'Illegal immigrant' an offensive slur?

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Friday, January 30, 2004

[JohnHuang2]

Friday, January 30, 2004

Quote of the Day by Dr.Zoidberg

[KangarooJacqui]

What is, then, the definition of an illegal immigrant?

This is all getting really ridiculous. So far I've heard nothing in Australia about the term "boat person" being discriminatory. (For those of you who don't know, it means roughly the same thing - except Australia doesn't have land borders with other countries, hence "boat person."

[capecodderathome]

What crap. If they're illegal, call them what they are. PC is BS.


Richard

[GeronL]

good gawd.. speaking the truth is now BAD???

[My Dog Likes Me]

If Senator Kerry jumps on this issue with both feet, GWB will lose the election.

[clee1]

Sooooo.... calling "illegal immigrants" illegal immigrants is an offensive slur?????

Great!!! I'll just go back to calling them "wetbacks" then.

[.45MAN]

OK! they are "Unlicensed Long Term Visitor's" NOT!

[Chani]

Agreed!

As well as take our country back, we need to take our language back!

[Centurion2000]

"I can't speak for other immigrant groups," activist Jerry Gonzalez told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "but on behalf of the Latino community, many people I speak to on a day-to-day basis think it serves to dehumanize the person, makes them less than human.

Someone tell the illegal ALIEN that they are not citizens so shut the hell up.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

An "offensive slur?" No. An "offensive slur" is breaking into our country and then expecting the American taxpayer to subsidize your sorry butts.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

I agree. He's got a winner with this issue. Jobs for Americans and our foreign worker policies will cost Bush this election.

[Roscoe]

"undocumented workers"

Who frequently have fraudulent documents and who don't work.

[My Dog Likes Me]

I know. And I don't think the White House knows how this issue resonates with Americans.

I mean, when your telemarketer speaks with an Indian accent, our economy (and your job) is in deep trouble.

[lentulusgracchus]

Liberals pull this semantic garbage when they want to control the conversation in order to control outcomes. It's right out of Orwell, who put in his books the observed behavior of Russian Bolsheviks. For example, on the night before the Reds stormed the Winter Palace, the Central Committee stayed up all night arguing over what to call the ministries after they took them over, in order to minimize the damage inflicted on those same ministries by their own propaganda in the previous years of agitation.

The Bolsheviks' and other totalitarians' utterly black attempts to control thought by controlling language was one of Orwell's prime interests, and one of the things that eventually drove him to madness and an early death.

[lentulusgracchus]

You're being optimistic. Actually, if the White House cares at all, they care about helping employers reduce costs "by any means necessary", and by helping employers draw as many illegals into the country as possible.

The Bush Administration is following the economic policy of the McKinley Administration: break wages at home, wage war abroad. The only significant difference is that the Bush Administration hasn't come out for the gold standard yet.

[lentulusgracchus]

Gonzales, who oversees the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, says many Latinos are offended by the labels.

Actually, if you want to get rid of a label, start with "Latino", which is not a word in English for starters, and which is less descriptive even than the hapless "Hispanic", in the second place.

These cretins have been playing the "you have to use our terminology" (so we can control the discussion/outcome) garbage game for so long -- I really want to see conservatives confront them and their media shower-buddies on this business of torquing the language for Left political purposes. Get after them, and stay after them. No quarter for liars!

[My Dog Likes Me]

I agree with your first paragraph.

Ain't smart enough to decode your second.

[lonewacko_dot_com]

"Illegal aliens" is the term used in the U.S. Code. See, just for one example, "Authorizing State and local law enforcement officials to arrest and detain certain illegal aliens": http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/8/1252c.html

It's interesting to analyze news reports' use of these terms. A San Jose Mercury News story got almost everything wrong: http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/000927.html

And, here's a correction of an Arizona Republic story: http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/000897.html

I think if you keep hammering this point about language home, and keep showing the statements of the "leaders" quoted above for what they are, eventually it will sink in.

[KangarooJacqui]

I agree with your first paragraph. Ain't smart enough to decode your second.

Awww c'mon, MDLM. I'm the retard here (I reckon grief and depression combined has lowered my IQ at least 40 points)...

Re the early suicide, I think Orwell took politics too seriously. I prefer to think of it all as material for satire, without looking too closely... for to look closely, as our friend noted, is to despair... and I have enough to despair about thanks very much :-)

[Drango]

I say we call 'em what they really are...illegal Democrat voters.