12h ago

Sixty-nine people drown as migrant boat capsizes off coast of Mauritania

www.theguardian.com

6 comments

A lot of migrant boats capsize. Is someone poking holes from below?
"Ni- Oh. Oh no."
Is it just me, or does something about the use of the word migrant instead of immigrant or refugee kinda dehumanize these people that died?
These people clearly aren't migrants, that that means they move back and froth from their home country. So why has this word been so heavily used recently?
- Migrant to me is the more accurate word.
  Migration can be seen from 2 viewpoints, "emigration" and "immigration". Depending if you are looking from the country of origin or the destination.
  However, in this headline neither the origin nor the destination is mentioned, therefore it doesn't make sense from either point of view. Therefore the viewpoint-agnostic "migrant" makes more sense to me.
- It's part of liberals trying to control what other people think by controlling what they say and read.
  The reason why news outlets aren't allowed to say "immigrant" anymore is because college-educated liberals don't want people who oppose immigration to have words to support their case.
  I say this as someone who loves immigration. The policing of language by the left does more harm than good and only serves to feed the egos of slacktivists, not actually change the world in any meaningful way.
  
  It's because the word migrant makes no assumption on their intention. We only know they were migrating. We have no idea if they are immigrating or returning, or visiting temporarily. It's not politically correct, it's literally correct.
  I am a college-educated liberal. On behalf of all our kind, I hereby officially grant news outlets and "other people" lifetime permission to use the word "immigrant" whenever someone is immigrating, e.g. because they have said they are doing so.

6 comments