3 ms·

The use of the word "illegals" to describe human beings is dehumanizing at best, outright xenophobic at worst. Exploitation of the undocumented workforce is ra

The use of the word "illegals" to describe human beings is dehumanizing at best, outright xenophobic at worst. Exploitation of the undocumented workforce is rampant and systemic. Blaming the individual for our country's structural ills is myopic fantasy.

pistle 11y ago
Hear, hear. If you paint with the broad stroke that a person who breaks a silly law in order to build a better life an illegal, then you should call just about anyone who breaks the other silly laws an illegal.
- GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago
  Like an Uber driver.
omonra 11y ago
They enter and remain the country illegally, thus they are illegal. Illegality stems from their physical presence in the country. If you don't like the laws that restrict who can come and work in your country, you are welcome to elect representatives that will change them. That, however, is hard as other citizens of your country may want to prevent that from happening. That's democracy. Walking around telling people that calling X an X is 'xenophobic' and should be stopped because it doesn't agree with you is wrong.
Prophasi 11y ago
I disagree with both GP and the immigration laws affecting these people, but the term "illegals" to describe them strikes me as an innocuous shorthand for "people of illegal immigration status." It carries no implicit judgment of the people or the laws; it just states the relationship of the former to the latter. This trend of casual libel against others, claiming intent and meaning that you can't possibly know, is worrying.
- pistle 11y ago
  The shorthand is a politically-charged term that was designed to frame, for the listener, the target being described and to remove sympathy for them as a human. It's not libel when the person's words can be proven, nor to describe the utterance of said words. It's an opinion upon words that were said, thus not libelous. Prior to the 1880's, the US used to be a nation that accepted the many who would become the hands that raised America to its place on the world stage. Somehow, the spawn of those earlier waves think that they are the reason the US is great and seek to limit entrance of the minds and labor of others who come seeking that old dream of meritocracy. "Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
  - PhantomGremlin 11y ago
    1880 US Census: population 50,189,209 2010 US Census: population 308,745,538 The population increased 9.7% between 2000 and 2010. Eventually a country must limit immigration. The alternative is the squalor of places like Haiti and Bangladesh.
  - tsotha 11y ago
    >Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! You know that's just a poem on a statue, right, and not actually codified in law?
  - prodigal_erik 11y ago
    "Undocumented workforce" is just as slanted. Their problem is not lost paperwork. It obscures the lack of steady demand for their labor, and their willful defiance of our efforts to guard our home. Prior to the late 1800s, we still had an untapped frontier, and immigration was in our interest. It was never a principle we committed to at all costs, despite what one poet might have thought. Now our own huddled masses are splitting a pie that isn't growing, and immigration is not so beneficial that it makes up for the overpopulation it causes (because few people have been emigrating).
tsotha 11y ago
>The use of the word "illegals" to describe human beings is dehumanizing at best, outright xenophobic at worst. Nope. It's just descriptive.

pistle 11y ago

Hear, hear. If you paint with the broad stroke that a person who breaks a silly law in order to build a better life an illegal, then you should call just about anyone who breaks the other silly laws an illegal.

GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago
Like an Uber driver.

omonra 11y ago

They enter and remain the country illegally, thus they are illegal. Illegality stems from their physical presence in the country. If you don't like the laws that restrict who can come and work in your country, you are welcome to elect representatives that will change them. That, however, is hard as other citizens of your country may want to prevent that from happening. That's democracy. Walking around telling people that calling X an X is 'xenophobic' and should be stopped because it doesn't agree with you is wrong.

Prophasi 11y ago

I disagree with both GP and the immigration laws affecting these people, but the term "illegals" to describe them strikes me as an innocuous shorthand for "people of illegal immigration status." It carries no implicit judgment of the people or the laws; it just states the relationship of the former to the latter. This trend of casual libel against others, claiming intent and meaning that you can't possibly know, is worrying.

pistle 11y ago
The shorthand is a politically-charged term that was designed to frame, for the listener, the target being described and to remove sympathy for them as a human. It's not libel when the person's words can be proven, nor to describe the utterance of said words. It's an opinion upon words that were said, thus not libelous. Prior to the 1880's, the US used to be a nation that accepted the many who would become the hands that raised America to its place on the world stage. Somehow, the spawn of those earlier waves think that they are the reason the US is great and seek to limit entrance of the minds and labor of others who come seeking that old dream of meritocracy. "Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
- PhantomGremlin 11y ago
  1880 US Census: population 50,189,209 2010 US Census: population 308,745,538 The population increased 9.7% between 2000 and 2010. Eventually a country must limit immigration. The alternative is the squalor of places like Haiti and Bangladesh.
- tsotha 11y ago
  >Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! You know that's just a poem on a statue, right, and not actually codified in law?
- prodigal_erik 11y ago
  "Undocumented workforce" is just as slanted. Their problem is not lost paperwork. It obscures the lack of steady demand for their labor, and their willful defiance of our efforts to guard our home. Prior to the late 1800s, we still had an untapped frontier, and immigration was in our interest. It was never a principle we committed to at all costs, despite what one poet might have thought. Now our own huddled masses are splitting a pie that isn't growing, and immigration is not so beneficial that it makes up for the overpopulation it causes (because few people have been emigrating).

tsotha 11y ago

>The use of the word "illegals" to describe human beings is dehumanizing at best, outright xenophobic at worst. Nope. It's just descriptive.