Hillary swears off referring to 'illegal immigrants' when talking about illegal immigrants
The English language is a beautiful thing when it is respected and properly used. That's what makes Hillary Clinton's aversion to the intent and meaning of words so maddening.
First, her refusal to use the term "radical Islam" when talking about, well, radical Islam would be humorous in another context - like if she was on stage doing a stand up routine. There is nothing hateful, or disrespectful when one uses a term that perfectly describes the enemy that wants to kill us. Using a substitute term like "violent extremists" serves to obscure the meaning and intent of the enemy, which is mind boggling when you think about it.
Recently, Clinton has slipped up and used another phrase that is verboten. For reasons beyond the understanding of normal human beings, the term "illegal immigrant" (I prefer the term illegal alien) has become hate speech. So Hillary put on her best pandering pantsuit and apologized, saying she will never, ever, use that term again - cross her heart and hope to die.
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton bowed to pressure from Hispanic activists Tuesday and apologized for using the term "illegal immigrants" at a town hall earlier this month.
Mrs. Clinton said it had been a "poor choice of words."
Mrs. Clinton has been pressed to retract her use of a term that offends people who entered the U.S. illegally, according to Hispanic activists who are demanding expanded immigration rights and citizenship for the country's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.
She was prodded into an apology during a Facebook question-and-answer session hosted by the Spanish-language TV network Telemundo. The question came from Jose Antonio Vargas, a filmmaker and journalist whose organization, Define America, has led the charge to remove the term "illegal immigrants" from presidential campaigns.
Mr. Vargas asked Mrs. Clinton if she would stop using the term.
"Yes, I will," Mrs. Clinton responded while logged in to Facebook during a stop in Boulder, Colorado. "That was a poor choice of words. As I've said throughout this campaign, the people at the heart of this issue are children, parents, families, Dreamers. They have names, and hopes and dreams that deserve to be respected."
I agree that they need to be respected. But how is it disrespectful to use the term "illegal immigrant" or "illegal alien"? Are the people in question here legally or illegally? Bingo. Are they native born or are they immigrants? Double Bingo.
Two totally innocuous words that perfectly describe in plain English who these people are and this is somehow objectionable? What's objectionable is immigration activists subverting the English language for political purposes. When they say it "hurts" illegal aliens to hear that term, I demand proof. Has an illegal alien ever come forward weeping because some politician used the term illegal immigrant? Not that I recall.
Most media outlets have mandated using the term "undocumented workers" instead of illegal immigrants. That, too, obscures the meaning of who is being discussed. Entering the country without proper "documents" is a crime and any descriptive used must reflect that fundamental fact.
I suggest that Hillary's PC groveling over this issue and the term "radical Islam" only reveals her to be beholden to identiity politics at the expense of the rest of us. That's not presidential and if the GOP candidate had any stones, they'd make sure the voters knew that.
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