Anyway, I was reading the NYTimes today and I saw that the Senate has voted to make English the national language. I feel like America is turning into volkisch Germany. We've got fences, an "assimilation statement". come on.
"Under the Inhofe proposal, the federal government is directed to "preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America." It does not go as far as proposals to designate English the nation's official language, which would require all government publications and business to be in English.
Instead, it says government services and publications now offered in other languages would be unaffected. But the proposal declares that no one has "a right, entitlement or claim to have the government of the United States or any of its officials or representatives act, communicate, perform or provide services or provide materials in any language other than English."
Isn't the joy of America it's diversity? what about the melting pot? what about "bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses?" Let us remember that the vast majority of Americans are descended from people who came here looking for new opportunities, probably not legally. I'm pretty sure that people who don't speak English understand that most of the country does. And I do not think that offering signs, governmental forms, etc. in languages other than English in any way diminishes the fact that English is the most commonly spoken language.
I think it helps people. Isn't that what the governemnt is supposed to do? help people? I don't think you can force people to learn English. Those who can probably will, those who can't are not going to be allowed to be citizens? That hurts me.
I know this is a hot topic, and that many people disagree with me, but it makes me a little sick to my stomach. I'm in the middle of a book about the revolutions in Germany that led to the Nazi era, and I'm feeling a sense of deja vu reading today's paper.
7 comments:
you know i have to comment-- sorry, but labeling people who have problems with illegal immigration "xenophobes" is unbelievably simplistic. admittedly, i don't know the exact situation, but it's probable that your co-worker who has the polish housekeeper having difficulty getting citizenship most likely isn't saying that she deserves citizenship more because she's "white"-- if the polish woman is here on some sort of visa then she deserves citizenship more because she FOLLOWED THE RULES (and should be first in line)!!! i think it's a great injustice that people who spend years and years wrestling with red tape and spending thousands of dollars to attain US citizenship in a legal way are put off because there are too many people here illegally. i have many points to make on this particular topic, and my thoughts are not exactly expressed in the most clear manner here (stream of consciousness really), but i had to respond to that one point honey. you know i still luv ya, but we will forever disagree here :P ~ Jacks
Nice to see you in Joshua's blog, Claire.
jacks, yes. we will disagree here. and I understand what you're saying. this woman's comment seemed pernicious in nature, and i don't think she had the same (sounder) logic that you have. CONGRATULATIONS ON GRADUATING!!!!!
and, hoder. um... thank you?
ah yes, the american melting pot... it melts into english. i think it was my 8th grade world studies teacher who more accurately described our country as a mixing bowl.
... i was just thinking the other day that we'd be in much better shape regarding our relationship with central and south america if fluency in spanish was mandatory in order to graduate from high school. would it really be that hard if we all learned it beginning in elementary school? probably not. i think i'd like to do an intensive emergence course at some point... live in barcelona... how cool would that be? cool. very cool.
i see what you're saying, and of course i wasn't there so don't know exactly how it went. and now i see of course that her use of the phrase "one of them" does seem to point toward your original assessment of the situation. my bad :P i have a kneejerk reaction to this topic. of course there are people who are xenophobic and racist and perhaps their voices tend to be louder than the more rational ones, it happens on both the right and the left. anyway, thanks for the congrats! i have the degree in hand and it still hasn't hit me! xxx ~ Jacks
I have to say, I prefer the mixing bowl image of America.
I think this national language business is, once again, a cheap political gesture at creating unity. Our government cannot inspire us by keeping us in healthcare or helping to employ us. They cannot inspire us with clearn air to breathe or water to drink. They aren't really even able to get us fired up about democracy since they're very busy yanking our civil liberties from us. So, what's a failing "merkin" political machine to do? Weed out the illegal immigrants (much as we depend on them for cheap labor, picking fruit and mowing lawns and whatnot), and define us as a nation of English-speakers.
Having spent a good amount of time in a country that has four official languages, I have to say that there's great beauty in that kind of cultural pluralism. I think we risk slamming the door on that long period of American history when we first took shape as a "mixing bowl."
I have to say, national language aside, being in the business of calling restaurants all day, I would LOVE IT. Fucking love it if more people spoke English. Oh sweet Jesus please God.
I do think people should learn English when they move to America though. I would never in a thousand years move to Sweden for example (where most people do in fact speak English) and not learn the langauge. That's insane.
The problem is less that immigrants don't want to learn English, it's that it ain't cheap to take language lessons.
The solution isn't silly bills, but offering more free classes to immigrants. Of course that doesn't help illegal immigrants, but hey, that's what tv's for. That's how I learned to speak.
Post a Comment