[eternalban]

It is the 'Anglo Colonial Atlas of Races' masquerading as "geography". Middle East -- a geographic figment of colonial imagination -- is code word for 'lightly colored sand dwellers'. Asian means 'of the yellow races with strange eyes'.

[PhasmaFelis]

It's dumb that we call the group "Asian" instead of "East Asian," but there are notable ethnic and cultural similarities that East Asian nations don't share with the rest of Asia. Ditto the Middle East.

I don't think it's automatically bigotry to refer to people this way. "Western European" and "South American" are less controversial examples.