On June 18, NY Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) tweeted: The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are. If that doesn’t bother you … I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that ‘never again’ means something.
On June 19, Yad Vashem (Israel’s Holocaust Memorial) tweeted back: “Concentration camps assured a slave labor supply to help in the Nazi war effort, even as the brutality of life inside the camps helped assure the ultimate goal of ‘extermination through labor.’ Learn about concentration camps."
By June 20, the internet was arguing whether or not the word “concentration camp” was appropriate or not. The yes camp argued what is the point of “never again” if the language of the Holocaust can’t be used to describe the conditions of asylum seekers. The other side wrote that this term is only for what happened in the Holocaust era Concentration camps, and this is another example of Representative Ocasio-Cortez (ACO) being ignorant or worse, antisemtic.
Over the weekend, the internet argued that the semanticians were being ridiculous and not really care about the situation on the border. The other side said that they agreed, they just didn’t like the word “Concentration Camp.”
Here is what's happening:
A chaotic scene of sickness and filth is unfolding in an overcrowded border station in Clint, Tex., where hundreds of young people who have recently crossed the border are being held, according to lawyers who visited the facility this week. Some of the children have been there for nearly a month.
Children as young as 7 and 8, many of them wearing clothes caked with snot and tears, are caring for infants they’ve just met, the lawyers said. Toddlers without diapers are relieving themselves in their pants. Teenage mothers are wearing clothes stained with breast milk.
Most of the young detainees have not been able to shower or wash their clothes since they arrived at the facility, those who visited said. They have no access to toothbrushes, toothpaste or soap.
“There is a stench,” said Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, one of the lawyers who visited the facility. “The overwhelming majority of children have not bathed since they crossed the border.” (New York Times)
…..
So who is right? Do semantics matter? I would argue that they do, but of course they shouldn’t be the focal point of this particular issue. Nevertheless, when Ocasio-Cortez (D) misuses language, she creates these arguments which then distract from the cause in which she is fighting. It’s also hard to argue that language doesn’t matter, when I spend so much time trying to speak to people in a way that will not offend them to honor their identities. I don’t see how people who claim to be liberal can’t see that using the wrong word for the place where suffering children are being held is not important.
So what is the right word or words?
I think it should be called “The United States Child Neglect Abuse Center” This is the place where children are not given enough to eat, proper medical care, basic hygiene, education, often separated from their parents, without access to fresh air.
On June 19, Yad Vashem (Israel’s Holocaust Memorial) tweeted back: “Concentration camps assured a slave labor supply to help in the Nazi war effort, even as the brutality of life inside the camps helped assure the ultimate goal of ‘extermination through labor.’ Learn about concentration camps."
By June 20, the internet was arguing whether or not the word “concentration camp” was appropriate or not. The yes camp argued what is the point of “never again” if the language of the Holocaust can’t be used to describe the conditions of asylum seekers. The other side wrote that this term is only for what happened in the Holocaust era Concentration camps, and this is another example of Representative Ocasio-Cortez (ACO) being ignorant or worse, antisemtic.
Over the weekend, the internet argued that the semanticians were being ridiculous and not really care about the situation on the border. The other side said that they agreed, they just didn’t like the word “Concentration Camp.”
Here is what's happening:
A chaotic scene of sickness and filth is unfolding in an overcrowded border station in Clint, Tex., where hundreds of young people who have recently crossed the border are being held, according to lawyers who visited the facility this week. Some of the children have been there for nearly a month.
Children as young as 7 and 8, many of them wearing clothes caked with snot and tears, are caring for infants they’ve just met, the lawyers said. Toddlers without diapers are relieving themselves in their pants. Teenage mothers are wearing clothes stained with breast milk.
Most of the young detainees have not been able to shower or wash their clothes since they arrived at the facility, those who visited said. They have no access to toothbrushes, toothpaste or soap.
“There is a stench,” said Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, one of the lawyers who visited the facility. “The overwhelming majority of children have not bathed since they crossed the border.” (New York Times)
…..
So who is right? Do semantics matter? I would argue that they do, but of course they shouldn’t be the focal point of this particular issue. Nevertheless, when Ocasio-Cortez (D) misuses language, she creates these arguments which then distract from the cause in which she is fighting. It’s also hard to argue that language doesn’t matter, when I spend so much time trying to speak to people in a way that will not offend them to honor their identities. I don’t see how people who claim to be liberal can’t see that using the wrong word for the place where suffering children are being held is not important.
So what is the right word or words?
I think it should be called “The United States Child Neglect Abuse Center” This is the place where children are not given enough to eat, proper medical care, basic hygiene, education, often separated from their parents, without access to fresh air.
This is the place where Lady Liberty goes to cry tears asking what has become of our country? What has become of us?
Read more about the conditions that these children are living in here.
