Illegal Companion
I was listening to the radio today, and I heard something new! Actually, that is a misspeak on my part, there was no sniper fire. There is nothing new on the radio, it is always a rehash of the same things every day. And today was no different. People were talking about Illegal Immigration, which bothers me every time I hear it (almost as much as the misuse of gender: words have gender, people have sex).
There is no such thing as Illegal Immigration. Immigration is the legal process by which one becomes a citizen of a different country from which one is currently a citizen. Putting the words together this way not only doesn't make sense, but it leads people into fallacies. I heard them all day long on the radio. "All people are Immigrants or descends of some." I shudder at the number of the logical errors in that sentence. Shudder. See, I did it right there in front of you!
If we can put aside all that is wrong with that phrase and all of the illogical surrounding every discussion on the topic, I think there is a nugget of usefulness to be found here! I think we can take any word that is a-okay, slap Illegal in front of it, use this combine to describe something else, then claim we are only talking about the base word, not the act itself. Hard to explain, but easy to show examples of!
Kidnapping has such a negative connotation. What is it really? It is taking someone and making them be around you all of the time. Isn't companionship the want to have someone around? Illegal Companionship is born! I mean, we are only talking about companionship, and who among us doesn't want a companion? Who are we to deny someone the god-given right to have a companion! Are you anti-companion?
Rape is just Illegal Sex. Without sex, none of us would be here. Sex is a good thing for all of humanity. So what if the means are slightly less than legal, we are talking about sex! Are forefathers had it, who are we to deny the rights of others to find sex by the means of their choosing?
There are many more, and all of them equally as logically valid as the phrase Illegal Immigration.
The Edward
1 comment:
Quoth The Edward:
Immigration is the legal process by which one becomes a citizen of a different country from which one is currently a citizen.
Actually, immigration is the process of moving to one country from another.
What you describe above is naturalization.
So, yes, you can immigrate either legally (by getting the correct documents and visas), or illegally (by sneaking over a border).
For example- after I got married, Pilar and I applied for a spousal visa, which allowed her to enter the US legally, and live here.
However, she is not a citizen- she needs to go through the naturalization process to do that. Once she has been here five years, there are no obstacles to her doing this.
However, there are many people living here who entered without the permissions Pilar obtained, and, therefore, cannot go through the naturalization process to become citizens.
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