Terms misused in immigration debate

Oklahoman 0
Published: July 25, 2010


I'm tired of the doublespeak and euphemisms that plague our society. I'm chiefly speaking about the debate over "illegal immigration." It's not really illegal immigration at all, nor does it even qualify as immigration. It's encroaching or squatting but not immigration. Immigration is the legal process by which one comes to this country for naturalization.

I have no problem with immigrants, but the people I speak of aren't immigrants. There's a horrible tendency in society to try to use less-offensive language so as to spare feelings. Nothing in the Constitution protects your feelings. What's protected is the freedom to speak the truth, to call these people what they are, which is illegal aliens who are criminally living among us. Use of the term "illegal immigration" needs to stop. The term only perpetuates sympathy toward people who've not just broken but defied our law as usurpers and gives rise to more of the same. The most disgusting example is a catchphrase that's newly popular in the media: "undocumented workers."

Let's call a pot a pot, a kettle a kettle, an immigrant an immigrant and an alien an alien.

Kyle O'Neill, Edmond

http://newsok.com/article/3478896