How is that dehumanizing? Homeless, poor, rich, democrats, republicans, longhorns… all those terms dehumanize too?
Once again, do you call anyone that commits any offense illegals? That’s what this is.
It’s dehumanizing because it’s used by some like others use the word vermin. And it’s specific to Latin migrants. No one calls a Canadian who overstayed their work permit an illegal.
Defining a person by any illegal action is generally intended to be dehumanizing. You can argue it’s deserved but that’s what it is.
That said, we don’t call anyone else illegals even though lots of people break laws in all kinds of ways on a daily basis.
Its short hand for illegal aliens, which was a common accepted term.
Yes, same thing.
What should we call them, loop holers?
Again, why don’t you do it for people that break other laws?
Immigrants would suffice. When you define someone by an illegal act, it’s intended to dehumanize. Whether you think it’s deserved or not.
It sets up a they deserve that they get mentality.
That would do a disservice to those immigrants that apply and are vetted and granted a visa from our government.
So you’re going to start calling everyone that does illegal stuff, illegal [insert offense here]. Why not?
The difference is you think “illegals” deserve the term. That’s fine but it is what it is.
I don’t get bothered when sex offender is used to define someone but it’s the same concept.
Honestly, calling people illegal immigrants doesn’t bug me much either but I’m also willing to dig into why it’s done.
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Yup.
And it’s done to dehumanize in both cases.
Nope.
It quite clearly is. And it sets up a they deserve what they get mentality. We saw some of it here.
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Dehumanizing immigrants, making them ‘alien’ and ‘illegal’, does nothing to resolve the crisis and instead sets them apart as inhuman and not worth our time and allows rationalizing punishing or mistreatmenting them, including children.
Norbert, surprised you are defending Top25 who has a history of bigoted (the way he views blacks in Nola) and mysognistic statements regarding women.
It was a federal term.
I’m not sure how that changes anything.
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Immigrant advocates have long condemned the use of the terms as a dehumanizing effort to draw a distinction between immigrants without the means to explore legal avenues of migration.
“We have people coming into the country or trying to come in, we’re stopping a lot of them, but we’re taking people out of the country. You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are,” President Trump said during a White House meeting in May 2018. “These aren’t people. These are animals.”
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Other people that break the law are called criminals which is a worse term.
I’d rather be called illegal vs criminal if I had to choose a term.
If we simply say migrants it doesn’t cover how they got here. Then people are like hummm joe migrated to the USA or Spain which implies he did it lawfully.
Hardly. Even ones that haven’t committed a felony, you still do that? I doubt it.
In any case, I even said it’s similar to what we call other people that break the law. I’ve addressed this.
It’s all to dehumanize. Even if you agree with it, that’s the point of doing so.