Asylum Seeker

As I sat listening to the news a certain phrase struck me. They were talking about the issue of immigration and what is going on at the border when I heard both the interviewer and the person he was interviewing use the words asylum seeker.

Earlier they had used the term immigrant or migrant but switched as the story went on so that it would have gone almost unnoticed. As a writer and someone interested in language and the words we use this switch hit my ears like a baseball bat.

The Evolution

The switch from immigrant to asylum seeker is no accident and it is not the first time our language has been used to change the narrative.

The original, and legal, term was illegal alien. This term was clear and concise meaning a person who entered the country outside of the legal means who was not a citizen of the country.

The term alien was too alienating so the language was changed. Instead of illegal aliens we now had illegal immigrants. The change was small so we all went along with it without giving it much thought.

An alien was someone from a foreign country but an immigrant was someone moving from one country to another. A subtle but important difference. It made it seem like the person was just looking for a home, not that they had a home they left for someplace else.

Recently the term was changed again, dropping the word illegal and leaving us just with immigrant. Activists started using phrases such as no one can be illegal. This changed happen very quickly and was done very openly.

It was done for a sinister reason, so that opposing the arrival of illegal aliens could be twisted to call someone a racist and a xenophobe. An immigrant is someone who is coming into this country from another looking for a home. If they are just immigrants than opposing their arrival means you oppose letting anyone into this country, when in reality you do not want someone to come to this country illegally.

The next change that is coming is the term asylum seeker. This is not someone simply moving into another country, but someone fleeing one country due to violence or disaster. We have seen this term used to justify illegal immigration into Europe.

This term produces sympathy for the person trying to get into another country illegally. Once you start calling all illegal aliens asylum seekers, suddenly you’ll have nothing but ‘asylum seekers’ crossing the border.

The Muddling of Language

It is a muddling of our language so that we can no longer talk to each other. The quickest way to get people to not talk to each other is to have them speak a different language.

While most people will mean illegal alien when they use the term immigrant or illegal immigrant there are others who will hear a different meaning. They will believe that you oppose anyone coming into this country and then assume that you only oppose them coming in because of the color of their skin.

If you have ever listened to two people speaking in a different language around you than you have probably at one point assumed they are talking about you. Sometime this might be true but for the most part they are probably just talking about themselves, but that feeling is still real.

For example the statement, increased border security is a good thing to prevent illegal aliens from entering our country, can mean that you are fine with people entering the country but just want them to do it legally. To another person it means you hate anyone coming into this country who does not have the same skin color as you and you are xenophobic because they are just fleeing their shit hole country, but don’t call it a shit hole country because that will trigger me too, and it also makes you a racist.

Once you realize our language is being muddled you have to ask yourself the question, why? Why would someone not want people to be able to talk to each other? Because they want them to fight. If we cannot solve our problems together using our words than we will resort to using violence.

If we are fighting than we will organize ourselves into groups and we will lose one of the foundational advancements of our culture, the sovereignty of the individual. We will seek protection in the group and doing so will mean that we must give up more of what makes us individuals.

Who?

Once you realize our language is being manipulated, naturally you will want to know who is doing it. The answer is a difficult one because it not one person or group. The answer is we are all manipulating the language.

If we switch over from illegal alien to immigrant we are participating in the game of language manipulation. The awful thing about this is that even if you ‘win’ at this game you still win at the game of manipulation because you have already stopped playing the game of truth.

Language does change and evolve naturally. For example the word literally now can mean both something literal and something figurative. This change, even though it seems silly, is perfectly acceptable. It is when this change is either forced, such as will bill C-16 in Canada, or intended to manipulate that you will see a problem created.

Try listening for a week to the words people use and ask yourself why they used that word instead of another one. Listen to the words you are using and ask yourself the same question, I think you will be surprised by your answer.

This is why it is so important to be careful with the words you use. Always aim for using the best words you have to describe what you are talking about in the clearest detail whenever possible. Tell the truth, or at the very least do not lie.