timschochet
Footballguy
Sometimes, in fact quite often, political correctness, or “cancel culture”, can be a very good thing. I would like to cancel the term “illegal immigrants”. Here is my argument:
In a free society, a person cannot be illegal; only an act is illegal. It’s true that we sometimes refer to a person who has committed a serious crime as a felon (meaning one who has committed a felony.) But the act of not having proper papers, or crossing the border illegally, or staying here beyond one’s visa: NONE of these acts are felonies. They are all misdemeanors.
By referring to an undocumented person as an “illegal” we are dehumanizing them, making them non-persons in our society. I do not believe this is deliberate for most people who use this term; they do so without really considering the effects of what they’re saying . Which is why I do not, at the present time, condemn anyone for using the term “illegal”. But I would like to reach a time when everyone recognizes that it’s offensive, and then we CAN condemn those who use it.
In a free society, a person cannot be illegal; only an act is illegal. It’s true that we sometimes refer to a person who has committed a serious crime as a felon (meaning one who has committed a felony.) But the act of not having proper papers, or crossing the border illegally, or staying here beyond one’s visa: NONE of these acts are felonies. They are all misdemeanors.
By referring to an undocumented person as an “illegal” we are dehumanizing them, making them non-persons in our society. I do not believe this is deliberate for most people who use this term; they do so without really considering the effects of what they’re saying . Which is why I do not, at the present time, condemn anyone for using the term “illegal”. But I would like to reach a time when everyone recognizes that it’s offensive, and then we CAN condemn those who use it.
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