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When I was younger I foolishly thought that racism and bigotry would be a thing of the past by the time I grew to manhood. Now it seems that the problem only gets worse, tacking huge strides backwards. Bigotries that I once thought to be a thing of the past, such as antisemitism, are rearing their heads once again.
I have come to believe that bigotry may be in our genes. An individuals dislike of any particular race or nationality isn't, of course. But, foreign ideas or people may bring up feelings of uneasiness in people. In would be a person's culture and upbringing that would shape their interpretations of the feelings; who we see as being a part of our tribe (“us”) and who we see as not being not a part of our tribe (“them”). Just a thought.
The oriental/Asian debate is confusing. I rejected the term “Asian” for awhile (I have since come around). I do realize that “Oriental” is old fashioned and verboten because of the historically negative connotations that it holds. But, I rejected changing because : 1) The term Oriental has never had any negative connotation to me, so I really didn't understand that it appeared negative to others. 2) “Asian” is a poor word replacement. Israel is in Asia, but a person of Israeli decent is not referred to as Asian. 3) Replacing a word is too easy and doesn't solve any problems. Removing the negative connotation is the real goal. Replacing the word ignores that goal.
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I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
-Frank Sinatra
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