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Science Forum Index » Environment Forum » Strange racial terminology
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| Makoto Taniguchi |
 Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 5:09 am |
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I refuse to call myself Asian on the notion that I am not from Asia. I
was born and raised in Canada so why do yellow-skinned people get
called Asian? White-Canadians don't get called "Europeans" how did
this odd terminology come up?
It's as if they are saying that if your ancestry is Asian then you're
Asian even if you're born overseas but that doesn't seem to count for
overseas whites living in North America. Why is the term "yellow" not
being used more often than "Asian" when we're talking about race?
Not just that, but Asia has the Middle Easterners who call themselves
"Asian" but they are not of the mongoloid racial stock rather of the
caucasian racial stock.
I've heard from numerous people that I must be "embarrased of being
Asian" but I'm not because in my opinion I'm a yellow Canadian with
Asian ancestry. |
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| Tim Worstall |
| Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 11:33 am |
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bartron2k2@hotmail.com (Makoto Taniguchi) wrote in message news:<195ad9c0.0312190209.171dafd6@posting.google.com>...
Quote: I refuse to call myself Asian on the notion that I am not from Asia. I
was born and raised in Canada so why do yellow-skinned people get
called Asian? White-Canadians don't get called "Europeans" how did
this odd terminology come up?
Usually they get called Caucasian. Which in itself is a very wide
ranging term.
Quote:
It's as if they are saying that if your ancestry is Asian then you're
Asian even if you're born overseas but that doesn't seem to count for
overseas whites living in North America. Why is the term "yellow" not
being used more often than "Asian" when we're talking about race?
Not just that, but Asia has the Middle Easterners who call themselves
"Asian" but they are not of the mongoloid racial stock rather of the
caucasian racial stock.
I've heard from numerous people that I must be "embarrased of being
Asian" but I'm not because in my opinion I'm a yellow Canadian with
Asian ancestry.
My opinion ?
There are a very few times when it is necessary to take someone's "
race " into account. Susceptibility to certain diseases ( sickle cell
anaemia for example ) and the like. The rest of the time the word "
human " does very well. And if one must subdivide humanity, cultural
rather than racial differences speak louder .
From your name I would guess that you are of Japanese racial
background. I am reasonably sure you would regard yourself as closer
to a fellow Canadian than to , a say, US citizen of Malay descent. So
I, as it appears you would, would distinguish not by " Asian American"
but by " Canadian " or " US citizen ".
Tim Worstall
( An English / Irish/Peruvian/Australian/French/Danish hybrid, born
and raised in England, and so English ). |
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| Frank Altschuler |
| Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 5:01 pm |
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"Makoto Taniguchi" <bartron2k2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:195ad9c0.0312190209.171dafd6@posting.google.com...
Quote: I refuse to call myself Asian on the notion that I am not from Asia. I
was born and raised in Canada so why do yellow-skinned people get
called Asian? White-Canadians don't get called "Europeans" how did
this odd terminology come up?
It's as if they are saying that if your ancestry is Asian then you're
Asian even if you're born overseas but that doesn't seem to count for
overseas whites living in North America. Why is the term "yellow" not
being used more often than "Asian" when we're talking about race?
Not just that, but Asia has the Middle Easterners who call themselves
"Asian" but they are not of the mongoloid racial stock rather of the
caucasian racial stock.
I've heard from numerous people that I must be "embarrased of being
Asian" but I'm not because in my opinion I'm a yellow Canadian with
Asian ancestry.
I can't for an instant imagine anyone considering being of Asian ancestry to
be anything embarrasing. Weird. Seems as though you've heard from numerous
people that I'd be "embarrased" to be around.
Just be glad that you don't have to deal with the moniker de jure for every
group coming and going as in the US. Years ago I received a copy of the
Philidelphia Enquirer. I turned to the business section. There was a
description of a company that had finally gone from losing money for the
past three calendar quarters to finally being in the "African American". I
know some goober had just hit the global edit button with what was at that
time the latest greatist PC speech but it was funny nonetheless.
If ever there was a racial description truly lacking in descriptive power
"African American" is that phrase. I've met folks hailing from Morocco,
Egypt, and South Africa, and none of them looked at all like what the phrase
was probably meant to describe. Then, we've got folks from Haiti, South
America, and Jamaica who do and are frankly put out that their national
heritage gets such short shift.
You can't keep it straight without a scorecard.
Frank Altschuler |
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| BretCahill |
| Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 9:56 pm |
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When people ask me about my
background, I tell them I descended from
Canadians.
Works every time.
Bret Cahill
All conservatism is based on censorship of
economic information.
-- Bret Cahill |
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| Josh Halpern |
| Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2003 12:14 am |
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Makoto Taniguchi wrote:
Quote: I refuse to call myself Asian on the notion that I am not from Asia. I
was born and raised in Canada so why do yellow-skinned people get
called Asian? White-Canadians don't get called "Europeans" how did
this odd terminology come up?
It's as if they are saying that if your ancestry is Asian then you're
Asian even if you're born overseas but that doesn't seem to count for
overseas whites living in North America. Why is the term "yellow" not
being used more often than "Asian" when we're talking about race?
Not just that, but Asia has the Middle Easterners who call themselves
"Asian" but they are not of the mongoloid racial stock rather of the
caucasian racial stock.
I've heard from numerous people that I must be "embarrased of being
Asian" but I'm not because in my opinion I'm a yellow Canadian with
Asian ancestry.
The sensible answer is that you can call yourself anything you damn please.
josh halpern |
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| Vendicar Decarian |
| Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2003 10:14 pm |
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"Makoto Taniguchi" <bartron2k2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:195ad9c0.0312190209.171dafd6@posting.google.com...
Quote: I refuse to call myself Asian on the notion that I am not from Asia. I
was born and raised in Canada so why do yellow-skinned people get
called Asian? White-Canadians don't get called "Europeans" how did
this odd terminology come up?
It's just a short hand method of referring to your Asian racial heritage.
The more civilized the nation, the less anyone cares.
In the socialist states, such matters reach their least importance. |
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| Makoto Taniguchi |
| Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2003 2:46 am |
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"Vendicar Decarian" <VD@Pyro.net> wrote in message news:<gf8Fb.15967$mV5.8342@read1.cgocable.net>...
Quote: "Makoto Taniguchi" <bartron2k2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:195ad9c0.0312190209.171dafd6@posting.google.com...
I refuse to call myself Asian on the notion that I am not from Asia. I
was born and raised in Canada so why do yellow-skinned people get
called Asian? White-Canadians don't get called "Europeans" how did
this odd terminology come up?
It's just a short hand method of referring to your Asian racial heritage.
"Asian" isn't even a race. Just like "Europeans" are not a race. Why
do White-Canucks and White-Yanks never get called "Europeans" then?
why are we called "Asian" as if we are some kind of foreigners? Don't
you think someone like me should be called "yellow" instead? You have
to realize that no one calls me an "Asian-Canadian" or "A Canadian
with Asian descent" which is how whites in this country are treated.
In many countries in Asia, it's politically incorrect to call a
Canadian or an American with Asian descent an "Asian" instead they say
"Canadian with Asian descent" so why is that not happening in North
America? |
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| Vendicar Decarian |
| Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2003 11:42 am |
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Quote: "Vendicar Decarian" <VD@Pyro.net> wrote in message
news:<gf8Fb.15967$mV5.8342@read1.cgocable.net>...
It's just a short hand method of referring to your Asian racial
heritage.
"Makoto Taniguchi" <bartron2k2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:195ad9c0.0312202346.5310fe98@posting.google.com...
Quote: "Asian" isn't even a race. Just like "Europeans" are not a race. Why
do White-Canucks and White-Yanks never get called "Europeans" then?
Because the term "race" has no specific technical meaning, and because the
people who defined the term a very long time ago were of European origin and
found a need to distinguish themselves (as a group) from other
geographically distributed groups of people elsewhere on the planet.
It's simply easier to refer to someone as "asian" rather than saying "that
guy who's ancestors come from either China, Japan, Singapore, Tibet, etc....
etc.. etc..
That makes for a messy and unnecessarily complex sentence.
"Makoto Taniguchi" <bartron2k2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:195ad9c0.0312202346.5310fe98@posting.google.com...
Quote: why are we called "Asian" as if we are some kind of foreigners? Don't
you think someone like me should be called "yellow" instead?
That could be another alternative. But this form of classification has
it's own collection or problems and is somewhat less useful in terms of
implying relate physical and cultural characteristics.
You might argue that these cultural stereotypes don't apply to you, and
that may be immediately true, but they do apply to either your parents, or
your grandparents and hence you have had some exposure, while those who
might be referred to as Native American have not.
"Makoto Taniguchi" <bartron2k2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:195ad9c0.0312202346.5310fe98@posting.google.com...
Quote: You have
to realize that no one calls me an "Asian-Canadian" or "A Canadian
with Asian descent" which is how whites in this country are treated.
But many asians do call themselves Asian Canadians, just as many Italians
refer to themselves as Italian Canadians etc.
You might have noticed that Canadians don't seem to care much about such
labels. They are used to provide one portion of the discriptive framework
of a personal discription, and details are added or subtracted from there.
"Makoto Taniguchi" <bartron2k2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:195ad9c0.0312202346.5310fe98@posting.google.com...
Quote: In many countries in Asia, it's politically incorrect to call a
Canadian or an American with Asian descent an "Asian" instead they say
"Canadian with Asian descent" so why is that not happening in North
America?
It is, and for exactly the same reason. "Canadian with Asian descent." is
intended to recognize the fact that the person being referred as socially
common to his Asian audience, but socially dissimilar.
If a person of European descent were born in Japan and visited Europe, he
would be referred to as Japanese with European descent, or it would be
implied and left for the audience to explore.
Billy: "This is Lee. He is from China."
Susan: "How long have you lived in China Lee." Susan said noting that Lee
looks European.
Lee: "All my life."
Susan: "Cool."
Don't get your knickers in a knot Makoto. |
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