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        <h1 class="gmail-article-header__headline">Dehumanizing language infects the immigration debate</h1>
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        <time datetime="2018-06-26 04:00" class="gmail-article-header__pubdate">June 26, 2018</time>
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                                                                        <p id="gmail-U8423640130757n" style="text-indent:0px">Michael Andor Brodeur’s <a class="gmail-a" href="http://twitter.com/large">@large</a> column in the Sunday Arts section (<a class="gmail-a" href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2018/06/21/the-official-language-euphemism/WV4MGgexoCeQOLj00A4RZI/story.html" shape="rect" target="_blank">“United States of Euphemism”</a>)
 makes an important point. I have been noting for months, maybe years, 
the dehumanizing language being used to describe every topic in the 
immigration debate. I am disturbed when these terms are adopted by the 
media.</p><p>“Family reunification policy” became “chain 
migration.” “Catch and release” is a phrase that I have always heard 
used about fishing. To hear it referring to people is appalling. Putting
 a “so-called” in front of it, or adding quotes, does not make it any 
more acceptable. These phrases completely remove the human being from 
the sentence.
</p><div class="gmail-teads-inread gmail-sm-screen" style="margin:0px auto 20px;max-width:550px;height:331px"><div style="margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px"><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-adchoices" style="display:block"></div><div class="gmail-teads-ui-components-label" style="display:block">ADVERTISING</div><div class="gmail-teads-player" id="gmail-teads0"></div></div></div><p>As
 the mother of a person with disabilities, I am aware of the movement 
toward people-first language. Learning to construct sentences 
thoughtfully and guard against reductionist language changes more than 
the conversation. It affects our viewpoint, improves our vision</p></div></div>

<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies                     <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone:  (215) 898-7475<br>Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      <br><br>Email:  <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a>    <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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