Re: The Fabled East


"Kurt Busiek" <kurtbusiek@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2005080309330043658%kurtbusiek@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> On 2005-08-03 07:13:33 -0700, "Marc-Oliver Frisch"
> <Derschwarm@xxxxxxxxxxx> said:

> > Not consistently, no. But, again, your point was in relation to China
and
> > Japan. There's nothing Eurocentric about saying those countries are in
> > the east
> > whatsoever. They just happen to be, according the system everyone on
> > the planet
> > agrees on.
>
> Since (a) that's not why we say they're in the east, and (b) the system
> you refer to is Eurocentric in the first place, then it's Eurocentric
> on both counts -- the reasons we actually say it and the system you're
> using to say it's not Eurocentric.
>
> But since you want to discuss a different point, taken out of context,
> I think it's probably safest to say we simply disagree. You're arguing
> the wording of a sentence, but not how it relates to the larger
> discussion, you just want to quibble with the wording of a sentence.
>
> Which is fair, if that's want you want to do, but since I don't buy
> your reasoning and you don't buy mine, I'm not sure that we'll do
> anything more than reassert from here on.

Getting it back on track, I suppose the litmus test would be whether or not
(centering in on China and Japan since Marc mentioned them) they have a term
in their own many languages that is analogous to "Oriental". Marc is
filtering based on his own upbringing and culture, assuming no-one really
should take offence despite where they exist on the planet. It is labelling,
pure and simple.


.

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