The University of Maryland has launched a campaign educating students and faculty about how to refer to people and asking them to “think before you speak” to avoid insulting others. One of the lexicon lessons has caused a controversy. The campaign by UMD’s Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy office tells people not to use terms like “illegal alien” but rather “undocumented citizens.”
While “illegal alien” is a term that is used in legal materials and judicial opinions, it has been denounced as insulting. For that reason, many have switched to “undocumented immigrant” which the Maryland posters say is fine. However, it is the other suggested choice of “undocumented citizen” that has struck many as odd since the terms is an oxymoron. A citizen by defined is both legal and documented. It would suggest that people here unlawfully can nonetheless be “citizens”.
The State Department states “U.S. citizenship may be acquired either at birth or through naturalization subsequent to birth.”
The school’s “Inclusive Language Campaign” may be too inclusive from a legal standpoint in grouping undocumented persons into the same category as citizens.
Nicole Mehta, the program director of UMD’s Common Ground Multicultural Dialogue Program, however insisted that “undocumented citizen” was selected carefully and after a survey of students: “The use of ‘undocumented citizen’ (along with other terms such as undocumented individuals, immigrants, etc.) seeks to avoid dehumanization of an entire group of individuals.” I can understand the motivation, it is the foundation for the term that is inexplicable. “Citizen” is a legal term of art. It is a status defined by certain conditions. While it may make some feel more included, it is a fictional status and undermines serious discussion of the status of undocumented people in this country.
What do you think?
Criminal Aliens rolls off the tongue rather nicely. But don’t worry about the Mexicans anymore. After the first half of the current economic disaster go round the South To North figures or reverse migration are now in the negatives. Reason? No jobs and still getting crapped on by the employers. That number as soon as Christmas is over will reverse once again as Mexicans return home —to eat. They can’t afford the food prices without jobs of some kind….Bueno pues the situation is taking care of itself… Going south is easy. Get on the bus and go once in the border towns just show their Mexico papers. Then if they have any US papers they can sell them or trade for tacos.
I said the first half… the second half of the Great Depression is gearing up right now. Remember all that debt Obama incurred? Pay up time so another round of inflation, devaluation and debt repudiation in the Cycle of Economic Repression Part II. Aren’t you just so glad to live in the USSA Beatle song wasn’t it?
A second but smaller wave are primarily eastern Europeans that are US Citizens after the walls of failed socialism came tumbling down. They are moving on, and many of them in the technical and scientific skills areas to include my new family Doctor down here in FNA. Reason. USSA starting to remind them too much of where they left and they don’t wish to subject themselves to a another round of socialism – for why it doesn’t work – and another police state.
So let’s see how Obamulator spins those figures of failure.
Now for all you college student supports let’s examine how hypocritical they really are? Harvard Crimson archiving it’s back issues. Did they hire needy college students? No. They outsourced it to US $75.00 a month keyboards in Southeast Asia. Used a computer to repair two results made corrections and whammo. Harvard you may recall is a University full of do gooder socalist leaning leaders of the country wannabes.
Conflict resolution? I rather like the Dell theory. no two countries at opposite ends of the same supply chain will ever go to war. Michael Dell of Dell Computers said that. I’ll go one further. Regardless of religion. Lots of Muslims in India….not one a Jihadist. Worry about China? Ha! What for? They just built new three week turn around mega giant container ships to handle the business. A half dozen I seem to recall with more planned. Besides T Bills are the best hedge against inflation these days.
Wonder why these KISS answers aren’t being discussed.
People too busy staining their underwear with media induced fear. Al Queda or ISIS doesn’t have to do anything – just say they are going to do something and Future Fuhrer Trumps points go up They know that under the rules of the Cycle of Repression he will do the job for them.
Students should be studying and not heard. That is the definition of students. Those who are learning. Eventually perhaps but X = lost and Y = millennium for some reason and the formula is X+Y=Zero.
Steve,
Why should we refrain from humiliating someone who violates our laws? If someone were to break into your house and are caught by the police, would you care how humiliating it was for them to be perp-walked to the squad car?
Whatever motives people have for getting into and living in this country illegally, they are violating our laws and therefore illegal. They are squatters unwilling to follow these basic demands for any immigrant:
“The principles embodied in the Oath are codified in Section 337(a) in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which provides that all applicants shall take an oath that incorporates the substance of the following:
Support the Constitution;
Renounce and abjure absolutely and entirely all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which the applicant was before a subject or citizen;
Support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
Bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and
A. Bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; or
B. Perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; or
C. Perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law.”
If there are any rebellious students there they need to start a chapter of Friggin Americans! This organization opposes political correctness or PC. They have tee shirts with some drawing of penal correctness.
let’s not be negative here, my good people, and rather than say that the UM campaign is wrong and absurd, let’s say that it is ….positively enfecalated.
I suspect Universities are among the largest recipients of government financial hand outs since the great depression hit. This instruction described in this article is in homage to their government overlords, who desire to “fundamentally transform” this into a third world banana republic, a goal they reached some years ago.
USU in my back yard grew about 50% in the past nine years.
If they don’t wish to be called illegal aliens they should stop coming here illegally.
While they are not citizens, it is also incorrect to assign “undocumented” to these individuals. Why, many of these “citizens” possess plenty of documents–falsified ones, of course, but, nonetheless, still documents. Wait, you’ll see, the use of “undocumented” will become insensitive and hurtful in the near future, as well.
True story. I worked in a high tech company. Raj was hired. After about 6 months,
Raj tells me some guys are after him. I said go to HR or call police. He can’t do it. His application is a complete fraud and 100% phony.
He owes $5000 to these guys who made all the fake ID visas, paper work and resume from India.
Nick:
I agree. The absolute bare minimum requirement for entry for all immigrations should be a requirement that they obey our laws. If they break our laws while or before applying for citizenship, such as rape, murder, DUI, assault, identity theft, etc, then that should bar them from becoming citizens. They’ve already proven through their actions that they have no interest in contributing as a good citizen of the US.
I’ll buck the headwind here. I like the idea of at least thinking in terms of not humiliating people. I think it’s a standard of decency that we need in a civilized society, and I believe in evolving standards of decency, not the standards set at the time of the ratification of the federal Constitution (e.g., all felonies being punishable by death, a lack of racial and gender equality, involuntary servitude, the slaughter of any human being standing between us and imperial expansion (oh wait, that still goes on), and plutocracy (oh wait, that still goes on, too)).
Doesn’t an educational institution have the right, if not a duty, to teach and exemplify decency as well the free expression of ideas?
That said, “undocumented citizen” is an oxymoron. I’d prefer “undocumented domiciliary” if the occasion arises. There’s nothing wrong with euphemism in the proper context as long as it’s not a compelled infringement of speech.
Shouldn’t “undocumented” mean they lost their legal paperwork, not that they are illegal?
Border Crashers?
Those who steal people’s identities, such as illegal aliens often do, can be called “identity confused”.
Maybe, since they are an educational institution, they might acquaint them with the legal term, which is “illegal aliens.”
Just a thought.
Although, if correct legal terms are now considered mean, maybe we should re-name criminals as “legally challenged”, and murderers as “life limiting to others”. Or how about other non violent criminals, such as tax cheats, as “tax law averse”?
How about “Illegal Citizen”? Now there’s a contradiction in terms. Coin your own double-speak term today! A dictionary of Double-Speak? Sounds like a fun project.
Off topic, but here’s an uncomfortable fact to share with climate change devotees:
2015 May Close With Lowest Number of Tornado Fatalities on Record (whoops!)
http://www.accuweather.com/en/features/trend/tornado_fatalities_deaths_2015_severe_weather_nears_record_low/54222912
But like people who believe every word in the Bible comes direct from God, I’m sure they’ll come up with a ‘plausible’ explanation.
“The Complete Perversion of the Law
But, unfortunately, law by no means confines itself to its proper functions. And when it has exceeded its proper functions, it has not done so merely in some inconsequential and debatable matters. The law has gone further than this; it has acted in direct opposition to its own purpose. The law has been used to destroy its own objective: It has been applied to annihilating the justice that it was supposed to maintain; to limiting and destroying rights which its real purpose was to respect. The law has placed the collective force at the disposal of the unscrupulous who wish, without risk, to exploit the person, liberty, and property of others. It has converted plunder into a right, in order to protect plunder. And it has converted lawful defense into a crime, in order to punish lawful defense.
How has this perversion of the law been accomplished? And what have been the results?
The law has been perverted by the influence of two entirely different causes: stupid greed and false philanthropy.” Frederic Bastiat
These people have never seen a dictionary. It shows the quality of education over the last 20 years that a school would be ignorant enough to do this. I hope the alum jump on them. That is what it will take.
The Saturday Night Live! episodes were simply an outing of us. Not real Remulak persons. I adopted the name Beldar so as to give myself “comic cover”.
We ARE from France! The Remulak thing is an allusion and a topic of conversation. Provence, France. All aliens from other planets are legal in America. If I am wrong then cite me a statute which mentions aliens from other planets. And “Friggin Mexicans” is not in the statute either.
Maryland is in nether nether land.
When one is ideologically stuck in traffic in the left lane EVERYTHING will appear to the right. The opposite is true for those in the right lane. The best view is from above where one can see the whole picture.