[mojo2]

A Clark Howard show caller chides him for his use of the word, 'refugee' when referring to the displaced people of NOLA. The woman mistakenly thinks refugee is a person of color (my word, not hers) from a "third world country." She prefers that OUR displaced persons be referred to as evacuees.

Anyone seeking refuge is a refugee.

I think that is the HEIGHT of arrogance and ignorance.

ANYONE seeking REFUGE is by definition, a REFUGEE! Despite their color, country, cause of their displacement. Ha! Even when our people have NOTHING, people who have lost EVERYTHING... Some AMERICANS believe OUR people are so much better than the other peoples of the world, that when you have Rwandans who have nothing and NOLA'ns who have nothing, OUR PEOPLE ARE STILL BETTER THAN THE RWANDANS!

I think that is the stupidest and ugliest thing I've heard in a long time and speaks to an instilled attitude which, understandably, makes the rest of the world resentful of us.

If I could I'd SMACK HER DOWN ON THESE PAGES.

[ghporter]

I gotta go with you, mojo. A person seeking refuge is a refugee.

Originally Posted by The Random House Dictionary (C) 1980

n. a person who flees for refuge or safety, esp. to a foreign country, as in time of war. (emphasis added)

One does not NEED to flee from a war to be a refugee. One merely needs to flee for safety.

It looks to me a lot like plain, boldfaced prejudice to say that Americans who seek refuge are different from Sudanese, Indonesians, Bangladeshis, or anyone else who seeks refuge.

[Captain Obvious]

If they were "evacuees" they would have left when they were warned to.
This is just more PC nonsense people want to abide by because they are afraid it may be taken the wrong way by one odd person.
That the word infers anything other than its Webster's definition is just the perceived racism those individuals want to envision around every corner to support their victim mentality. It's EVERYWHERE you see!!

I will probably use the word refugee just because of that.

[OreoCookie]

Technically, those who stayed are neither refugees nor evacuees, but victims. Those who left before are rather evacuees, because it's more precise than refugees (just for the sake of clarity). I'd term only those in emergency shelters refugees as they were not evacuated from the premises of the city, but had to leave home.

[saddino]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious

This is just more PC nonsense people want to abide by because they are afraid it may be taken the wrong way by one odd person.

I agree 100%.

This also reminds me why I wish more people would take Fox News to task for their adherence to that ridiculous phrase "homicide bomber" (AFAIK the only news org. that aided in Ari Fleischer's dubious effort to wipe out the accurate phrase "suicide bomber").

[Tesseract]

If they left when they were told, they're either refugees or (more precisely) evacuees.
If they tried to stay, then left after the storm hit, they're both victims and refugees, but not evacuees.
If they're still there now, they're victims (since both refugee and evacuee imply movement).

[AKcrab]

"Homeless"
Seems to me that the most common meaning of refugee is one who flees their country, but I agree that it's not even worth arguing over.

[Rev-O]

No disrespect meant here. What a horrible thing to go through, but I don't think of them as Evacuees or refugees, I think of them as F**ked.
I think you may get that answer from many of them as well.
"Are you an evacuee or a refugee?"
"I am F**ked."

[meelk]

Gardener.

[kcmac]

Evacuee: A person evacuated from a place of danger to a safer place.

Refugee: A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution or natural disaster.

I tend to think the people that left before are refugees and that the people leaving now are being evacuated.

The dictionary says they are both correct.

The people that stay, well there is no word for it but I certainly feel for them.

Whatever the term, it seems we should be trying to find something that sounds respectable. I don't call this PC, I call it compassionate. It would be terrible to be a member of this group, especially knowing what they will still go through. It ain't over yet. I hope we are all doing something to make it better.

[:dragonflypro:]

Originally Posted by Rev-O

No disrespect meant here. What a horrible thing to go through, but I don't think of them as Evacuees or refugees, I think of them as F**ked.
I think you may get that answer from many of them as well.
"Are you an evacuee or a refugee?"
"I am F**ked."

Spot on.

Any further semantic debate is time that could be spent doing something positive to help instead of insisting on yet another label.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by :dragonflypro:

Spot on.

Any further semantic debate is time that could be spent doing something positive to help instead of insisting on yet another label.

Ah but that would be helpful instead of just being loud. Some people apparently can't do anythign but be loud.

[paul w]

Americans

[The Godfather]

Domestic refugees, with more rights and responsibilities than foreign refugees.

[SimeyTheLimey]

The official definitions used in international humanitarian relief, and by the US Government are:

Refugee = fled homeland (usually because of war, but not necessarily)

Displaced person = fled their homes, but still in their home countries.

This distinction matters mainly for legal reasons to do with which countries and international agencies have jurisdiction, and what rights the people have. However, all of this is probably kind of nit-picky in this context. If you say "refugees from Katrina" nobody will think anyone means people fleeing to Cuba.

I'm not aware of any official use of the term "evacuee." At least, not since the British used the term in WW-II (my mother was an evacuee as a child).

[Rolling Bones]

What the **** does it matter?

I agree with the guy who says they are ****ed.

[shabbasuraj]

Survivors

[Warung]

Originally Posted by mojo2

A Clark Howard show caller chides him for his use of the word, 'refugee' when referring to the displaced people of NOLA. The woman mistakenly thinks refugee is a person of color (my word, not hers) from a "third world country."

This is absolutely ridiculous. Being a refugee has nothing to do with race or nationality, and everything to do with seeking refuge and shelter for whatever reason.

OTOH, some people might be evacuees, since they were EVACUATED from the disaster area.

[mojo2]

To Clark Howard:

Don't yield to those who wish to manipulate you into an incorrect and censor-sensitive PC world.

REFUGEE is a perfectly appropriate word to describe those who have taken refuge from the destruction of Hurrican Katrina.

[JoshuaZ]

You could go for either. They both fit the profile.

[saddino]

Interestingly, there was an article on the use of "Refugee" in an article in today's Washington Post:

President Bush got an earful Monday while visiting 800 people staying at the Bethany World Prayer Center in Baker, a few miles north of the Baton Rouge airport. He agreed to urge use of other terms, such as displaced citizens.

The president made good on his word yesterday during remarks at the White House: "You know, there's a debate here about refugees. Let me tell you my attitude . . . The people we're talking about are not refugees. They are Americans, and they need the help and love and compassion of our fellow citizens."

I guess there's a fine line between being "manipulated" by the PC world and being appropriately sensitive to people's concerns. Given that it's the survivors who are complaining about the term, maybe the least we can do is follow Bush's lead and not use the word "refugee" (although I agree it's technically a correct term).

[dreilly1]

I agree with mojo. People who quibble over what these displaced persons are going to be called:

1) need something more constructive to do
2) betray their own prejudices (even as they think they are calling others out for their prejudice).

I think that it doesn't matter what they are called, so if calling them "evacuees" will make people stop whining, then why not do it. As Simey pointed out, no matter what the definition of Refugee in international law is, nobody will be confused by the term "refugees from Louisiana", except perhaps the people who think that Americans could never be refugees because we are better than that.

[wallinbl]

Complain all you want, but refugee has a legal definition in this country and internationally that is not from a dictionary. It's useful for politicians and others involved in situations like this or in wars, etc to have specific terminology. If you want to make your own definitions for words, have at it, but don't start swinging at people that try to use the words properly.

[Millennium]

I'd say that both terms are probably correct. The term 'evacuee' is probably more precise, but an evacuee could be considered a kind of refugee, and so that word also works.

[mojo2]

Originally Posted by dreilly1

I agree with mojo. People who quibble over what these displaced persons are going to be called:

1) need something more constructive to do
2) betray their own prejudices (even as they think they are calling others out for their prejudice).

I think that it doesn't matter what they are called, so if calling them "evacuees" will make people stop whining, then why not do it. As Simey pointed out, no matter what the definition of Refugee in international law is, nobody will be confused by the term "refugees from Louisiana", except perhaps the people who think that Americans could never be refugees because we are better than that.

Thanks, dreilly1!

We all have better things to do with our time than to concern ourselves with this piddly matter.

However, to consciously exclude use of the word "refugee" when referring to displaced Katrina survivors is like a slap in the face of displaced people all over the world.

OUR people are DISPLACED PERSONS and EVACUEES.

And don't ANY of you little brown ones with spears in your hands who were displaced by Tsunamis (Yes, there were little brown people who used spears to catch fish) EVER call yourselves displaced or evacuees!

You are REFUGEES.

ONLY!

If God ever smiles on your gaining entrance into this country through our generously porous southern border and you are lucky enough to become displaced by one of OUR natural disasters maybe THEN you MIGHT qualify to be called a Displaced Person or an EVACUEE.

But until that happens...

Remember your place.

[mojo2]

Originally Posted by ghporter

I gotta go with you, mojo. A person seeking refuge is a refugee.

One does not NEED to flee from a war to be a refugee. One merely needs to flee for safety.

It looks to me a lot like plain, boldfaced prejudice to say that Americans who seek refuge are different from Sudanese, Indonesians, Bangladeshis, or anyone else who seeks refuge.

It looks like the President is LITERALLY giving lip service to those Katrina REFUGEES who feel they shouldn't be called REFUGEES and so, to buy himself some slack he's REFUSING to use the "R" word when REFERRING to them!

(Insert your own choice of one word adjective starting with the letter "R" and using all CAPS to describe your assessment of this situation.)


__________________________________________

[mojo2]

Let's start OUR own dictionary to further separate ourselves as special, separate and distinct from the other peoples in the world.

THE WORLD-VS-AMERICANS

Refugees - Evacuees

Hungry

Thirsty

Cold

Hot

Naked

[teknopimp]

Naked - Nude

[mojo2]

Originally Posted by teknopimp

Naked - Nude

Yes. Maybe we Americans are sleekly and beautifully Nude, while the world's people are buck naked and butt ugly?

[teknopimp]

i just heard a CNN correspondent call them "refugees in their own country". could that work?