why Oriental is offensive

[Frank Abate]

Indigo Som said:
>>
>>From one horse's mouth... this is why "Oriental" is offensive to me (&
other Asians I know):
It comes from the binary Occidental/Oriental which is an imperialist
division of the world into "Us/Them", "Us" of course being Europeans.
<<

I grant that one could view "Oriental" as assuming a Western perspective in
an absolute sense.  But if you pair it with "Occidental" (from Latin
_occidens_ 'setting', that is, 'in the direction of the setting sun') and
assume an awareness of the etymology of both, then it seems to me that as a
pair the terms are neutral.  So I don't see how Occidental/Oriental can be
taken as imperialist.

This has nothing to do with "Oriental" being taken as offensive or
disparaging.  That is a matter of socialization, and as this thread has
shown, it is regionally quite restricted, perhaps to the West Coast.  I
agree with Natalie Maynor that folks who hear "Oriental" used of people
should not assume that there is any negative intent at all.  Of course, that
may not diminish the emotional reaction.

I wonder, Indigo, what you say about the many combinations of "Oriental" the
modifier (= "East Asian" or sometimes = "Asian") used with a noun, as in
your own citation of "Oriental carpet" (which can hail from Persia/Iran to
China).  Are we to try to wipe these out of the lexicon?  And if so, how?
You can't legislate language use.  Well, you can try, but it's futile.

Frank Abate