Dear FF, I dont believe that anyone is taking strictly divergent postions on this subject. It also is one of those topics that one could write reams and reams on, or talk for hours about. Very difficult to expound one's thoughts in a comprehensive fashion without hogging the thread and converting a simple post into an essay!
I believe there is agreement overall and have just one small comment to make, about the term 'Oriental'. There is a clear semantic difference between Oriental and Asian. If there are Asians that are not objecting to be called this, that's all right perhaps, as regards PC behavioural ethics, but that does not automatically make the usage right. Oriental does not apply to a race or an ethnic group. Edward Said, possibly explains it best when he says that it is essentially a term concocted by the British, to describe everything that was not Occidental. Asia is probably the most ethnically diverse land mass on earth and exquisite cultural and ethnic diversity exists in relatively small groupings of people within Asian nation states themselves. And so, whilst Asians such as Indians, Iranians or Kazakhs might not consider the term Oriental a slur of any sort, it is reasonable to expect that some annoyance will be generated by this generic clubbing of races and its use might even be misconstrued as a demonstration of disinterest in other cultures.
Thanks FF, for the interesting exchange of views.
