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On 2 May, 2013, at 9:48 am, Brad Rogers wrote:
Hello Rob,I presume you mean illegal immigrants?They're illegals. How do they get handouts from the state? To showthemselves opens them up for extradition. Many illegals are brought here under false pretences by gangs that work them for little or no pay. Inthe worst cases, as sex slaves.
Three things to watch out for in this discussion and others like it. Lazy, slipshod speech goes with the lazy, slipshod thinking that characterises most xenophobes.
First, "illegal" is, obviously, a legal term. It's not for you or me or even a cop or border guard to decide who is and is not in a given country legally or illegally; it's for a legally constituted legal authority such as a judge.
Second, what might seem like a fine distinction: actions may or may not be illegal; people cannot be. A given person should be referred to as being in the country illegally, if that has been legally established, or suspected/accused of ditto. Nobody should be referred to as being an illegal. Apart from anything else, it implies un-person- hood, and we all know where that leads. At least I hope we do.
Thirdly, being in a given country illegally is not the same as having no right to be or stay in that country. If it is a civilised country, it has undertaken international agreements, and signed those agreements into its own national law, requiring various exceptions to be made, most notably for granting refuge.
Everyone bristles at being told what to say. The cry goes up against political correctness, usually by people who would never dream of taking even the slightest personal risk in the cause of freedom. I suggest that if you do not agree, you do the reading, show your working, and explain to the rest of us why your loaded terms are more appropriate than these neutral ones.
-- Phil Hudson http://hudson-it.no-ip.biz @UWascalWabbit PGP/GnuPG ID: 0x887DCA63 -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq