[Razengan]

Yes, “Asian” as used by most Westerners† is the current socially-palatable “Oriental” or “Mongoloid”, but it’s no less lazy, ignorant, annoying and even racist.

Imagine calling Canadians and Mexicans “American” because of the continent.

† If you’re annoyed by being lumped under “Westerner” you might be able to relate.

[PhasmaFelis]

> Imagine calling Canadians and Mexicans “American” because of the continent.

I've seen "North American" used like that pretty often, actually.

> If you’re annoyed by being lumped under “Westerner” you might be able to relate.

I'm not. Should I be? It makes sense.

I agree that "Asian" doesn't make sense in the way the West tends to use it. "East Asian" is somewhat better, though still not 100% geographically accurate. But then "Westerner" isn't really accurate either; it's just the best commonly-accepted term for a useful concept.

[toasterlovin]

Is your position really that it’s unacceptable to refer to some subset of people who trace their recent ancestry to Asia as Asians? Do you think it’s unacceptable to refer to people of recent European ancestry as Europeans?

[int_19h]

What if I preferentially self-identify as "Westerner"?

[billfruit]

I think it is an Americansim, the British do not generally use "Asian" with that specific connotation.