GOD FUCKING DAMN STUPID PEOPLE.
So, so, we were discussing the mechanics of how to make arguments (scholarly ones, not the good kind where everyone feels all misunderstood and flounces "forever") in my critical reading class, and the teacher brought up the point that one of her other students had brought up in another class. The subject matter was "interpretation" kind of argument, and this guy (or girl, I don't know) says to the teacher, he says "How do you define an illegal immigrant? Because, you know, the native Americans are all like 'we live on the world, there aren't REALLY any boundaries, these politics things are just arbitrary and meaningless, and personal property is meaningless, so how do you define illegal immigrants?"
Just let that thought soak in a minute.
And the teacher thought that tripe was worth repeating.
And I had to listen to her say it.
WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT, WORLD. WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT.
Okay, first of all, any culture who thought that is going to be promptly destroyed by their neighbors, who more than likely are like "Hey, these assholes are the wrong tribe, let's go kill them all!" Secondly, WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT? WHAT IS THIS TRIPE THAT GOT DRIBBLED IN MY EAR HOLE? If you're going to go "What is an illegal?" at least have the goddamn intellectual decency to go with "We're ALL immigrants!" for fucks sake!
And the whole "Personal property means nothing" bit? Are you goddamn kidding me?? Get the hell off my planet and stay away from my shit, because I'll be damned if that doesn't just sound like a good excuse to take what isn't the fuck yours and you can claim that ownership is meaningless while at the same time being a fucking thief!
Oh goddamn it, get off my planet you jackass retards, get off my fucking planet get off get off GET OFF MY PLANET.
I'm so fucking pissed off about this, I can't even form half of the things I found offensive about this statement. Goddamn it.
No, the Native Americans were all Noble Savages (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NobleSavage) who lived in a Utopian society where everyone shared and they all lived in perfect balance and harmony with nature and never knew war until the Europeans came along.
STOP MAKING ME WANT TO CHEW ON MY MONTIOR TO STOPP THE STUPID PORING OUT EVEN IF IT IS TONGUE IN CHEEK.
Modern Native Americans break down weeping at the sight of litter.
Yeah, but, that's just, like, your opinion and stuff, man.
As an aside, the correct way to put this, without the waffling and Noble Savagery angles, would've been "for an argument to take place, there must be an agreement as to the meanings of the terms being used". Which is non-controversial, and even can be expressed logically, if you have enough time and don't end up wanting to punch yourself in the balls for trying to express it.
Well, yes, that's the point of what is being taught right now, and that was an example some dude or chick thought of to illustrate how meanings could be different.
That doesn't mean it wasn't the most retarded thing I'd heard that day, and I reserve the right to get all frothy rage over it.
Wow, isn't that ironic . . . . .
In most reasonable contexts, the term "illegal immigrant" has a legal definition in the USA and the Native Americans opinion about it is quite irrelevant.
You could argue there's also an "informal discourse" context, where people insisting on exact legal definitions are considered pedants. In this context, it is generally best to politely nod at other people's opinions and then ruthlessly squash them using Schopenhauer's stratagems of Eristic Debate (http://coolhaus.de/art-of-controversy/).