Silly europeans

[ironzealot]

why do britons insist on referring to anyone who exists on the continent of asia as asians. While it makes sense of the surface I think the american system of ethnic labels is more practical.

Why throw down the blanket term 'asian' for a variety of very distinct ethnic groups. In the US, asian means east-asian(Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc) We make a distinction between these asians(ethnic mongoloids) and what we simply call 'middle-easterners'(arabs, persians, kurds, turks, etc) basically the semitic races.

If you asked an average american if they harbored any anti-asian sentiment they would think you were a loon, because to them asian means east-asian mongoloids. Now if you asked if they harbored any anti-arab sentiment, that might be a more valid question.

Another issue could be raised regarding why europeans distance themselves from middle-easterners racially. They basically have the same genetic make-up as mediterranean europeans(mostly caucasoid with a little mongoloid blood), and most consider them to be white.

Many middle-easterners even have relatively fair skin and blue/green eyes, and wouldn't look a bit out of place in countries like spain or italy. I'm of Persian descent and most people I know consider me white.

This is a perfect example of how race is largely a matter of perception. It doesn't make sense to call persians and arabs 'asians' essentially lumbing them in with the pure-blooded mongoloids. It would be more accurate to lump us in with europeans, as we are much similar to them then we are to 'asians'

So stop calling us asians british people.

[emmytee]

well, thats frickin asians for ya.....

[Arkatsson]

Persia was in ASIA Minor right? But I must say the current system of what race you are could be very inaccurate. Which screws up racists because X person might not really be part of X racial group.

[Svoboda]

Europeans are not silly, the english are.

[tawc]

i call asians orientals and middle easterners muslim scum.

[Neoptolemus]

At 11/24/06 12:47 PM, tawb wrote: i call asians orientals

All those from the Orient are Asian yet not all Asians are from the Orient..

and middle easterners muslim scum.

And i call people like you morons. Firstly not all those that live in the Middle East are followers of Islam, there are Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, Budhists etc.. And finally using derogatory terms towards those who follow a particular belief is not only discrimination but goes against the entire point of what the ECHR states about freedom of religion which you, as a British citizen, are governed by.

[edhe]

At 11/24/06 06:14 AM, ironzealot wrote: why do britons insist on referring to anyone who exists on the continent of asia as asians. While it makes sense of the surface I think the american system of ethnic labels is more practical.

I'm English (or British, aparently), and I don't use the term asian for all ethnic groups who live on the Asian Continent, or are descended from one of those countries. What's the problem? You just reffered to the British as Europeans.

Why throw down the blanket term 'asian' for a variety of very distinct ethnic groups. In the US, asian means east-asian(Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc) We make a distinction between these asians(ethnic mongoloids) and what we simply call 'middle-easterners'(arabs, persians, kurds, turks, etc) basically the semitic races.

I do agree that people should be recognised for their country of origin or their unique culture, rather than cluping a group together as one.

Another issue could be raised regarding why europeans distance themselves from middle-easterners racially. They basically have the same genetic make-up as mediterranean europeans(mostly caucasoid with a little mongoloid blood), and most consider them to be white.

To be fair, In Britain, many people of Middle eastern descent choose to segregate themselves from British culture...But then again, so do some Brits in places like Spain.

So stop calling us asians british people.

...Sorry.
But then what do you care. You live in Minnesota (if my basic knowledge of U.S states serves me well.

Well I do have an anti asian setiment in the american term. Sometimes that is, some asians are cool ( like that pimp bobby lee for example).

[Empanado]

At 11/24/06 06:14 AM, ironzealot wrote: why do britons insist on referring to anyone who exists on the continent of asia as asians.

OH NOES, they call people from asia "asians", how dare they?!
It's so... just... so... racist.

Wah wah wah.

[SkyCube]

At 11/24/06 02:09 PM, Neoptolemus wrote: And finally using derogatory terms towards those who follow a particular belief is not only discrimination but goes against the entire point of what the ECHR states about freedom of religion which you, as a British citizen, are governed by.

If he wants to call Asians "Muslim scum" he should every right to.

[Neoptolemus]

At 11/25/06 01:56 PM, ClottedCreamFudge wrote:

At 11/24/06 02:09 PM, Neoptolemus wrote: And finally using derogatory terms towards those who follow a particular belief is not only discrimination but goes against the entire point of what the ECHR states about freedom of religion which you, as a British citizen, are governed by.

If he wants to call Asians "Muslim scum" he should every right to.

I'm not denying his right to say such a thing only denying his intention of descriminating against a particular belief and infringing upon the European Convention on Human Rights by implying that people should not be Muslim.

[tawc]

they have every right to be muslim, just why cant they be muslim in muslim countries.
I heard the other day muslims were complaining because the british flag is made up of 3 Christian saints flags, and that its an offense to muslims living in britain. how fucked up is that???

[Neoptolemus]

At 11/25/06 02:46 PM, tawb wrote: they have every right to be muslim, just why cant they be muslim in muslim countries.
I heard the other day muslims were complaining because the british flag is made up of 3 Christian saints flags, and that its an offense to muslims living in britain. how fucked up is that???

Do you actually have a source for that? If so then i'm appalled. I mean, i'm atheist yet i don't care if the British flag is made up of flags of three saints.

[ironzealot]

muslims are scum, Iran was once a prosperous and progressive nation.

Then the damn jihadi arab-loving idiots took over, and are dragging my country back to the stoneage.

If persians have to follow a religion, why can't it be the zoroastriansim that dominated persia in its glory days. Zoroastrianism was a religion of tolerance and peace, while islam is a religion of biggotry, misogyny, and unrelenting violence.

[ironzealot]

At 11/25/06 02:46 PM, tawb wrote: they have every right to be muslim, just why cant they be muslim in muslim countries.
I heard the other day muslims were complaining because the british flag is made up of 3 Christian saints flags, and that its an offense to muslims living in britain. how fucked up is that???

Yes, many muslims living in europe are screaming that their new-homeland's flag is offensive to them because they contain "symbols of christianity". What did they expect, they move to a nation that has been historically christian, and still contains strong christian elements in its culture, and cry foul when there's a christian symbol on the flag?

It's so outrageous that there aren't words to describe just how outrageous it is. They are basically saying "I'm moving to europe, so now european culture must be swept away so as not to offend my culture." Imagine if a european moved to turkey and claimed that the turkish flag was offensive because it contained "islamic symbols"

That's the culture of the land idiot, you don't like it go back where you came from. Europe should stop bending over backwards, sacrificing their own culture in order to not offend a foreign culture in THEIR OWN LAND!

[Tomsan]

this is one of the most dumbest threads Ive red in a while. luckily you started and ended with blaming the UK, but I have never ever heard someone refer to persians or other arabs as asians. And the whole story about the genetics, comon its about CULTURE!

[lapis]

At 11/25/06 07:26 PM, ironzealot wrote: Yes, many muslims living in europe are screaming that their new-homeland's flag is offensive to them because they contain "symbols of christianity".

I call bullshit on the "many". All I could find on the Internet was this, people called "Anne Owers" and "Chris Doyle" saying that the flag could be interpreted as being related to the Crusades, and a marginal terrorist organisation threatening British corporations. I highly doubt that there's a considerable number of Muslims in England who dislike usage of the English flag, please quote sorces that state otherwise if my search wasn't thorough enough.

[ironzealot]

At 11/25/06 07:44 PM, lapis wrote:
I call bullshit on the "many". All I could find on the Internet was this, people called "Anne Owers" and "Chris Doyle" saying that the flag could be interpreted as being related to the Crusades, and a marginal terrorist organisation threatening British corporations. I highly doubt that there's a considerable number of Muslims in England who dislike usage of the English flag, please quote sorces that state otherwise if my search wasn't thorough enough.

"marginal" my ass. A large number of english corporations banned the flag as a result of the threat by the "marginal" terrorist group as well as large-scale protests.

Those links you gave only validated my point.

[lapis]

At 11/25/06 09:20 PM, ironzealot wrote: "marginal" my ass. A large number of english corporations banned the flag as a result of the threat by the "marginal" terrorist group

I believe there's a semantic difference between the terms "a large number" and "some" as I don't think a number that a man can count on his hands really qualifies as being the former. And even if all English corporations that used the St. George's Cross banned the emblem then it would still say more about the magnitude of the reaction than the support in the Muslim community for al-Mujahiroun. Which is pretty marginal, and yet they're the largest group of 9/11 apologists in the UK.

as well as large-scale protests.

What "large-scale protests"? The second article says "the Islamic protest ", so I guess they're talking about the threat issued by al-Mujahiroun. On the other hand, if you could give me a link to a large-scale protest (you know, one with at least a few hundred people marching in the streets or prominent Muslim representatives voicing concerns about the cross rather than a bunch of extremists) in England then please do. But I really doubt that the average English Muslim gives a crap about about the English flag as long as it isn't changed to something similar to what I drew below.

[Slizor]

I think the topic starter is slightly confused with regards to what Brits say. When we say Asian we mean Central Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), not East Asian (who we invariably call "Chinese" or occasionally "Japanese".) And we do say if someone is from the Middle East.

There is an actual issue when talking about African though.

[Britkid]

At 11/24/06 06:14 AM, ironzealot wrote: why do britons insist on referring to anyone who exists on the continent of asia as asians. While it makes sense of the surface I think the american system of ethnic labels is more practical.

How about because people who live in Asia ARE Asians...? Just like people who live in Europe are Europeans.

Why throw down the blanket term 'asian' for a variety of very distinct ethnic groups. In the US, asian means east-asian(Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc) We make a distinction between these asians(ethnic mongoloids) and what we simply call 'middle-easterners'(arabs, persians, kurds, turks, etc) basically the semitic races.

The same applies with other continents. Take North America for example. White christian Americans, Jews, Mexicans and other people from the Caribbean. Native Aztecs were originally monguloid.

If you asked an average american if they harbored any anti-asian sentiment they would think you were a loon, because to them asian means east-asian mongoloids. Now if you asked if they harbored any anti-arab sentiment, that might be a more valid question.

Then that's what we do too. We don't refer to Arabs or Muslims as 'Asian'. Usually the term is used when someone can't actually differentiate where the person comes from as people from bordering countries who may have different religions do look similar to eachother.

Another issue could be raised regarding why europeans distance themselves from middle-easterners racially. They basically have the same genetic make-up as mediterranean europeans(mostly caucasoid with a little mongoloid blood), and most consider them to be white.

I have never heard of distancing ourselves from them racially. Culturally our regions are very different and we also have different religions.

Many middle-easterners even have relatively fair skin and blue/green eyes, and wouldn't look a bit out of place in countries like spain or italy. I'm of Persian descent and most people I know consider me white.

Ok.

This is a perfect example of how race is largely a matter of perception. It doesn't make sense to call persians and arabs 'asians' essentially lumbing them in with the pure-blooded mongoloids. It would be more accurate to lump us in with europeans, as we are much similar to them then we are to 'asians'

Yes it does, if you're using a broad term when you don't know exactly where someone comes from. Your races live on the same continent, therefore they are both Asians.

So stop calling us asians british people.

But you ARE Asian...just as I am European...however much I don't like it. You're an Asian, and so is a Chinese man.

[SmilezRoyale]

if you want to be really politically correct about it, you can place individuals living in countries into branches like they do with animals, kingdom, philum, class, order, family, etc. etc.

For example..

New Yorkers

Western hemispheric north american united states new yorkers.

Chinies

Eastern Hemispheric East Asian Chinese

Now you could just say chinese, just like you could just call a dog, a dog, or a human, a human. But it's so much more fun to give everyone a long and poinless location!

[SomeNick]

At 11/24/06 06:14 AM, ironzealot wrote: why do britons insist on referring to anyone who exists on the continent of asia as asians. While it makes sense of the surface I think...

Bleh. For me there is only two kind of people: Me, and the others.

[ninnid1]

the reason I call them all asains is that i find it difficalt to place where they come from for example i cant tell the diffrence between an indian and a pakistani so this way its simpler. well that why i do it, oh yea i'm from england

[Der-Lowe]

At 11/24/06 06:14 AM, ironzealot wrote: why do britons insist on referring to anyone who exists on the continent of asia as asians.

Because they ARE Asians, it is not incorrect.

[Xyklon-B]

At 11/26/06 07:48 AM, lapis wrote: Slayeth all camel fuckers

Yea verily.

[Neoptolemus]

The fact of the matter is if you're from the Asian continent you are Asian. However, Britons do divide it up for example people from the Orient are Oriental, Arabs are Arabs etc but they are all Asians. The main people who are mainly called Asians in Britain are those from India or Pakistan as there is a higher population of Asians from these two countries in Britain when compared to other Asians (due to the Commonwealth)