An article by Kevin Drum from the journalism site Mother Jones comments that the upset actually is more cultural and language angst rather than economic worries. But what was also interesting was reading the comments on the article, and looking at the language choices of the readers when discussing this issue of cultural, linguistic, and economic worries.
Some often used words and phrases:
illegal immigrants
aliens
accepting low wages
consuming tax money
we are all immigrants
legal and illegal
average citizen
foreign languages
assimilation
racism
Overall, despite any research an article might mention or if it is sided pro or con illegal immigration, there is a general economic and cultural worry. Often the cons are defending themselves against racism, and categories such as citizen, legal, and illegal classify people in groups ranging from superior to alien (respectively). Historically, there was always argument against immigration in the United States for fear of some cultural overhaul. The difference between now and then is that racism used to be "acceptable." Now, many people are arguing the same battles but with politically correct language in an effort to (at least what some say) mask their underlying racism. The question I am now considering is whether or not such politically correct language truly marks racist and stereotypical ideas we claimed to have eliminated? Is it simply a resurface of old ideas in new language?
Reference:
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/05/immigration-and-economy
Kathy, I think that the words you listed above still have negative associations. For example, "alien" signifies that immigrants do not really belong. Do you think it is possible to remove the stereotypes associated with the language of immigration?
ReplyDeleteYour questions at the end are an interesting take on the Arizona debate that I had not thought of. I think Americans like to believe they are past the era of racism now that slavery has ended, civil right legislation has passed, and schools have been integrated. However, we subtly still promote racism, and our language is an example of that. The legal system may have overcome racism in the 1950s, but the American people definitely have not. Maybe debates such as the one in Arizona will finally bring people together in a way that has never happened before and truly stamp out racism. Or maybe these debates will only draw more distinct lines between the races.
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