I guess we all are products of our childhood. Most of who we
are and what we become is formed by some mysterious process during our
formative years. I’ve heard it said that 90% of your personality is set by the
time you are five years old. That probably explains my love for sweets, my
immature behaviour and my fear of authority figures. The last one might be a
holdover from my hippie years.
I was told by my daughter in no uncertain terms that my use
of the term “oriental” is racist. I find that hard to believe, but Maegan is
seldom wrong about these things. I was brought up in an era that used racist
terms to describe every race, nationality and even local differences were up
for ridicule. I don’t feel that the terms were meant to be hateful. Well, not
from me, I don’t hate anyone. I dislike politicians and stupid people, but that
is pretty normal I think.
I don’t see how “oriental” can be racist. I use it to
describe people who are from the Asian sub continent or The Orient as I came to
know it. I should mention that Maegan told me the proper term is “Asian” when
referring to people from the Orient. Does this mean that I am being racist when
I call all of those people who live south of the 49th parallel
“Americans”? They are actually citizens of the United
States of America so I guess I am correct in
calling them “Americans”. Should I call the Mexicans and my fellow Canadians
“Americans” as well? I don’t know where the people of Panama
would fit in, North or South. Speaking of South Americans, what should I call
them?
I didn’t get into this conversation with Maegan because I
see her too seldom to waste time arguing with her. Plus, she is pretty smart
and would inevitably win any argument I might start. Even if I was right, I
would be wrong.
Personally, I think that racism is more about intent than
words. There have been a couple of racist incidents involving drunken
passengers in cabs lately. There was racist intent being directed at the
drivers and it is right that these passengers are being held accountable for
their actions. The driver was just doing his job after all and if the
passengers objected to riding in his cab they could have walked home. The
insults were all basically “Go back to where you come from! You aren’t welcome
in my country.” Which country is that, the one your ancestors were kicked out
of somewhere in Europe ? We are all from somewhere else,
even the indigenous peoples came from Asia , maybe the
Orient.
Perhaps our indigenous peoples are oriental. I wonder what
Maegan would think of that?
I guess that the bottom line is that there are good people
from every country and race. There are assholes that come from every country
and race. What we need is somewhere else that we can send them just like our
ancestors sent us “to explore new lands”. Mars seems to be far enough away so
that they can’t come back to bother us for a century or two.
Let’s send all of the racists and bigots into space. We
shouldn’t even give them a ship capable of a return trip. We don’t want the
Martians sending them back where they came from.
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