LoZoccolo
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Sun Jun-10-07 09:40 AM
Original message |
Poll question: Is the term "illegal", as a noun, racist? |
BlueJazz
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Sun Jun-10-07 09:44 AM
Response to Original message |
1. No..Not any more than the term "A Criminal" is Racist. n/t |
MindPilot
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Sun Jun-10-07 09:46 AM
Response to Original message |
2. Is "bitch", as a verb, sexist? |
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You ask a question that cannot be answered without context.
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DemKR
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Sun Jun-10-07 09:46 AM
Response to Original message |
3. I voted yes out of sentiment, but |
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I consider it more intolerance than racist. NO human being is "illegal" or an "alien."
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glowing
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Sun Jun-10-07 09:52 AM
Response to Reply #3 |
4. but actions are... so as a noun perhaps not so good. |
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Edited on Sun Jun-10-07 09:53 AM by glowing
Using as an adjective much better.
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durrrty libby
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Sun Jun-10-07 09:52 AM
Response to Reply #3 |
5. Can a person be a bastard? I don't get the point of this poll |
MindPilot
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Sun Jun-10-07 10:08 AM
Response to Reply #5 |
12. Funny you should mention that |
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My dad used to go ballistic when someone used the term "illegitimate" to describe a child conceived out of wedlock.
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tridim
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Sun Jun-10-07 09:53 AM
Response to Original message |
6. Yes, since it's also being used as a synonym for "Mexican Immigrant" |
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It's a racial slur.
I call people on it all the time, "Do you consider your ancestors 'illegals' too?". Works almost every time.
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BlackHawk706867
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Sun Jun-10-07 09:57 AM
Response to Reply #6 |
8. I don't get why you assign this to "Mexicans" at all? Anyone in the US |
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without passing through customs is classified as illegal and alien.. period...
ww
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tridim
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Sun Jun-10-07 10:00 AM
Response to Reply #8 |
9. I don't use the term, what are you talking about? |
unlawflcombatnt
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Mon Jun-11-07 03:51 AM
Response to Reply #9 |
23. Because you stated "illegal" was being used as a synonym for "Mexican" |
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You said the term "illegal" was being used as a synonym for "Mexican Immigrant."
Here's your exact quote: "Yes, since it's also being used as a synonym for "Mexican Immigrant"" You were referring to 'illegal' with the word 'it.'
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MindPilot
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Sun Jun-10-07 10:03 AM
Response to Reply #8 |
10. Because that is the current connotation of the word--it's race-coded |
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We all know that when someone refers to "illegals" they mean "Mexicans". It is not used to describe immigrants in general.
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BlackHawk706867
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Sun Jun-10-07 10:08 AM
Response to Reply #10 |
13. That's because they are not immigrants, they are illegals if they have not entered thru |
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customs just like anyone else. I am a Canadian and would be an illegal allien if I snuck across the border....
ww
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MindPilot
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Sun Jun-10-07 10:15 AM
Response to Reply #13 |
14. Yes, but you would most likely not be called "an illegal". |
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This is not about the dictionary definition of the term; it's the connotation of how the term is currently used and the racial context in which it is used.
Saying "illegal" simply describes someone in the country illegally is like saying black-face is just makeup.
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baldguy
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Sun Jun-10-07 09:55 AM
Response to Original message |
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The idea that the existence a human being at a particular place at a particular time can be "illegal", and the term invariably is used to refer to to all people originally from south of the border, no matter what the status of their documentation - as a threat and as a means to enforce dominance.
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Kali
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Sun Jun-10-07 10:04 AM
Response to Original message |
11. the term? no. The way most people use it? yeah, probably. |
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Same with "Mexican" - term is not racist but tone of voice and context sure can be.
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noamnety
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Sun Jun-10-07 10:20 AM
Response to Original message |
15. I'll use the broader term bigoted |
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Because in a larger philosophical sense, when a group with privilege decides for a group without privilege what is or isn't offensive to them, that is ignorant and bigoted.
If you see a bunch of immigrants carrying signs saying "No one is illegal" - and you continue to use that term claiming it isn't offensive, you're expressing a fundamental viewpoint of supremacist thought - that you, as the dominant class, have a right to control language and thus perceptions about an oppressed group of people.
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ulysses
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Sun Jun-10-07 01:13 PM
Response to Original message |
16. not necessarily racist, per se, |
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but the use of the term as a noun makes their immigration status integral to who they are (think "cripple"), and as such is at least ignorant and probably bigoted.
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ncteechur
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Sun Jun-10-07 02:14 PM
Response to Original message |
17. Many if not most racists wouldn't say "illegal," they would say any |
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number of other slurs whether the person in question was illegally here or not.
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JohnLocke
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Sun Jun-10-07 02:16 PM
Response to Original message |
18. Slightly distasteful, at least. |
Pyrzqxgl
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Sun Jun-10-07 06:15 PM
Response to Original message |
19. Is it just me or are these polls getting sillier day by day? |
oldhippie
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Sun Jun-10-07 07:44 PM
Response to Reply #19 |
20. Nope, it's not just you ............. |
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I really have to wonder at the mindset of some posters. A lot of them can't seem to accept common dictionary definitions of words without putting their own narrow-minded "spin" on them.
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bunkerbuster1
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Mon Jun-11-07 11:05 AM
Response to Reply #20 |
27. Language is more than dictionary definitions. |
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Mine isn't a "narrow minded spin," it's acknowledging that the right wing is dominating the immigration discussion and defining the terms. We're being really stupid by using those same terms, the same way they do.
Perhaps the term "racist" is what's got so many answering in the negative in this poll -- and that's a very harsh term; I know now that "xenophobic" or "bigoted" would be a little better.
But hey, at least I got some people thinking about it, who hadn't before.
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Telly Savalas
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Sun Jun-10-07 10:06 PM
Response to Original message |
21. No. Potsmokers come from all ethnic groups. |
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That is who we're talking about, right?
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TankLV
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Sun Jun-10-07 10:41 PM
Response to Original message |
22. NO. Of course not - usually... |
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It depends on the sentiments and feeling of the one using it.
That's not to say it CAN'T be - one could list countless examples where it is used in a racist manner...
But just using the term in and of itself does not make is racist...
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Bridget Burke
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Mon Jun-11-07 10:24 AM
Response to Original message |
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Although I agree that "xenophobic" or "bigoted" might be more suitable descriptors than "racist."
It's also an offense to the English language. Like using "impact" as a verb.
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hedgehog
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Mon Jun-11-07 10:36 AM
Response to Original message |
25. At the very least it's a code phrase. |
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I think Aasif Mandvi has the best take on this with his Amnesty Unintentional.
"What can brown do for you?"
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bunkerbuster1
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Mon Jun-11-07 11:01 AM
Response to Original message |
26. S'pose I should weigh in here |
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...since I brought up the issue a few days ago.
I think the term is racist inasmuch as it serves to dehumanize those it's being applied to, but I don't believe that everyone who uses the term is being consciously racist. If I had a do-over in that original thread, I would've made that clearer.
My biggest problem with its usage as a noun is a practical one. I truly believe that when our side refers to people as "Illegals," we're being as boneheaded as when we adopt right-wing language and use phrases like "War on Terror," or refer to what we're doing in Iraq as a "war" when it's really an "occupation."
And there are other obvious examples, like the "Social Security Crisis", or "Funding the Troops."
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HiFructosePronSyrup
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Mon Jun-11-07 11:11 AM
Response to Original message |
28. Depends on the context. |
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The context that it's commonly used in, yes.
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