“Oriental” was, oddly enough, more descriptive than the term that replaced it. People from East Asia (i.e. Japanese, Chinese, Koreans) used to be called Orientals. Now they’re called Asians. OK, but “Asia” (as in the continent) stretches from Turkey in the west to Japan in the east. Are people from India “Asian”? What about people from Turkey?
Sure, word usage changes over time. But Oriental (a word used to describe something easterly, which would make sense as a descriptor for people who live in the Far East) is if anything more fitting than to use the name of a vast continent to refer only to people from the eastern end of it.
(For the record, I refer to East Asians as “Asians.” I used to use “Oriental” but somehow made the switch over to the new and improved term years ago. I don’t even remember why I switched; I just did.)
The point is to confound your ability to communicate, tied in emotional knots over what is “allowed” and desperately explaining rationalizations, while your tormentors don’t give a damn about those rules, exempt themselves, and gleefully use malignant terms for your kind (cracker, teabagger) and sneer at your objections.