[fla-left] [immigrant rights] _Undocumented_ immigrants demonstrate for amnesty in Homestead (fwd)

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Tue Oct 24 08:39:47 PDT 2000


Michael Hoover quoted:


> > [Moderator's Note: No human being should ever be called "illegal" or
> > "illegitimate" either.]

The word "illegitimate" is pretty repulsive, but "illegal" is a statement of fact. Why is it so insulting? Lots of things are illegal that shouldn't be, but I don't see how it changes things to call someone "undocumented" rather than "illegal." Just seems to me like the left variant of the American tendency towards euphemism, which gave us "passed away" for "died."

Doug



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list