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"Illegal Alien"

Is the term "illegal alien" offensive?


  • Total voters
    50
It is not -- and if someone -does- take offense to it, I could not possibly care less.
 
Is wetback acceptable, since people of any race could have swam across the rio grande?
 
Is wetback acceptable, since people of any race could have swam across the rio grande?

I don't think so, illegal is illegal.
Alein is alein.
Illegal alein,
No need to call racial names just facts.
 
Is wetback acceptable, since people of any race could have swam across the rio grande?

You seem to be trying your damnedest to equate "illegals" with some kind of racial connotation. As it was explained already multiple times it is not that kind of term, nor is it offensive.

Give it up already. :roll:
 
You seem to be trying your damnedest to equate "illegals" with some kind of racial connotation. As it was explained already multiple times it is not that kind of term, nor is it offensive.

Give it up already. :roll:

It's not that i see it as racially offensive, so much as I see it as dehumanizing.
 
You seem to be trying your damnedest to equate "illegals" with some kind of racial connotation. As it was explained already multiple times it is not that kind of term, nor is it offensive.
Give it up already. :roll:
Given that illegal aliens can be of any race, its imposisble to assign any such connotation.
 
It's not that i see it as racially offensive, so much as I see it as dehumanizing.

So is the term "criminal" dehumanizing? "Convicted Felon?" "Convict?" etc etc.

"Illegals" is just a term for a criminal, nothing more nothing less.
 
Whats an alein? Sounds like french cheese.

Well according to Websters,

Alien- remote, adverse, foreign, strange. outsider.

Did you want the definision of illegal as well?
 
We generally don't have many water borders with Canada. I guess if an illegal canadian immigrant swam across Lake Superior...

Then, you are suggesting that the term Wetback is a REGIONAL term that speaks to geographic conditions on our southern border?
 
So is the term "criminal" dehumanizing? "Convicted Felon?" "Convict?" etc etc.
"Illegals" is just a term for a criminal, nothing more nothing less.
You dont unsderstand!
You simply can NOT hurt other people's feelings!
 
You dont unsderstand!
You simply can NOT hurt other people's feelings!

Mostly, i think if we dehumanize them, if we stop keeping in mind that these are people with all that comes with it, it will be reflected in the policy.
 
How do you define the term

It's a specific reference to people who've swum the Rio Grande to migrate to the U.S.

Chicanos have a similar term they use to describe "wets" = mojados.

So, is it racist for a Chicano to call an illegal mexican immigrant "mojado"?
 
Mostly, i think if we dehumanize them, if we stop keeping in mind that these are people with all that comes with it, it will be reflected in the policy.
There's a simple way for them to deal with all that supposed de-humanization:
Go back to where they came from.

They are aliens. They are here illegally. Thus, they are illegal aliens.
 
Mostly, i think if we dehumanize them, if we stop keeping in mind that these are people with all that comes with it, it will be reflected in the policy.

How can we forget they are people? They ARE people. We don't want to forget they are criminals who should not be here.

So from this point on I will refer to them as: undocumented criminals. How is that?
 
Illegal immigrant or Illegal alien does that, but defining them as "illegal" with no qualifier does dehumanize them. It removes any human context.

Who cares? Pretty much by definition, anything "illegal" has to do with humanity, it's hard for a rock to break the law on it's own. But since this poll is about "illegal aliens", I guess you have no problem with the term.
 
Come on you guys, ya all know 'wetback' is derogatory. It's a slur.
 
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