<p>I’m not a scholar on this subject, but I believe the Orient implies another time period. For example, Chinese artwork of the 19th century would be said to come from the Orient, while today is would be said to come from Asia. That’s my sense of correct usage, anyway.</p>
<p>One could also say that “the Orient” suggests that all East Asian cultures are the same, which some may find distasteful. It would be a little like having an exhibit of “American art” that included works by a French Canadian, a New Yorker, and a native Andean. Calling them all American is not offensive, exactly, but it does fail to acknowledge that the peoples are unique, not to be lumped together as a single group.</p>
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<p>To me it’s not, but I think the reason some people find it offensive is captured in this statement I made above:</p>
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<p>Berlusconi’s original remark about Obama being “tan” seemed harmless to me. It struck me as an absurdist joke playing on the notion that one could fail to notice that Obama was born with that skin tone. He made the statement while complimenting Obama’s youthful good looks. Now, I realize that Berlusconi is a buffoon, and only appears more so as he unrepentantly repeats the “tan” remark knowing full-well that many have taken offense to it, but the first time he said it, it struck me as funny. (But I’m not black, so maybe there’s a reason a black person would take offense to being called “tan” that I’m not aware of.)</p>
<p>No one seems to remember that there was the “Orient” and the “Occident.” East and west. I do not see anything inherently insulting about either term, but I think that it is simply outdated language along the lines of “Negro.”</p>
<p>I got a survey a few years ago that originated in California. They asked what race/ethnicity one was, and used the term “Anglo” for white. That struck me as rather insulting in tone, especially since the vast majority of people of European ancestry are not of English heritage. It would be like referring to all Asians as “Chinese.”</p>
<p>Thank you so much. I didn’t expect that much of an education today.</p>
<p>From now on, if anyone calls me “white”, I’ve decided to be offended. After all, the term “white people” connotates imperialism, thuggery and oppression of other races. “White people” took this country from Native Americans at gunpoint. White people enslaved other people. White people built a wall between themselves and Mexico and shot everyone who tried to cross. White people killed other white people en masse across the Mason-Dixon line and the reasons are still a bone of contention.</p>
<p>I am not one of those “white people”. From now on, you are to refer to me as Swedish-American. My people came from the country of cradle-to-grave community care, the Husqvarna sewing machine, H&M, the Volvo, Ikea, and the cell phone. My people gave you the hot tub, Dag Hammerskjold, the Nobel Prize, and endless jokes about the “Bikini Team”. </p>
<p>I have decided that if you refer to me as “white” I will be offended. However, I can call myself “white” if I want to, you just can’t unless you are equally pasty.</p>
<p>And don’t call me “viking” either, or ask me where my horn-hat is.</p>
<p>You see how this can get.</p>
<p>(if you ask me what’s the deal with those Danes, I’m gonna get upset)</p>
<p>LOL, AnudduhMom. But since I am part Finnish and part Irish with some Welsh thrown in, I am hard-pressed to adopt a hyphenated-American identity.</p>
<p>Finno-Celtic-American?</p>
<p>I guess I’ll just have to settle for “white.”</p>
<p>True, it gets ridiculous pretty quickly. There are endless ways to parse and categorize the individuals who make up the human race. If we insist on being offended whenever someone fails to acknowledge our race or other characteristics in exactly the way we want them to, then we will be perpetually offended. (And yes, to be offended is a choice. Being offended isn’t something that someone else does to us. We choose how we react.)</p>
<p>There is a saying called Hanlon’s Razor that goes, “Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.” I think this is a good idea when discussing race, except I might substitute “ignorance” for “stupidity”. In other words, if someone uses a term that could be offensive, don’t jump all over them as though they are racist. Assume they just didn’t know, and perhaps gently remind them. Or maybe just let it slide altogether. Each of us is ignorant of many things and deserves to be forgiven for it.</p>
<p>My H is Swedish/Norwegian and Italian- 2nd gen american, I am Scot/Irish-English-French-German-with some Scandinavian thrown in there some place too- ( my sister has to trace our family back to 14th century)
.I * do* get offended when people assume because of my skin color I am both wealthy and educated, because it put me at the back of the line when trying to access community resources for my family and those who look like me.( especially when the person doing the assuming has a grad degree and they know I didn’t graduate from high school)</p>
<p>Husqvarna sewing machine
Don’t they also make dirt bikes?
Sorry that must be my Redneck/DAR ancestors coming out.
;)</p>
<p>I agree emeraldkity4 - neither of my parents attended school after 8th grade. My grandparents could write their names, but nothing else and were unable to read. The documents I found for my great-parents show they signed their name with an “X” and were unable to read.</p>
<p>Born during the Civil War in one of the hardest hit counties both my great-grandparents suffered malnutrition that affected them for the rest of their lives. I have one account of relatives hiding in the woods and eating grass as their home had been burned down by bushwhackers. My great-great-grandfather was killed by bushwhackers early in the Civil War leaving my great-great-grandmother and her son, my great-grandfather to fend for themselves all through the Civil War. They owned no land and had no resources.</p>
<p>But just because of the color of my skin I, too, am thought to be a product of a privileged background. That is so far from the truth it is laughable!</p>
<p>My father is Hispanic (ancestors from Mexico and Spain before that). My mother is of Swedish ancestry. I have dark hair and eyes and olive skin. My daughter has very blond hair, big blue eyes, and a fair complexion. She prefers to tell people she is Hispanic, and they often laugh at her. Just goes to show you that skin tone or other physical markers are not necessarily going to make one’s ethnicity obvious.</p>
<p>Nrdsb4 - the National Hispanic Scholar at my D’s high school had blonde hair and blue eyes and a fair complexion just like your D! He was from South America.</p>
<p>Many people assume that all Hispanics look like Mexicans, who in reality posess a variety of physical characteristics. Although I’m often asked if I am Italian. Yes, the term “Hispanic” is more of a cultural term rather than an anthropological term based on any biology. We live in Texas, however, so the majority of those who identify themselves as Hispanic are in fact dark haired, dark eyed, and brown skinned, and do trace their heritage to Mexico. Hence the confusion when my daughter speaks about her heritage.</p>
<p>Many people don’t know, however, that there are Mexicans who are black, Caucasian as well as those who are Native American. If you watch any of the soap operas on Mexican TV (I think you can see it on Univision), you’ll see that many of the lead female characters are natural looking blondes. The lead males look southern Italian. I’ve also seen black people playing domestics on those shows.</p>
<p>Something similar happened to me many years ago (before cell phones). I led the person right to the front of a police station and hit my horn. You never saw anyone take off so fast! And the police were very nice and followed me home to make sure I arrived safely and he was nowhere around. Today, I would call on my cell, and head for the nearest police station (if I knew where it was.) and now I make sure I know where it is.</p>
<p>“White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.”</p>
<p>^ ^ from emeraldkity’s citation.</p>
<p>So. Caucasians by definition are not “white”, as they are from the CAUCASUS REGION, [caucasus</a> region - Google Maps](<a href=“Google Maps”>Google Maps)</p>
<p>…which is in EURASIA!</p>
<p>It is now offensive to me to be called “white” because of a history of oppression by “whites”, which history I do not share, as a Swedish-American.</p>
<p>It is offensive to me to be called Caucasian, as I am not from the Caucasus. </p>
<p>If some Puerto Ricans choose to be offended at being confused with Mexicans, I choose to be offended at being called “Caucasian”.</p>
<p>mousegray, it is always a choice to be offended.</p>
<p>If I, as a “white” person need to be sensitive to the etymology of certain words, used with intention or not, then I expect the same sensitivity to MY heritage.</p>
<p>Why should “European-Americans” be all lumped together, when everyone is expected to understand the difference between African-Americans, Africans (from Africa, like Obama, Senior), Afro-Carribeans, or Mexicans, “Latinos”(can we use that word), “Hispanics” (can we use that word), Puerto Ricans, Guatemalans, Guatemalans-with-other-heritages, Nicaraguans, Black Nicaraguans, or Laotians, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Hmong or Sunni, Shia, Coptic, Baha’i, etc.?</p>
<p>Oh, and don’t use the “wrong” or “outdated” terminology, or someone might have a problem with you. You’re expected to know that HISTORICALLY certain words may have significance with certain populations.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that it’s often not the people themselves who get mad about being called by the wrong name. It’s white people being offended on their behalf, which is actually what irritates me. I don’t mind if a black person tells me she would prefer to be called African-American; I think everyone has a right to be called whatever they want. But if a white person lectures me about how it’s offensive when I call someone “black”, yet the black person doesn’t care, that deserves a smack upside the head (for the white person).</p>