Political Correctness of Immigrant terms

[Individual]

This is not major news, however a controversial topic that is arising. The topic being that is the term 'Illegal Alien' just as bad as a racist comment (ie. 'N' word?)? Please come up with a logical response, not something along the lines of 'alien' referring to an extra-terrestrial. Post comments, if you have an opinion.

[timbaly]

Seems like an over reaction to me. A person without legal status is "alien" to the country. They are there illegally so therefore they are illegal aliens. The term seems to make plenty of sense to me, I don't see how it can be construed as degrading unless you fail to realize that the word alien means foreign.

Merrian-Webster Dictionary

Main Entry: [2]alien
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : a person of another family, race, or nation
2 : a foreign-born resident who has not been naturalized and is still a subject or citizen of a foreign country; broadly : a foreign-born citizen
3. Extra-Terrestrial

As you can see the word dates back to the 14th century when there was very little talk of space aliens. The word was originally used as another way of saying "different" or "foreign".

[Marxist in Nebraska]

A preferrable alternative to "illegal immigrant" is "undocumented immigrant", in my humble opinion. While the immigrant may technically be here in spite of our laws, we should ask ourselves if it is a law worth honoring.

To those of you who believe marijuana should be decriminalized (I count myself among them, by the way), would you consider it an "illegal drug"? That puts a terrible stigma on marijuana, and one that I and many others feel is undeserved.

Someone smoking an "illegal drug" or a person who is an "illegal immigrant"... both of these hypothetical people sound like great villains. I personally do not agree with the laws in question, and so I choose not to stigmatize the people bending or breaking these laws.

[LSD]

Someone smoking an "illegal drug" or a person who is an "illegal immigrant"... both of these hypothetical people sound like great villains. I personally do not agree with the laws in question, and so I choose not to stigmatize the people bending or breaking these laws.

You may not want to "stigmitize" them but as long as Marijuana is illegal it is an illegal drug. It is drug who's use contravenes the law.

Some things carry with them a genuine stigma, but saying that something is illegal when it is is hardly one of them.


As for "illegal alien", I agree with timbaly, it is perfectly valid use of the words and, believe me, it is a whole lot nicer than the words that many people in the US are actually using.

[left for dead]

Well, no word is really "bad", it's in the context that words are used that determine if they're "bad" or "good". Usually, "illegal alien" is used in a negative context with an overbearing tone.

Like "nigger", when black people use it amongst themselves, it's fine, but when anyone else of a different "race" uses it TOWARDS another black person it's bad. At my school, it is such a common word that Latinos, Asians, and literally every ethnic group uses it.

[Exploited Class]

Well I always say, you will use the tools you have to get something done till somebody gives you something better.

Don't use a toothpick to dig a hole when somebody hands you a shovel.

I have always used the term, illegal alien, why? Because nobody told me A. The social stigmas associated with that word. B. Nobody gave me something better to use.

Undocumented Worker, or Undocumented Immigrant, works much better. It says what is has to say and the term undocumented doesn't carry the same social stigma as illegal. I was using a toothpick before but now have a shovel.

I use to call people from Asia, Oriental, till somebody said, "Only food, rugs and furniture are Oriental, people are asian. Never said it again.

If somebody alerts you to using a term that can be percieved as being derogatory, you make the concious choice to switch from a toothpick to a shovel. You can just say, "Thanks I didn't know" or be defensive and continue to use it.

This is the thing I don't understand, people are more than willing to stop using their 1979 calculator for a brand new one. They will use technical advances with ease and little problems. But many are stubborn and refuses to drop poor social habits.

It does have a lot to do with content of message. Growing up I use to call black people niggers till I was in the 2nd grade. I grew up in a very rural community, 1 hr away from a 7000 pop. town. I used it without any ill will, I just assumed that is what they were. It wasn't till a kid at school (who moved in from somewhere else) asked me why I hated black people. I asked him why would I? It didn't make sense to me to hate them. He told me that people that hated black people call them that. Will I certainly didn't hate people I never met and I drop the word fairly quickly and cried because I felt bad.

You can use the defense that, that is what they are "illegal aliens". Well people from Asia have slanted eyes. I should be able to call them slanty eyes. What have I just done? I have just selected one part of them and used it to be little them, granted though it is the truth. So why is it wrong?

Well it is the truth that they are illegal aliens, but really that is a pretty harsh term to give a bunch of people. It makes them out to be criminals, against the law or lawless and as a society we enjoy laws to a point and look down at the law breakers. We put law breakers in prison, one of the worse places to go. Illegal Alien has an attempt at making you dislike them, it makes you not want to help them because they are law breakers. It makes it sound like thier exitance centers around them being against the law, when really it is just a small thing about them.

Enron isn't an illegal buisness, it is referred to as a buisness that took part in illegal actions.

I am pretty sure the term was started by xenophobic people like racists who want to keep America white. It of course grew out of that community and into society as it was designed to. They created it as a scare term, because when they called them illegal, people are forced to uphold the law or be hypocrits.

It also makes it harder to defend them, since nobody wants to defend a criminal, which is what people who do illegal things are considered.

If you say, "undocumented immigrants are in hostile enviroments and need assitance" people might be want to help this.

If you say, "Illegal aliens are in hostile enviroments and need assitance" people will be less likely to help them since they are law breakers and people who chose to live outside of the law don't deserve help.

But America will always have undocumented workers in its borders, they count and depend on it ever since slavery was removed. They don't want them to go away, they just don't want you to spend money on them with taxes, or have sympathy for them. And that term meets those needs.

The description Illegal Alien, has a political agenda.

[Y2A]

I have something to say.

I came to this country(although it was when I was only a year old) as an illegal :o

I grew up in a barrio with many illegals and most of my family are illegals. Although obviously I am now a permanent resident.

I could careless about the term "illegal". And the only people who care are a bunch of uptight word-nazis like some of the people that have posted about the topic.

[LSD]

You can change the words all you want, but if you maintain the social stigmas it means nothing.

Look at the word "handicapped". It's now being fazed out of use becuase it has come to have a sigma. But the word only appeared, say, 75 years ago. Now you see "physcially disabled" but that is being replaced with "physically challenged" or "less able". The point is that the stigma survives semantic changes, it takes true social change to make any difference at all.

In 1950s America, the word "nigger" was never used formally, but to deny that institutional racism existed is a joke. To deny that it exists today is a joke. But gains have been made in the past half-century and none of those gains are thanks to lingusitic modifications. They are thanks to changing laws and a changing society.

Now if once the stigma has been eliminated you want to replace the word because it reminds people of past stigmas than fine, but the point is that once that stigma is gone, the word really no longer matters, and changing the word before you remove the stigma does nothing.

[Individual]

I believe what Exploited Class has said is basically true. As much as any of you may deny 'stigmas' put on to words to have no effect, are wrong.

I fully agree that a person coming into this county illegally would define an illegal alien. However who are you to decide (except Y2A, for you were a child and definetely weren't as effected as lets say today) that people don't take this offensive. Do you believe the word 'nigger' is a deragotory remark? I shall hope as that you do. Well the definition for this word is:

1-negro
2- a member of any dark-skinned race
(Merriam-Webster)

Would this not define what an African-American/African person is. A person that came into this country (or any country for that matter) would be an 'illegal alien'. So is the word 'nigger' a nice thing to say? No it is not. So you argue that 'illegal alien' is what it means. Well so is that word. It doesn't make it correct for you to say it. We all (ancestors, etc.) came into this country freely. Now we label these people 'illegal'?

We cannot judge what people may find offensive. For instance, if you were obese, and I repeatedly labeled you as 'fat'. Would you not find this offensive? Oh but this would be what you are. It is all relevant. Words generate stigmas and can become deragotory. We are not to judge what people find offensive.

[Guest1]

LSD, I agree with you that we need to attack the social realities that led to the use of this terminology. However, that is why we're here. We, as progressive people, all do what we can to change the reality, but that gives us an even higher responsibility to change the words we use and lead by example.

You used the example of marijuana being illegal, and I agree there is nothing wrong with calling it that, but is a person the same thing? Can a person be illegal?

I for one would say, no one is illegal!

[Marxist in Nebraska]

EC,

Great post. "Don't use a toothpick to dig a hole if someone gives ya a shovel"--great line.


You can use the defense that, that is what they are "illegal aliens". Well people from Asia have slanted eyes. I should be able to call them slanty eyes. What have I just done? I have just selected one part of them and used it to be little them, granted though it is the truth.

Great stuff. While factually accurate, it is unfair to single out a person or group of people for one trait which is considered less than desirable.


The description Illegal Alien, has a political agenda.

Yes, it does. Like you explained so well above, nobody wants to defend a "criminal." By making undocumented workers into criminals by reminding us they are "illegal" every time you name them, you are conditioning people to be less sympathetic towards them.

Names and descriptions are very important. The boundaries of our thoughts are limited by the words that we possess to describe our situation. An "African-American with a learning disorder" will elicit more sympathy than say, a "stupid nigger." A progressive agenda requires a vocabulary that does not strip the humanity from disenfranchised and oppressed groups of people.

LSD,


You can change the words all you want, but if you maintain the social stigmas it means nothing.

Agreed. I said nothing about maintaining the status quo under a new euphemistic language. I think the first step, though, to improve the situation of immigrants (to stay with the prime example of the thread) is to stop convincing the rest of the country that immigrants are criminals. I think sympathy for immigrants can be much more realistic when we are rid of such loaded, propagandistic terms.

CyM,

One of my favorite political buttons is a bilingual one. It simply says:

"No Human Being is Illegal. No Ser Humano es Ilegal."

[timbaly]

Originally posted by [email protected] 5 2004, 12:09 AM

1-negro
2- a member of any dark-skinned race
(Merriam-Webster)


You forgot to post a main portion of the definition. It clearly states that it is a derogatory word except when sometimes used black amongst black.

Main Entry: nig·ger
Pronunciation: 'ni-g&r
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of earlier neger, from Middle French negre, from Spanish or Portuguese negro, from negro black, from Latin niger
Date: 1700
1 : usually offensive : see usage paragraph below : a black person
2 : usually offensive : see usage paragraph below : a member of any dark-skinned race
3 : a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons <it&#39;s time for somebody to lead all of America&#39;s niggers… all the people who feel left out of the political process —Ron Dellums>
usage Nigger in senses 1 and 2 can be found in the works of such writers of the past as Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens, but it now ranks as perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English. Its use by and among blacks is not always intended or taken as offensive, but, except in sense 3, it is otherwise a word expressive of racial hatred and bigotry

the definition clearly states it is a word of hatred and bigotry.

[Exploited Class]

Originally posted by Lysergic Acid [email protected] 4 2004, 08:13 PM
You can change the words all you want, but if you maintain the social stigmas it means nothing.

Look at the word "handicapped". It&#39;s now being fazed out of use becuase it has come to have a sigma. But the word only appeared, say, 75 years ago. Now you see "physcially disabled" but that is being replaced with "physically challenged" or "less able". The point is that the stigma survives semantic changes, it takes true social change to make any difference at all.

In 1950s America, the word "nigger" was never used formally, but to deny that institutional racism existed is a joke. To deny that it exists today is a joke. But gains have been made in the past half-century and none of those gains are thanks to lingusitic modifications. They are thanks to changing laws and a changing society.

Now if once the stigma has been eliminated you want to replace the word because it reminds people of past stigmas than fine, but the point is that once that stigma is gone, the word really no longer matters, and changing the word before you remove the stigma does nothing.
Well that works fine in some cases but not in all. There really isn&#39;t that much of a social stigma to being an undocumented immigrant. A lot of people don&#39;t take issue with people coming in this country through umpopular channels, they know that there is work for them, work they don&#39;t want to do and this is something that has always happened and always will. People are going to jump the border to get in. There really isn&#39;t that much of a stigma attached to it since most people in America know that their family roots didn&#39;t start here.

This is a term that is used for political agendas. It is suppose to force you into a corner on issues so that you have to agree with your opponent. If they ask if you if you have an issue with illegal aliens coming into the country and you say no, then you must be against laws. You are for people doing illegal acts? What kind of person are you?

When the politicians sell their budget to people and they want to give money to their friends&#39; department that watches the borders and they want to inimidate the public or coarse the public&#39;s opinion to their favor, they say "We need an extra 25 million dollars for border patrols because we need to stop illegal aliens coming into this country." Well who doesn&#39;t want to stop something that is illegal?

It is a term that you hear the most when it is a "campaign issue". "My opponent is soft on the issue of illegal aliens inside our borders."

Here is another example. You don&#39;t want the most truly exploited class of people in America to have a voice in the political system. That would be millions of votes that might make you lose power. So how do you sell that to the American people?

"California&#39;s constitution should be amended so the state&#39;s four and a-half million non-citizen adults can vote in local elections"
or
"California&#39;s constitution should be amended so the state&#39;s four and a-half million illegal aliens can vote in local elections."

Non-citizens hides that fact of what they are, just as bad as illegal alien centers on a fact of what they are.

Illegal is bad, no of course not, don&#39;t let bad people vote. That is the stigma it has.

Social change goes hand in hand with terms we use and how we refer to things as a whole in society. If you take the term illegal alien away from them because its offensive they can&#39;t use it in campaigns, stumpping, media headlines, polling questions or in local news broadcasts. It puts the issues when it deals with people on equal ground and removes all "advertisments" it had prior. It will be a hell of a lot easier for non citizens to get rights than illegal aliens.

here is a good use of somebody using a term with a political agenda.


And the only people who care are a bunch of uptight word-nazis like some of the people that have posted about the topic.

See, Y2 here doesn&#39;t want to progress so he uses a political agenda in his choice of words to descredit the opposition. Word Nazi, suggesting that if you want to progress and get rid of the political agenda and try to suggest to others to do the same, you are the worst person on the word a nazi.

He is trying to, without any real argument, discredit people who are paying attention to what they say and how others say it. Which really is the only way he have to describe something and is very important.

There is a difference between
Military Budget (an offensive weapon)
Defense Budget (to keep you safe)

Yes both go to the same place, the armed forces.

Do you want to go and vacation at
a desert
or a hot place

Y2 would like you to believe that words don&#39;t matter, however words are very important. If they didn&#39;t matter commercial ad campaigns wouldn&#39;t spend millions on chosing the best words possible to describe their product.

[Guest1]

War Is Peace
Freedom Is Slavery
Ignorance Is Strength

Never underestimate the power of words.

Words are the frame within which our thoughts and all political discourse occur. If you can skew the words politically in your favour, you can skew the frame in a way that your opponent cannot get out of it. The moment your opponent accepts that frame, responds within it, no matter what he says or how reasonable his arguments, he has lost. He has lost because he is still using that frame.

Ever wonder why we are "anti free-trade" instead of "pro fair-trade"?

Or why we are "anti free-market" instead of "anti wage-slavery"?

[Individual]

Originally posted by timbaly+Feb 5 2004, 09:33 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (timbaly @ Feb 5 2004, 09:33 PM)
[email protected] 5 2004, 12:09 AM

1-negro
2- a member of any dark-skinned race
(Merriam-Webster)


You forgot to post a main portion of the definition. It clearly states that it is a derogatory word except when sometimes used black amongst black.

Main Entry: nig·ger
Pronunciation: &#39;ni-g&r
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of earlier neger, from Middle French negre, from Spanish or Portuguese negro, from negro black, from Latin niger
Date: 1700
1 : usually offensive : see usage paragraph below : a black person
2 : usually offensive : see usage paragraph below : a member of any dark-skinned race
3 : a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons <it&#39;s time for somebody to lead all of America&#39;s niggers… all the people who feel left out of the political process —Ron Dellums>
usage Nigger in senses 1 and 2 can be found in the works of such writers of the past as Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens, but it now ranks as perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English. Its use by and among blacks is not always intended or taken as offensive, but, except in sense 3, it is otherwise a word expressive of racial hatred and bigotry

the definition clearly states it is a word of hatred and bigotry. [/b]
Your point? Yes it does say that in there. Why is it in their? Because this word is hateful. People made this word became hateful. Illegal Alien does not say this because the issue has just recently become.

The word &#39;fat&#39;, &#39;ugly&#39;, and &#39;wetback&#39; do not say that they are offensive words, yet they are. So what is your point that word says it is offensive? Are we to only take offense to words that say they are offensive in the dictionary?

[timbaly]

Wetback and ugly are classified as offensive words in the merriam-webster dictionary. Fat isn&#39;t really offensive, if you are overweight you are fat, just like if you are above average height you are fat. The word fat is used to taunt people, any word can be used this way, that does not make it an pffensive word. If I continously told someone they were tall it would annoy them. The word "tall" does not annoy them it is my act of taunting that annoys them. The same can be said about the word "fat".

I think we should only take offense to words that purposely are used to create hatred. Illegal Alien is not used in the same context nigger is. When someone uses the word nigger they almost always mean it in a hateful way. People except that and that is why it is rarely used amongst non-blacks. When someone says illegal alien all they are saying is that a person is not in the country legally according to the law the law. It is not an anti-immigrant term like wetback is. When people hear the words illegal aliens they don&#39;t think of hatred amongst illegals in my personal experience anyway.

By the way who is exactly making a fuss over the term illegal alien? Is it some kind of organization?

[Individual]

Timbaly:

Gee I wonder who is making a fuss over the term? Could it maybe be... The people immigrating over illegally/and most likely their family? Woh.

My question to you: Did you move into this country illegally? Do you know if the term is offensive to these people or not? How can you say what is and is not offensive to some people? The term &#39;fat&#39; can be a taunt. But for someone that is obese, how would you know if they don&#39;t find that offensive. You are not the judge on offensive words.

In my dictionary; "Webster&#39;s New Collegiate Dictionary" Published in 1977, the term &#39;wetback&#39; did not say it was offensive. So it wouldn&#39;t surprise me if it does in modern dictionaries, however my dictionary did not. This is why I stated that the term was not labeled offensive.

Like I said before, are words only offensive if the dictionary says so? This seems to be what you are implying by the term &#39;nigger&#39; stating it is offensive, so it must be. However &#39;fat&#39; does not, so it must not be.

[timbaly]

The word "fat" is not an offensive word. i say this because it&#39;s opposite, "skinny" is never said to be offensive. If someone is overweight they are fat, if someone is under weight they are skinny. Both words state how things are. Neither word alone is offensive.

Now that I&#39;ve typed that out it makes me realize that the same thing can be said about any word. I simply can&#39;t justify what I want to say. Perhaps I just don&#39;t know the words to do it. However I don&#39;t think you can justify the idea that all words or things deemed to be offensive by someone are to be essentially banned from usage, or will you prove me wrong? What happens when the words "retard" and "short" become fully replaced by "mentally challenged" and "vertically challenged"? People will eventually take offense to these terms as well, are they to be replaced with new terms? If so the cycle will be never ending, i just think people need to lighten up.

[LSD]

What happens when the words "retard" and "short" become fully replaced by "mentally challenged" and "vertically challenged"? People will eventually take offense to these terms as well, are they to be replaced with new terms? If so the cycle will be never ending, i just think people need to lighten up.

Exactly&#33; People just keep changing words to avoid changing the issues themselves. It is far easier to replace a word than it is to replace social conditions. Sure, people are influenced by the words they hear, but they&#39;re influenced by a whole lot more. If I propose a referendum to execute all men, no matter what language I use, no one&#39;s going to support it.

Words are offensive because of their usage. Because of their associations with past events and past situations. Changing the words is a temporary solution and a cheap cop-out one at that. It does nothing to help the people being "offended" and it basically just assuages the guilt of everyone else. "See, I&#39;m socially responsible, I&#39;m politically correct, clearly I care..." Meanwhile the "foreign-born non-citizen unoffical-entry undocumented residents" are still suffering the same as they always have. Still starving, still abused, still overworked and exploited.

But thank god we aren&#39;t calling them "illegal"&#33;

[Individual]

Again. Who are we to judge what people find offensive?

How can you say that the word &#39;fat&#39; is not offensive. To prove this. Go find an overly obese person and call them fat and/or ugly. You honestly think that they will not be effected? Again, you are not the judge on words that are/are not offensive. You cannot tell someone whether they think something is offensive.

Whether or not words like: vertically challenged (etc) eventually become offensive. If someone finds them offensive, then they are. For instance, lets say you are mentally challenged... Would you appreciate me coming up to you and saying &#39;you stupid, ugly, mentally challenged freak&#39;? You are not going to take offense? Oh but you don&#39;t think those are offensive, so damn the person that is offended by this.


The word "fat" is not an offensive word. i say this because it&#39;s opposite, "skinny" is never said to be offensive

So words that have opposites that aren&#39;t offensive, cannot be offensive? That&#39;s logical. For example:

dictionary defintion:
faggot-Homosexual

So the opposite of the unoffensive word &#39;straight&#39;, could be the word &#39;faggot&#39; (sorry, used as an example to prove point). You are telling me that the word &#39;faggot&#39; is not offensive because its opposite is not offensive?

Sure for some words, things may seem a bit odd for being deemed &#39;offensive&#39;. However you are not the one being offended, therefore you cannot say what is and is not offensive.

My point with all this, is that you are not the judge on offensive words. Whether every word in the dictionary becomes offensive, those words are still offensive to someone. Whether offensive words become so out of hand that you can&#39;t even talk, words are still offensive. This could get crazy, but words are still offensive. Realize this.

[timbaly]

The word "fat" is not an offensive word. i say this because it&#39;s opposite, "skinny" is never said to be offensive - timbaly


So words that have opposites that aren&#39;t offensive, cannot be offensive? That&#39;s logical. For example:

dictionary defintion:
faggot-Homosexual

So the opposite of the unoffensive word &#39;straight&#39;, could be the word &#39;faggot&#39; (sorry, used as an example to prove point). You are telling me that the word &#39;faggot&#39; is not offensive because its opposite is not offensive?

I realized that my point didn&#39;t make sense thats why i said so in my second paragraph.

As for the other question you pose, waht if I feel offended by the word "tall", does that mean you can never you use the word becasue I find it offensive? You ask me who am i to say what words are offensive, but reall who is anyone? If some people are offended by the words tall, short, fat, skinny, unintelligent, and foreigner, does that mean i should never use them again?

[Individual]

Is there a law banning the words (again, example not to be taken literal) nigger, faggot, retard, etc.? There is no law banning these words (in some states it is illegal for literature etc. containing some deragatory words to be used in schools, but that is it). There is nothing stopping you from using these words except morality. Nothing is stopping you from using these words, however it is common decency to not use them.

So you ask if you are not allowed to use these words. Sure you can use them. Hell, say them 100 times in a row right now if you please. It&#39;s just courtesy to not use them in front of people that are offended by them. So if you were to say the word &#39;faggot&#39; in front of a gay/lesbian person, and they were not offended, then feel free to say it infront of them. However if you were to say that, and they were offended, if you could find it inside of you to not say them, then that person would not get offended.

Concerning the political correctness of terms. If you are in a political/business/etc atmosphere, then I would advise only using words labelled as politically correct in sake of your job. When you are in your own time, there is nothing stopping you from using these words besides morality.

[timbaly]

Ok now that you made your point clearer it seems fine to me. I thought you wanted to prevent the use of words that might be seen as offensive to some people all the time. The idea of not using certain words infront of people whom take offense to them is pretty much what everyone does. Speaking from my experience anyway.

[LSD]

I don&#39;t think that anyone here was planning on running up to someone and screaming "you&#39;re an ILLEGAL ALIEN&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;", rather the issue was whether the term should be used at all. I would say it goes without saying that if you know someone is offended by a term, you don&#39;t call them by it, but generally should one refrain from the phrase "illegal alien"??
I still say no.
I maintain that changing the word to something more euphemistic does nothing but assuage guilt and pay the salaries of notaries who get to rewrite all the documents. If you tell me you don&#39;t want to be called an "illegal alien", I certainly won&#39;t call you one, but I will not make it my policy to use "landed foreign-born non-citizen unoffical-entry undocumented immigrant permanent-resident" either.

[Guest1]

what&#39;s wrong with just switching to "undocumented immigrant"?

simple.

It&#39;s just a political statement when you don&#39;t use the current definition. Just like I no longer talk about profits, I say theft.

It&#39;s strong, gets the ethical point across and raises eyebrows.

Once again, NO ONE IS ILLEGAL.

[LSD]

what&#39;s wrong with just switching to "undocumented immigrant"?

First, it&#39;s vague and nonspecific. What exactly does "undocumented" mean? If you loose the record of my immigration am I an "undocumented immigrant"?
There are specific concerns which those who immigrated illegally have which those who immigrated legaly do not. Therefore it is indeed neccessary to differentiate by the legality, or lack thereof, of one&#39;s immigration.

Second, I would say that replacing the phrase acts as a moral excuse, saving one from having to really change anything. Society can say to itself that it has done enough and can wait another 25 years before facing the problem again. By maintaining the same termanology, the guilt remains and the problems cannot be evaded.

Thirdly, it wouldn&#39;t end there. In ten years, old stigmas would become linked with new terms. "undocumented" would be an insult. "No one is UNDOCUMENTED" would be a catchphrase and it would start all over again....

The problems need to be fixed, not what we call them.


It&#39;s just a political statement when you don&#39;t use the current definition. Just like I no longer talk about profits, I say theft.

It&#39;s strong, gets the ethical point across and raises eyebrows.

Raises who&#39;s eybrows?
Certainly not the illegal aliens themselves. They probably don&#39;t give a damn, they just want to survive, you&#39;ll have to explain to me how changing what you call them helps them. "Raising eyebrows" is nice, but it doesn&#39;t change politics and it certainly won&#39;t convince anyone to change laws or to change ideas.



Once again, NO ONE IS ILLEGAL.

It&#39;s a great line but let&#39;s look at it in some detail.

The word "illegal" means contravening the law.
"illegal immigrant" simply means that your immigration was illegal, not that you are illegal. Much as how "illegal drug user" means that you have used "illegal drugs" and not that you are a "drug user" who happens to be illegal. Illegal alien, equally, means that you are an alien who entered illegally. That&#39;s it&#33; It isn&#39;t intrinsically a value judgement. It can only be interpreted as such because of stigmas and ideologies that exist regardless of the term. Changing the wording does nothing to eliminate or even mitigate these preexisting beliefs.

[Xvall]

Illegal just isn&#39;t a very nice word to use, and it appears to me that people only like using it in regards to (usually non-european) immigrants. Never have I heard anyone refer to undocumented children as &#39;illegal babies&#39; or non-documented couples as &#39;illegal families&#39;.