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[penguinofhonor]

Still, they really are failing badly at making themselves look reasonable.

I think any "political correctness" campaign is going to be dismissed as unreasonable and silly no matter what. And then people are going to pull arguments like

honestly, "illegals" is just a shorter and easier way of saying "illegal immigrants,"

and it's really going to get caricatured no matter how sensible they appear. So then we end up with hyperbole like

there's a group here in the US trying to make it considered a hate crime to use the term "illegal immigrant" when referring to someone who immigrated illegally.

and it really just ends up going the exact same way no matter what.

[rtg593]

No, they want to reduce prejudice against latin@s by reducing the use of a derogatory word commonly used as a slur against them.

I can't think of anything I can say about how utterly ridiculous that statement is without it seeming like an attack against you, which it isn't.

Oh, by the way, if you got it right in the above statement, then I feel bad for all the other illegals immigrants. Guess this group didn't feel like fighting for them, too?

EDIT: that first part seemed... Aggressive :p allow me to clarify: either a: they have a super chip on their shoulder for perceiving that, or b: someone's a real obnoxious moron for turning it that way.

[Theoboldi]

No, they want to reduce prejudice against latin@s by reducing the use of a derogatory word commonly used as a slur against them.

I can't think of anything I can say about how utterly ridiculous that statement is without it seeming like an attack against you, which it isn't.

Oh, by the way, if you got it right in the above statement, then I feel bad for all the other illegals immigrants. Guess this group didn't feel like fighting for them, too?

But...that's exactly what they are trying to do. <.<
Did you actually read their site? It's a bad plan, but that's what it is.

Also, I have no idea about american immigration rates, but I think latinos still make up the largest amount of illegal immigrants.

Edit: And now I have no idea what you are talking about.

[penguinofhonor]

No, they want to reduce prejudice against latin@s by reducing the use of a derogatory word commonly used as a slur against them.

I can't think of anything I can say about how utterly ridiculous that statement is without it seeming like an attack against you, which it isn't.

Uh... do you know how slurs operate with reference to oppression and language? Social justice 8-ball says "Odds unlikely."

Oh, by the way, if you got it right in the above statement, then I feel bad for all the other illegals immigrants. Guess this group didn't feel like fighting for them, too?

Man, let's go get on the NAACP for not fighting for all minorities too.

[rtg593]

No, they want to reduce prejudice against latin@s by reducing the use of a derogatory word commonly used as a slur against them.

I can't think of anything I can say about how utterly ridiculous that statement is without it seeming like an attack against you, which it isn't.

Oh, by the way, if you got it right in the above statement, then I feel bad for all the other illegals immigrants. Guess this group didn't feel like fighting for them, too?

But...that's exactly what they are trying to do. <.<
Did you actually read their site? It's a bad plan, but that's what it is.

Also, I have no idea about american immigration rates, but I think latinos still make up the largest amount of illegal immigrants.

Edit: And now I have no idea what you are talking about.

It was a cursory read back when I was still trying to decide if they were actually serious. I was replying to the quoted interpretation of their agenda.

OK, so then here's what I get out of this. They immigrate illegally. Citizens are understandably upset about them living and working here unauthorized.

So are they saying the negative feelings about illegal ones are affecting legal ones?

Or do they want us to hug and love them no matter how they get here, even if it's by breaking the law?

[Theoboldi]

But that interpretation is correct. They want people to stop using it as a slur against illegal immigrants, most of which are latinos in this case. I don't understand what is wrong about that interpretation.

Edit: Okay, I think I got it now. I'll agree that they shouldn't just be welcomed in america, but this is also about fighting exploitation of illegal immigrants, which is a real problem. They are just advertising this really horribly.

[rtg593]

But that interpretation is correct. They want people to stop using it as a slur against illegal immigrants, most of which are latinos in this case. I don't understand what is wrong about that interpretation.

Edit: Okay, I think I got it now. I'll agree that they shouldn't just be welcomed in america, but this is also about fighting exploitation of illegal immigrants, which is a real problem. They are just advertising this really horribly.

See, now you're making it make sense. They should hire you. The way the interview went, and the incredulous skim of the website it caused, made me think they want the term dropped so they can come here freely.

If there are actually people somewhere using this in a derogatory/hateful manner,... Well, you can't fix stupid, I guess that's why there are laws.

But as for the illegal immigrants themselves... I'm sorry, but as non-citizen criminals with no legal rights (other than the normal, basic human rights, of course), we've been extremely generous not to round em up and ship em back every chance we get. If they want to be here, apply for citizenship. Don't break in. If you break the law to get here, how can we trust you to adhere to any of our other laws?

I'm sorry if they've given themselves a stigma, and racial slurs are never justified, but seriously... They're criminals roaming our streets freely...

Oh, @ penguinofhonor, I was meaning ridiculous for someone to make it into a slur, sorry if my aggressive speaking style came across wrong in text, yes, I understand language and slurs quite well, thank you. And my other point was, they aren't the only illegal immigrants, we hate em all equally

Edit: ya, that last statement is gunna hurt me, lol. I didn't mean hate as in hate them, I meant hate as in how they break the law to get in here. I like people, I just don't like criminals :p

[Dutchling]

We have the same thing going on in the Netherlands. We made up this neat little word allochtoon which even has an English Wikipedia page and some people want it to be no longer used.

[Leafsnail]

"Illegals" is pretty clearly offensive.  It implies that the person's very existence is illegal and an affront to society.  I kindof see an issue with "illegal immigrant" to a lesser extent... most other criminal labels imply "someone who did something bad" while "illegal immigrant" again attacks you directly.

There are some fairly interesting stories on the site about people who have to all intents and purposes grown up in America (they were brought there when 2 or something) but are effectively second class citizens and "illegal" because they don't have papers.

[Mr. Palau]

"Illegals" is pretty clearly offensive.  It implies that the person's very existence is illegal and an affront to society.

Where do you live? No where in New York does using the term illegals imply that it is an affront to society. It's just short for illegal immigrants, and that the illegal immigrant's existance in this country is illegal, which it is.(meaning leggally not in a like "I want to turn you into a smouldering pile of guts kinda way", ya know what I mean?.)

I kindof see an issue with "illegal immigrant" to a lesser extent... most other criminal labels imply "someone who did something bad" while "illegal immigrant" again attacks you directly.

Most of our labels are nouns that attack your character directly as well. Drug dealer, arsonist, murderer, all carry very bad implications about your character as a person. The only real diffrence I can decern is the use of an adjective and a noun in the term "illegal immigrant".

There are some fairly interesting stories on the site about people who have to all intents and purposes grown up in America (they were brought there when 2 or something) but are effectively second class citizens and "illegal" because they don't have papers.

I've always felt there shoud ble somehting like a statue of limitations on illegal immigraion lawsuits. If you've been here for 5 or more years you have likely integrated very well into US society.

[chewie]

"Illegals" is pretty clearly offensive.  It implies that the person's very existence is illegal and an affront to society.  I kindof see an issue with "illegal immigrant" to a lesser extent... most other criminal labels imply "someone who did something bad" while "illegal immigrant" again attacks you directly.

So it is a grammatical issue. Let's call them "people who immigrated illegally".

[Loud Whispers]

I don't care to much for stopping the use of words that offend people.

Oh! Oh! It offends me!

Never.

Say it.

Again.

~Bam~

You can be offensive whilst never saying words that for some reason or another, irrationally offend people.
And you can be considered offensive for saying a word that irrationally offends people, with absolute disregard to context.

It's as if people don't even care for what their fellows say.

If there's active discrimination against any group that poses any danger, physical, emotional or whatever, that is a problem. That problem should be rectified. Simply making words illegal is not going to help anything. I'd even wager it would actually make things worse.

[kaijyuu]

Oh my goodness... People seriously need to stop demonizing valid words just because they're being used in an offensive way. Soon enough, half the English language will be off limits.

What this guy said.

[Leafsnail]

Where do you live? No where in New York does using the term illegals imply that it is an affront to society. It's just short for illegal immigrants, and that the illegal immigrant's existance in this country is illegal, which it is.(meaning leggally not in a like "I want to turn you into a smouldering pile of guts kinda way", ya know what I mean?.)

It's not about where you live.  The word in and of itself clearly carries those implications.  Maybe you should try asking an "illegal" how they feel about the term.

Most of our labels are nouns that attack your character directly as well. Drug dealer, arsonist, murderer, all carry very bad implications about your character as a person. The only real diffrence I can decern is the use of an adjective and a noun in the term "illegal immigrant".

It's the difference between "You did something bad" and "You are bad".

So it is a grammatical issue. Let's call them "people who immigrated illegally".

Great.  I don't have a huge problem with "illegal immigrants" - I'm just noting an oddity that makes it different to most other criminal monikers, which might've been why someone in the group thought it was bad.

Simply making words illegal is not going to help anything.

Punching bales of straw fashioned into the shape of a large man doesn't help anything either.

[Loud Whispers]

Simply making words illegal is not going to help anything.

Punching bales of straw fashioned into the shape of a large man doesn't help anything either.

I don't like scarecrows. I must destroy them all.

(In all seriousness, I was talking about ALL the tabooey words that have actually been made illegal, or you know, extremely tabooey. Slight brain derp on my part)