Think about it: If you're born in another country -- Austria, for example, to borrow the example of a certain Governator -- and then you travel to the U.S., you have the status of being an "alien" -- which is a legal description of a person, yes? I mean a person isn't an "alien" because of some kind of "natural" phenomenon, but because of legal terminology. Am I right?
Then if you're an Austrian who take the U.S. citizenship test and pass, and then you swear an oath to be loyal to the U.S., then **poof** you've been turned in to a citizen, which is also a legal description. But this is called "naturalization."
What's nature got to do with it? The government changed it's legal description of what you **are** but your genetic makeup didn't change.
Indeed, some people will still call you a "foreigner" as soon as they hear your accent.
Can someone help me figure out why the government called this change-'em-from-an-alien-to-a-citizen event "naturalization"...?
2007-09-06 06:11:08 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Immigration
(That was supposed to come out as "change 'em from an alien to a citizen" with dashes between those words.)
2007-09-06 06:12:28 · update #1
Yes, Manfred, you're right. I should have said "misnomer," not "oxymoron."
2007-09-07 04:40:14 · update #2
I fully understand your consternation. How about you try to consider an alternate definition of naturalization: "The process of adapting or acclimatizing a plant or animal to a new environment; to introduce and establish as if native"
Then it is not such an oxymoron.
2007-09-06 06:21:39 · answer #1 · answered by Indiana Frenchman 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Citizenship has nothing to do with genetics.
Under the constitution, anyone born in America is an American citizen. Being born is a natural enough process. Once you're a citizen, you have exact same rights as a natural-born citizen. 'Naturalization' doesn't seem that inapropriate a term.
2007-09-06 06:54:00 · answer #2 · answered by B.Kevorkian 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Let me give you the simplest answer here..."naturalization" is not an oxymoron. Why? Because an oxymoron is a paradox reduced to two words; i.e. two words that contradict one another as in "bitter sweet."
"Naturalization" is a single word and therefore can never be an oxymoron. Why? Because a word's definition cannot contradict itself.
2007-09-06 07:18:24 · answer #3 · answered by Manfred R 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Maybe has something to do with going through the process of being an American and passing the test, which makes you equal to anyone who was born here. I took a stab at it
2007-09-06 06:21:46 · answer #4 · answered by Drake 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Your legal status, not your genetic makeup, has been 'naturalized' and is no longer 'alien'.
We make no guaranties regarding any freakish characteristics you may have had previously, which may yet remain 'unnatural.'
2007-09-06 06:17:10 · answer #5 · answered by DAR 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋