an interesting perspective on racism

[john9blue]

More MeDeFe, less politics.

[2dimes]

Sorry a.sub. I guess the origional post is not offensive here.

I guess we should use beaner if we actually see that the person purchases/eats/grows a lot of beans.

etc. times a bunch of racist terms.

[PLAYER57832]

I was going to vote +2 until I read MeDeFe's post. As he said, words take on a connotation apart from the simple definition or original application. As another example (a word I can say because I am one) "wop" (the deragotry term Italians and Greeks in the US) was originally applied as "without pass." In other words, all of these swarthy, non-English speaking immigrants from the Mediterranean were coming into the US illegally, or without a pass. Now, if someone calls me a wop today, are they referring to me being without a pass? Of course not, they are referring to me in a deragatory fashion because the acronym "wop," although used to describe the condition of an illegal immigrant originally, is now applied as an offensive term for Italians and Greeks.

Interesting how history repeats itself. The same thing (term-wise) is now happening with Mexicans. I find it notable that many of the most virulant "conservative" (in quotes because I think these folks are more right wing than conservative, though they label themselves as conservative) rhetoric seems to make "immigrant" and "illegal immigrant" synonyms.

... Player, this is just not true. It is the Left and the major media who describe illegal aliens always as simply, "immigrants", or as "undocumented workers". These terms effectively remove the criminal status of the persons under discussion. Your beloved NPR does this all the time, to cite one example.

... It's like calling a rapist, "intercourse participant".

...

How is saying "undocumented worker" like "intercourse participant"? Last time I checked, the issue was one of consent. That is not mentioned at all in your words, but "undocumented" is a quite accurate description of those who enter here illegally.

No, the real truth is that most people do not consider rapists and murders "equal" to those who come here to work peacefully. It is racists and the right wing people (note -- not saying you are either, really -- definitely not racist as far as I know) who wish to keep insisting that these people are this huge safety and security risk. I am not suggesting there is no problem, but the problem is that cheapskate employers have found they can hire these folks, sometimes keep them in slavery-like conditions and cheat ALL of us, by not paying healthcare, not paying proper taxes, etc.

Even tying the workers to outright thieves is a bit disengenuous. The REAL thieves are the employers. They are the ones who take profits that should be going to pay for citizens, including the higher pay and the benefits required for legal employees.

Yes, there are absolutely some illegal aliens who are plain users, abusers and outright criminals. When you are talking about 10,000,000 people, there are going to be a few idiots. In truth, illegal aliens actually commit crime in far, far less proportion than other groups.

The real truth is that while most of us, even under strain, would not stoop to dealing drugs or murder, etc. Most of us would think little of hopping a fence to take a job for pay. That makes it a moral distinction.

[pimpdave]

[Simon Viavant]

Based on most people's arguments in this thread, liberal should be banned.