviewofbooks.com/archive/summer03/review12.shtml.htm Yale Book Review</ref>
==Serious Opposition to Textbooks and Sensitivity Guides ==
Although the definitions found in most dictionaries are sufficiently vague to argue for or against the appropriateness of the term ''Oriental'' in some contexts, many Americans feel that banning words and images has gone too far. Judge [[Robert Bork]] in ''[[Slouching_Towards_Gomorrah]]'' writes, "Now, however, the educational system has become the weapon of choice for modern liberals in their project of dismantling American culture."
Scholarly works such as "[[The Language Police]]", "The Battle of the Books" and "Challenging the Myths about Multicultural Education" have argued for the continued usage of politically incorrect terms including ''Oriental''. <ref>http://mtprof.msun.edu/Win1994/PTrev.html</ref><ref>Battle of the Books: The Curriculum Debate in America 1993 James Atlas published by W W Norton & Co Inc</ref><ref>The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Children Learn by Diane Ravitch (c) 2003 published by Knopf</ref><ref>http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ497173&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&objectId=0900000b8003e14e Challenging the Myths about Multicultural Education by Carl A Grant</ref><ref>"Multicultural Education Through the Lens of the Multicultural Education Research Literature." by J.A. Banks and C.A. McGee Banks (eds.). Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education NY: Simon. and Schuster Macmillan</ref> [[Diane Ravitch]] has documented the existence of an elaborate and well-established protocol of beneficent censorship, quietly endorsed and implemented by textbook publishers, states, and the federal government. "Publishers practice self-censorship to sell books in big states." <ref>http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375414824</ref> Ravitch has documented "the 'bias guidelines'" for major publishers of texts and tests. "The "bias guidelines" consist of advice to writers and editors about words and topics that must be avoided."<ref>http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003695</ref>
Supporters of the traditional usage of the term ''oriental'' are frightened by how easy it is to ban a word from American textbooks. Toby Merrill of the [[Yale]] Book Review states:
::''All it takes to forever banish a word or image from schools across the nation is a well-placed, vocal group to lobby the Board of Education in either of these states. It is in the California market that publishers feel the most pressure from the left.'' <ref>http://www.yalereviewofbooks.com/archive/summer03/review12.shtml.htm Yale Book Review</ref>
Laurie Morrow, a former Salvatori Fellow of the [[Heritage Foundation]] and professor of English mocked proponents of political correctness and attempt to imply extreme sarcasm when she wrote the following in support of traditional usage of the term ''oriental'':
::''Although the Japanese proudly consider themselves eastern--from the Land of the Rising Sun (remember that World War II flag?)--don't call them "Oriental," for this is Eurocentric, and one should have no center in the happy world of cultural equivalence. (One wonders whether the language police would object to a Tokyo resident's using the term Occidental?)''<ref>http://www.worldandi.com/newhome/public/2003/September/bk2pub.asp</ref>
Professor Morrow also writes:
::''The language police seek to eliminate anything that might cause students discomfort or distress. The world is, however, a difficult and trying place, full of ideas that must be resisted and fought. What students need to learn are courage and perseverance in the face of difficulty, so that they can confront what should be resisted--including censorship by the language police.''<ref>http://www.worldandi.com/newhome/public/2003/September/bk2pub.asp</ref>
However, those who support traditional usage of words and terms do not support an end to all sensitivity. Sybil Maimin writes:
::'' Ravitch does not call for elimination of bias and sensitivity panels but rather for their work, now behind closed doors, to be open to public view. She believes that teachers or school districts rather than state officials should choose books for the classroom, which would decrease the power of pressure groups and lessen uniformity. She has confidence that “language evolves in response to social change. Lots of words disappear naturally,”'' <ref>http://www.educationupdate.com/archives/2003/june03/issue/spot_ravitch.html Education Update</ref>
==Current Usage of Oriental and Related Depictions ==
The term is used widely across a broad spectrum of North America.
===In Government===
Although the term Oriental is "sometimes offensive", the term remains inoffensive sometimes and wide use in across the United States. This usage is evidenced by many sources. The term is used on a great number of governmental document and websites across in the USA describing place names <ref>http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/pr2004/pr04_61.html</ref>, medicine<ref>http://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/pubs_forms/cons_guide_2002.pdf</ref><ref>http://www.health.gov/nhic/NHICScripts/Entry.cfm?HRCode=HR2824</ref>, wildlife <ref>http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-IMPACT/2003/January/Day-10/i491.htm</ref><ref>http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.servlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=B03C</ref> plants<ref>http://www.in.gov/dnr/invasivespecies/oriental_bittersweet_1.pdf</ref>, food<ref>http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/syah/orierice.htm</ref><ref>http://hawaii.gov/health/about/rules/11-29.pdf</ref> and people <ref>http://bioethics.gov/transcripts/jun03/session2.html</ref><ref>http://www.michigan.gov/documents/cis_ofis_fis_1043_24817_7.pdf</ref><ref>http://www.fws.gov/midwest/horicon/nativeamericans.html</ref> or communities.<ref>http://www.loc.gov/acq/devpol/sociology.html</ref><ref>http://vitalrecords.alaska.gov/dph/bvs/PDFs/1999/annual_report/Introduction.pdf</ref><ref>http://www.hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/census/Folder.2005-11-23.1639/ec02-reference/small_diner_condensed_final.pdf</ref><ref>http://www.nps.gov/archive/manz/hrs/hrs10i.htm</ref><ref>http://www.va.gov/vetapp/files1/9401243.txt</ref><ref>http://www.michigan.gov/documents/GBFT0203_61996_7.pdf</ref><ref>http://www.nifl.gov/nifl-health/1998/0198.html</ref> The term is even found on Equal Opportunity Employment<ref>http://ocp.dc.gov/ocp/frames.asp?doc=/ocp/lib/ocp/information/solatt/attachment_j.04_eeo_compliance_documents.doc&open=|34644|</ref> and Fair Housing <ref>http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/library/part109.pdf</ref> documents.
Conversely, at least two state legislatures have passed or proposed legislation declaring a preference for terms other than Oriental in official documents. A finding by the Washington State legislature held that
:''the use of the term "Oriental" when used to refer to persons of Asian descent is outdated and pejorative. There is a need to make clear that the term "Asian" is preferred terminology, and that this more modern and nonpejorative term must be used to replace outdated terminology.''<ref> RCW 1.20.130: "Preferred terminology in government documents." [http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=1.20.130 Revised Code of Washington]</ref>
In 2005, the California senate mandated that the terms "oriental massage" and "oriental medicine" in existing statutes be changed to "Asian medicine" and "Asian massage." <ref>[http://www.sen.ca.gov/sfa/2005/_05_DL11.HTM California State Senate]</ref> Despite this "mandate" businesses and schools across California and the country continue to employ the term. <ref>http://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/education/schools.htm</ref><ref>http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypMap.py?Pyt=Typ&tuid=12363968&ck=2317990383&tab=B2C&tcat=8106973&city=Monterey&state=CA&uzip=93940&country=us&msa=7120&cs=4&ed=3Cjhzq1o2TwW0JlAiouvxdEhci7IWZ92n2SEvi.yLw_KCQ--&stat=:pos:0:regular:regT:2:fbT:0</ref><ref>http://www.csomaonline.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3289</ref><ref>http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypResults.py?stx=oriental+medicine&stp=a&tab=B2C&city=Los+Angeles&state=CA&uzip=90012&country=us&msa=4480&slt=34.052170&sln=-118.243469&cs=4&Submit=Search</ref> California has not purged the term from current documents or websites and the term remains on many pages which display "© 2007 State of California". <ref>http://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/law_reg/art35</ref><ref>http://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/exams/stats_mar2006.htm</ref> <ref>http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=27949&MERCURYSID=719fb03a0214a10a71b0f5217cfbddae</ref>
<ref>http://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/law_reg/1399_45_modtext.pdf</ref><ref>http://www.acupuncture.ca.gov/pubs_forms/cons_guide_2002.pdf</ref>
===In Business===
Businesses such as [[Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company]], [[Mandarin Oriental]], [[Oriental Financial Group, Inc.]],[[Orient Thai Airlines]], [[Orient Steam Navigation Company]], [[Orient Watch Co.]], [[Neptune Orient Lines]] are just a few of many successful enterprises to share this term as a part of their name.
===In Academia===
Many universities no longer accept the usage of the term ''Oriental'' when describing people. <ref>http://www.freewebs.com/bannedwords</ref> However, the highly-regarded [[American Oriental Society]] and many others continue to use the term in its publishings. <ref>http://www.degruyter.de/journals/zac/261_5290_ENU_h.htm</ref><ref>http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/default.html</ref><ref>http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/linguist/index.html</ref><ref>http://www.ksi.edu/seke/cpol.html</ref>
===Other===
According to the [[FBI]], some Asian gangs, the "OPB" ("Oriental Playboys"), and the ORB ("Oriental Rutheless Boys"), refer to themselves as ''oriental''.
<ref>http://www.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel03/release121903.htm</ref><ref>http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2003/feb2003/feb03leb.htm</ref>
Conservative commentators <ref>http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16541</ref> and prominent Filipina [[Michelle Malkin]] regularly employ the term. <ref>http://michellemalkin.com/archives/000239.htm</ref> <ref>http://michellemalkin.com/archives/006107.htm?print=1</ref> <ref>http://michellemalkin.com/archives/000239.htm</ref><ref>http://www.altavista.com/web/results?itag=ody&pg=aq&aqmode=s&aqa=oriental&aqp=&aqo=&aqn=&aqb=&kgs=1&kls=0&dt=tmperiod&d2=0&dfr%5Bd%5D=1&dfr%5Bm%5D=1&dfr%5By%5D=1980&dto%5Bd%5D=4&dto%5Bm%5D=11&dto%5By%5D=2006&filetype=&rc=dmn&swd=michellemalkin.com&lh=&nbq=10</ref>.
The Oriental Food Association <ref>http://www.orientalfood.org/</ref>, Oriental Bellydancer Association <ref>http://www.orientdance.ru/index_e.htm</ref><ref>http://homepage.realtv21.com/?userid=obda_1&pagetype=&viewno=94</ref>, The Association of Oriental Arts <ref>http://www.art-virtue.com/demo/2006-TaoArt/index.htm</ref>, the Shriners <ref>http://www.webruler.com/shriners/oriental.htm</ref><ref>http://www.ladiesorientalshrine.org/home.html</ref> and other social groups continue to use the term. The American Association of Oriental Medicine and many other state-specific associations of oriental medicine still use the term. <ref>http://www.aaom.org/ Website of American Association of Oriental Medicine</ref> The World Wide Web has a profusion of "oriental" [[pornography]] and so-called [[mail order bride]] sites that exploit stereotypes as well desperate individuals on both sides of the transaction. <ref>http://www.oriental-bikini.com/</ref><ref>http://www.orientals.com/</ref><ref>http://www.orientalcompanion.com</ref> The Oriental Martial Arts College and other martial arts organizations employ the term regularly. <ref>http://www.omacworld.com</ref><ref>http://www.west-meet-east.com/martialarts.htm</ref><ref>http://www.orientalmartialarts.org/</ref>
===Regional Variations===
Major objections to the use of the word "Oriental" are chiefly limited to certain elements in [[North America]]. Its use is not controversial in [[Europe]], where the word is neutral and in widespread usage as evidenced by its usage on the online British Monarchy Media Centre.<ref>http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page5495.asp</ref> In France the terms "l'Occident" and "l'Orient" are used without any negative associations in academic contexts. In Europe the term is often used to describe such things as [[Eastern world|the East]]'s cuisine and goods, ancient culture, and religions, at times to denote an exotic quality with upmarket or mildly positive connotations. In the UK the term "[[Asian]]" has become almost exclusively tied to the [[Indian subcontinent]], as evidenced through [[BBC Asian Network]], a radio station of the BBC devoted to the [[British Asian]] community.
==Alternative terminology==
Those who believe the term is derogatory or archaic prefer to employ geographical terms for people and places typically desribed by ''oriental'', e.g., ''South Asia'', ''East Asia'', and ''South-East Asia''. Although the ''Far Eastern'' is considered more politically correct than ''Oriental'', ''East Asian'' is preferred because this verbiage is significantly less Eurocentric. Other politically correct alternative terms include ''Asia and the Pacific'' or ''the Pacific Rim'' or ''the Pacific Basin''.
Author and historian [[Diane Ravitch]] has documented the undesirability in an attempt to highlight how political correctness is undermining our educational system. Thus when referring to Orientals the the following words are considered inappropriate and therefore banned from usage in modern textbooks:
::*Exotic
::*Exotic