3/2/07 – Most of the gripes people have with the terms "illegal alien" and "illegal immigrant" have revolved around the use of the word "illegal" itself. It's not nice, after all, to describe someone accurately as a lawbreaker. Must we keep reminding them that they are NOT legally in this country?
This time, a politician has a beef with the term "alien". Florida state Senator Frederica Wilson says "To me an alien is someone who is from another planet." There's a little problem. As much as even I believe in UFOs and the possible existence of life on other planets, such creatures have never been proven to exist. That is why ALIEN in the intergalactic context is always a distant third or fourth in the list of definitions.
But that won't stop her from trying to pass a bill that would keep "illegal alien" from state documents. Not ACTUALLY illegal aliens out of OUR COUNTRY, mind you. Just the term out of all official Florida paperwork.
An alien, plainly and simply, is a foreigner. A resident born in or belonging to another country who has not acquired citizenship. See? That’s not so evil, is it?
Now beam me up, Mr. Scott. I have people to meet and blogs to write.
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