unwanted house visitor

The sheer volume of words published on the Internet makes it possible to discount the importance of a few. However, as the PC Police love to remind everyone, word choice is important – especially when it comes to which names you call people. Take home invaders, for example. Acceptable names to call home invaders include: “intruder,” “criminal trespasser,” “attacker,” and “burglary suspect.”

In contrast, NBC New York recently incurred the wrath of the Internet for calling an armed home invader an “unwanted house visitor” on Twitter:

NBC New York via Twitter

Since January 10, NBC has been torched nonstop about those few words – which is a good sign that the American people are paying attention to attempts to cast self-defense shootings in the wrong light. But… is it tiresome pedantry to harp on this kind of thing? After all, the tweet in question was a drop in the bucket among the 500 million Tweets tweeted each day.

In addition, NBC New York isn’t the only media outlet that’s recently called a home invader an unwanted visitor. Not even close. WJAC (Pennsylvania local news) did the same thing a couple months ago. Even WICZ, a Fox-affiliated local news operation in upstate New York, referred to a home invader as an “unwanted visitor” in a headline. Following a break-in at the home of pop star Rihanna, multiple media outlets referred to the intruder as a “visitor” or an “unwanted visitor.” This isn’t even a totally recent phenomenon. Back in 2011, CBS Chicago did it, too. And these examples are just what turned up after 10 minutes of Googling.

The point is, yes, we must all be vigilant when it comes to any media attempt to euphemize, whitewash, or understate the danger of criminals. That NBC New York tweet was particularly egregious, and gun owners are right to call out such misleading and dishonest language. We should set the record straight so that the good people of this country know who’s on their side. But even more important is the example we set as law-abiding gun owners day in, day out, in “real life.” If you’ve served in uniform, if you carry concealed, if you mentor young hunters – whatever you do, if you’re a responsible gun owner, there are a lot of people who look up to you. Take pride in that.

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110 COMMENTS

  1. IMHO, use of the term “unwanted house visitor” in place of “criminal home invader” or suchlike is just the expansion of the lib/prog sponsored 1984-style “newspeak” that is sweeping the country. The PC thought police want to get us conditioned to such terms so the stigma will be removed from the “misguided” criminal home invader.

    • The border crossers are criminal alien invaders. Same thing here. They break the laws against crossing the border or against breaking and entering. That makes them criminals. They are alien to us citizens or homeowners. The word invader speaks for itself. Shoot the bastards and be done with it.
      G

      • It is time for the US to grow up about borders. Double fencing, mines between, uncertainty of mines for 50yrds beyond the second fence. Overlapping lighting, bodies left in the sun until completely decomposed. Press announcements in every country below our southern border detailing the security measures. Stopping any and all foreign aid to the country of origin of anyone who manages to survive a border crossing.

        The Sovs knew a thing or two about border control.

        • HAHAHAHAHAHA!

          Maybe this is a “job” we ought to outsource to Putin, or Xi.

          They’d be a WHOLE LOTTA COLLUSION GOIN’ ON…

    • I say we turn the tables on the media. I like how TTAG was, for awhile, referring to the liberal media as the “High Speed Assault Media.” I think that’s fitting.

      • I think borrowing from Limbaugh’s “Drive-By Media” might be more appropriate. Labelling them as drive-bys and thence, associating them with shooting might really stick in their craws (wtf a craw is) if it gained pop usage.

    • ” Should We Be Concerned When Journalists Call Armed Invaders “Unwanted House Visitors”?” No- by now we should be used to the attempt at owning the language through lies, half-truths, innuendo, ommission and the like. Most Americans “get it”, BTW- The MSM “polls” below that of Congress.

    • Spot on. I could call my nosy mother-in law an ‘unwanted house visitor’. This newspeak has got to end.

  2. “Police say the two men did know each other.”

    he was definitely unwanted. Question is, was he invited and the invitation went awry.

    • its almost as if us two are the only people on this website that are even somewhat rational. its like we are the only 2 that saw that or maybe the only 2 that know what it means.

      • You nearly may be. Your just now figuring this out? Most commenters here are doing some sort of Yosemite Sam impression. This is just a psychological pressure valve for bitter lonely old white guys. Much of the time many of them are inebriated or our otherwise “medicated” while commenting I’m pretty sure. Most of them didn’t even read the article and most of those who did just saw what they wanted to see.

        • We don’t take kindly to sech fancy-talk round these here parts. I suggest you git your Gillette lady shaver and skeedaddle afore harsh words are further exchanged.

        • Quoting from the NBC report—
          “Police responded to a report of shots fire at a Bound Brook home around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
          The intruder allegedly arrived at the residence brandishing a semi-automatic handgun and a fight erupted with the man who lives at the home.
          …
          Police say that during the altercation the resident was able to get control of the gun and fired — hitting 29-year-old Terrence Coulanges, of Old Bridge, who died later at an area trauma center.”

      • Loonie bins are full of folks that think they know more than all others. They are the only ones bright enough to see the truth.

    • That’s been known to happen, so they can engage in commerce with the unlicensed pharmacist down at the corner.

  5. in my humble opinion the so called journalist ,should be called THE BULLSHIT ARTISTE. no substance,no truth, no brains…

  6. I’m glad someone is calling people like this out. You guys and gals keep Americans safe. I tend to just not want to deal with it. I can not stand the rediculous grammer. Calling liberals NAZIs and conservatives defenders of freedom. It’s just not logical. The way words are being twisted by progressives and RINOS. Liberal is the left hand of liberty. Conservative is the right hand of freedom. I do not understand why people are talking so ignorantly. If you are an ingnorant person who is racist hasty generalizing groups of people. It’s unaccountable ignorance and a slippery slope. I’m a conservative liberal. And I just see angry foolish hatred From people and the media. It’s your right to hate and it’s your right to be wrong. But damn people are so wrong it’s changing the English language.

    MAGA2020.

  7. Now I know the world has gone ABSOLUTELY nuts!!! I hope he has a slew of “unwanted house visitors” at all hours of the night because I will bet he has no gun in his house. If he does, he’s a hypocrite!

    • lol the unwanted house guests in my household are actually my family that we call “the outlaws”. it is my partners family that are the most welcome. though living where we do we rarely see either side

    • They are joining in on the “toxic masculinity” propaganda.

      The propaganda demonizes the things men naturally do. Making weapons and using them to protect people or human rights is considered toxic. You men shouldn’t think having a gun is okay and you should never shoot an unwanted house visitor that was simply trying to get something he couldn’t afford. Shooting people over property is toxic. You should be generous and share with everyone.

    • well, I am not concerned…but Gillette stockholders (if there are any) should be.

      the razor market among woke feminists is pretty small…

  13. As long as “unwanted house visitors” can be shot, it’s a good way of getting rid of Democrats soliciting at your door during the week, and Jehova’s Witness’ on Sunday’s. On Saturdays, I rest.

  14. I have thought “unwanted house visitors” was a reference for “law enforcement.” You don’t want them there but they show up because they got a call asking them to pay you a visit.

  16. Concerned? Sure why not…a better question is why are these IDIOT’s considered “journalists”?!? This is editorializing. Something seen daily on every damn media outlet-especially NBC azzwholes.

  19. I’m sorry, it’s my fault.

    I’ve been saying that if an illegal alien is an undocumented immigrant, then a home invader is an undocumented roommate. I never imagined they’d take it as advice.

  20. Wait ’till an “unwanted visitor” kicks in the door of the idiot who coined the term. See what he calls them then.

  22. Pretty soon they’ll call men who rape women “undesired penetrators” or something similar.

  23. “Unwanted house visitor” is to “home invader” as “journalist” is to “lying Democrat fake news corksoaking bastidge.”

  24. It could be that they’re just being lazy or trying (unsuccessfully) to turn a clever phrase, but the progressive left believes language makes reality — and they’re not totally wrong.

    They’ll change the terms and then do their damnedest to make reality match their new narrative.

    You can defend yourself with deadly force against a criminal invader, but if everyone who wants into your house is a “visitor” regardless of intent or method, well…visitors must be treated with kindness and respect. When the law forbids violence in self-defense, the aggressors hold ALL the cards. Their risk/benefit ratio becomes negligible and your risk goes through the roof; no matter what happens, you lose.

    We’ve all seen the stories of people in the UK who were prosecuted for using “too much” force in self-defense. That’s where this crap leads: mandatory victimhood for everyone who isn’t part of the state apparatus or the legally privileged criminal class.

    So yes, we should be worried. We should always be worried about things like this.

  25. If you have not been concerned with the media for at least the past 20 years, you might be living under a rock.

    • Yeah, but does the homeowner get to keep the “donated tool” that the cooling visitor brought to him?

      • If it’s Nueva Jersey, it probably disappeared from records and has been graciously donated to a mafioso relative of da police guy, assuming it’s one worth having.

  27. Silly as it might seem, it matters. They take what is blatantly not true, and tweak it just enough. It’s how they try and control the narrative, and make their horrifying wants/desires a little more palatable.

    Not too long ago they were trying to make pedophilia acceptable, remember?

  28. Should We Be Concerned When Marxists are elected to office,becasue the title of concern is a direct result of it.

    • Did you read the article? There’s a lot more than just one instance.

      Whether it’s a bona fide trend or not is open to argument. But If you’re not worried about what the progressive left is doing with (and to) the English language, either you’re one of them or you’ve been asleep since the 1980s.

  30. Undocumented tenants?

    Doesn’t matter what they’re called or how it’s spelled as long as they’re pronounced correctly.

    Dead at the scene.

  33. We should be concerned whenever a leftist/liberal/statist/Demoncrat utters a single syllable, in any venue.

    Control the language and you control the conversation, control the thought, control the masses.

    • Because right wingers, [fake] conservatives and Republicrats are the good guys who don’t use the same damn words?

      I think not.

      • “Because right wingers, [fake] conservatives and Republicrats are the good guys who don’t use the same damn words?”

        If anyone fits the descriptions offered, then beware them also.

        P.S. The Latin word describing “left” is “sinister”. Draw your own conclusions.

        • “The Latin word describing “left” is “sinister”. Draw your own conclusions.”

          You don’t want to know how deep that particular linguistic rabbit hole goes.

          • “You don’t want to know how deep that particular linguistic rabbit hole goes.”

            Sinister = Left, Left = Sinister. That’s far enough.

        • Fair enough. Just be warned that if you ever decide to look into it that hole gets really, really deep in a lot of different languages.

          Our meaning for sinister actually comes from later versions of Latin. The original term comes from “sinus”, meaning “pocket” because Roman togas had a single pocket which was on the left side.

          • “Our meaning for sinister actually comes from later versions of Latin. The original term comes from “sinus”, meaning “pocket” because Roman togas had a single pocket which was on the left side.”

            Interesting; thanks. Explains why the little pockets above the eye sockets are called sinuses. Always learning something.

            Just for fun, the Spanish word for “news” seems to be “noticias” (notices). The Spanish word for “warning” seems to be “advertencia” (parent of “advertisement” in English?).

        • Spanish isn’t a language I’ve really looked at the roots of words for which is interesting since I actually speak Spanish reasonably well.

          That said, Spanish, like a lot of other romance languages often has a number of meanings for one word, the meaning being based on the context, where as in English we often have multiple words that mean the same thing. There are cases where these languages have multiple words for the same thing though.

          Avertencia can mean “warning” but it can also mean “advice” or refer to the introduction to a book. Avertencia looks a lot like “advertise” in English, and in fact the first two meanings in Spanish used to be meanings of “advertise” in English but both of those uses are now considered obsolete.

          Both words come from Latin: advertere which means “to turn to” or “to direct to” (as in one’s attention) but that verb was later used to mean “to pay attention” or in reference to steering a ship.

          • “There are cases where these languages have multiple words for the same thing though.”

            In this day and age, “notices” accurately describes how the news is packaged and delivered (all media), and taking “advertising” as a warning makes complete sense.

            Always amazed that people not born into the English language can ever make sense of it. Spellings are not predictable for the same series of characters/letters (word/sword; lead, lead, led)

  34. “… by using the suspects own gun, ultimately killing him.”

    That is the PINNACLE of gun control (the good kind)!!!!!!!!

  35. I am reminded of the wildly unsuccessful PETA PR campaign about 10 years ago to keep people from eating fish. They tried to rename fish as “Sea Kittens” & had a big web site about it. I just checked & it’s still there: https://features.peta.org/PETASeaKittens/ in case you’re interested.
    Same as it ever was…

  36. “Unwanted home visitors” are generally not involved in theft. They tend to engage in “permanently borrowing without asking”.

  37. What do you get when you cross a Mormon and an agnostic? Someone who rings your doorbell for no apparent reason.

  38. if illegal aliens are actually “undocumented migrants”, then:

    home invaders are actually “unwanted visitors”, bank robbery is actually just an “undocumented withdrawal”, and murder is actually merely a “late-late-late term abortion”.

  39. Armed Home Invader is a euphemism for moving target that you need to put down. You sign your death warrant when you break and enter!

  40. This is another example of the mindless little drones of the MSM doing the bidding of their anti gun masters!

      • Why should we be concerned? If the media said something in the last 50 years that was credible then I’d be concerned. You’d be much happier in life if you put everything that’s reported in the media as just a bunch of bought and paid for lies and go about your day. Why concern yourself with anything the “big bad media” says?

  42. The media is controlled by the Liberal establishment and will always treat criminals as innocent victims and law abiding citizens who try to defend themselves, their families and their homes as criminals.

  43. The only thing that they’d be called at my house is “The dead dude that left a blood stain on my carpet”. So putting it in that perspective, does it really matter what the media calls them? Who cares what they call them?

  44. I guess thay makes my wife’s cat an unwanted home visitor. If I shoot the beast I would never hear the end of it though.

  46. The liberal propagandists are anti-self defense, period, because they believe defending yourself violates the civil rights of your attacker.

  47. I’m sure that Ilhan Omar, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour call Babi Yar ” a gun show gone wrong”.

  48. An unwanted sexual advance is grounds to end one’s career and basically entire life. An unwanted pregnancy is justification for killing a developing child. By their own linguistic rules an unwanted visitor should be met with horrible repercussions. Instead they make it seem like the chap just came in for a cup of tea.

  49. “Unwanted house visitors” are the damn Jehovia’s Witnesses or even the pesky in-laws but unfortunately you can’t shoot those. Any other “unwanted visitors”, once they cross the thresh hold, will be gladly met with 00 buck. Plain and simple. Thinking about the whole political climate in this country just reinforces what Nikita Kruschev said in 1962, “We will conquer you from within” and it’s happening.

  50. So is murder by stabbing “unwanted surgical intervention?” Maybe more generally “unwanted assisted suicide?”

    Ugh…

  51. This being New Jersey, I’m surprised the follow-up headline isn’t ‘Homeowner in Unwanted Visitor Case, Charged With Felony Possession of Unregistered Firearm’!

  55. Whenever being interviewed by any media, we used to have a saying, “reporters or journalists” don’t let facts get in the way of a good story! Remember if it’s a democrat talking, they are either lying, misrepresenting facts or just making up stupid commentary.

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