Congressman compares holding town halls to getting yelled at by "Orientals"

"You know the cleansing that the Orientals used to do..."



An Illinois congressman recently remarked that holding town halls is not "productive." Which is fine, if you don't want to the kind of politician who connects with your constituents on that level. But then he proceeded to compare town halls to the practice of "cleansing" by "Orientals," to which we must respond: what the fuck?

GOP Rep Says Holding Town Halls Is Like Being Yelled At In A Ritual By 'Orientals'

Republican Rep. Mike Bost was referring to town hall gatherings occurring across the country, in which Republican members of Congress have met with raucous crowds expressing concerns about Donald Trump's policies. You could say things have gotten kind of loud. Bost says the town halls are "out of control."

"You know the cleansing that the Orientals used to do where you'd put one person out in front and 900 people yell at them? That's not what we need," Bost said last week in a meeting editorial board of The Southern. "The amount of time that I have at home is minimal, I need to make sure that it's productive."

Bost hosted a tele-town hall instead of an in-person one. Basically, he didn't want to get yelled at.

Obama signs bill removing "Oriental" from federal laws

Rep. Grace Meng's bill eliminating outdated term for Asian Americans from U.S. code.



As of last week, the words "Oriental" and "Negro" will no longer be part of federal law.

On Friday, President Obama signed a bill eliminating the outdated racial descriptors after the legislation passed unanimously in the House and Senate. Yes, they were still on the books. Yes, this was a long time coming.

Obama Signs Bill Removing 'Oriental' and 'Negro' From Federal Laws

H.R.4238, sponsored by Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), aimed to "modernize" two references to "Orientals" and "Negros" in the U.S. Code governing public health, social welfare and civil rights, dating back to the 1970s. The words will be replaced with "Asian Americans" and "African Americans," respectively.

Rep. Meng introduced the bill in December, and it passed the House easily in February. It reached the president's desk last week after the Senate unanimously approved it on Monday.

Guess he didn't get the memo.

There sure were "a lot of Oriental fans" at the Charlotte Hornets home opener.



Real quick. I point your attention to this opinion piece posted on NBA.com, recapping the Charlotte Hornets' home opener last Sunday. The author notes that there was a visible increase in Oriental fans in the crowd, no doubt attributable to what he calls "the Jeremy Lin impact." Hey wait, did you just say "Oriental"?

Oops. Joe Biden refers to Asia as "the Orient."

Vice President calls Singapore's prime minister "the wisest man in the Orient."



Come oooon. It's no secret that Joe Biden has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth. So what has the Vice President done this time? This week, just hours after apologizing for using an anti-Semitic slur in a speech the previous day, Biden referred to Singapore's prime minister as "the wisest man in the Orient."

Joe Biden Refers to Asia as 'The Orient'

On Wednesday, while speaking in Iowa at the kickoff for the "Nuns on the Bus" tour, the Vice President recounted meeting Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister. While telling his story, in classic Biden fashion, he referred to Asia as, well, "the Orient." Aaaaand absolutely nobody is surprised.

Announcer calls Asian pitchers "Oriental." Two nights in a row.

Hawk Harrelson didn't get the memo. Or perhaps threw it in the trash.



Hawk Harrelson is on a roll. Oh, what has he done now? This week, the longtime announcer for the Chicago White Sox used the term "Oriental" to describe an Asian pitcher on two occasions, two nights in a row. Classy.

White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson continues to stereotype Asian pitchers

During the broadcast of Wednesday night's game against Boston, Harrelson referred to Red Sox pitcher Junichi Tazawa as "oriental." On Thursday night, he did it again. I guess Hawk didn't get the memo, or perhaps just crumpled it up and threw it in the trash can. Many, many decades ago.

You can hear the remark in this clip from Wednesday's game, in which Harrelson first says "Asian" then quickly says "Oriental," as if he's correcting himself. You're going the wrong way, sir:

Wanna see some geishas? Fly Air France, apparently.

For the record, this is not a good way to get me to fly your airline.



I think I've generally trained my eyes to ignore the paid content that gets inserted on to my Facebook... but I couldn't help but do a double take when I spotted this craptastic ad for Air France.

Yes, I love seeing pointless cultural drag used to hock air travel. The ad, part of Air France's "France is in the Air" campaign, employs the usual geisha imagery with a white model rocking some yellowface for that Orientalist zing!

SEDUCTIVE. DANGEROUS. CONTAGIOUS. ORIENTAL.

Have you ever wanted to know what "oriental" smells like?



Got this photo forwarded along to me, taken and tweeted by Tim Hwang, who spotted the Georgio Armani men's fragrance Code Ultimate in a duty free catalog. Described as "an intense, more sensual" version of regular old Armani Code, the cologne's defining qualities are -- in all caps -- SEDUCTIVE, DANGEROUS, CONTAGIOUS, ORIENTAL.

Have you ever wanted to know what "oriental" smells like? Look no further and take a deep whiff: