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.
