Robin Williams' Plan for the USA

True, the real meaning of racism has not much to do with the spoken language. But the intolerance in the statement: "The Language we speak is ENGLISH.....learn it...or LEAVE" is very typicall for racists. You could rephrase it as: "Fit to the system or get out of it". Doesn't make a big difference if you fit by the race or by the language.
It's a huge difference in saying: "you need to know a language to live more comfortable" and "you have to learn a language to fit to the system".
 
Anyway, English isn't the official language of the US. Canada has two official languages, the US has exactly none. If you're in a neighbourhood where people don't speak English, and this bothers you - you're the one that should flark off, not the people whose neighbourhood it is.
 
scruffy said:
Anyway, English isn't the official language of the US. Canada has two official languages, the US has exactly none..
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Where did you get that idea from? English is the official language of the US, that's very evident. Look at the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, every law on the book, the money used in this country (all English words), etc., etc.. Or maybe the fact that every school in the country requires a unit of English every year (out of 12 years). Most colleges require a few English units for just about any major. Common sense kind of dictates what that means, doesn't it?

Having had to deal with quite a few non-English (specifically Spanish) speaking people while on the FD, I can assure you it's becoming a large issue here. I see it as a safety issue first and foremost. It's really hard to work on a patient in the back of an Ambulance when they can't speak a lick of English. Even worse when you have to have their 11 year old daughter sit in back with them to translate.

While that's a big problem in southwestern border states, it's not one to expect where I live.

If they come here to work or live, they better learn the language. It's that simple. Why should every American have to learn their language so they can live and work in our country, which is by a VAST majority an English speaking nation?
 
right. maybe we need to introduce Susan to this conversation again? She doesn't speak english but I promise she's willing to learn. and she can drive a taxi AND operate a convenience store.
 
Oh yes. and her skin is patches of every colour available in the crayola set of markers for "skin tones" or whatever they call it.
 
mdnky said:
Where did you get that idea from? English is the official language of the US, that's very evident. Look at the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, every law on the book, the money used in this country (all English words), etc., etc.. Or maybe the fact that every school in the country requires a unit of English every year (out of 12 years). Most colleges require a few English units for just about any major. Common sense kind of dictates what that means, doesn't it?
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Yes, common sense dictates that English is the generally adopted language of the United States of America; However, that does not make it the official language. The USA officially has no official language. That's where it gets that from, he gets it from the fact that it is a fact.

Several states do however have official state languages, and in most cases this official state language is English, but in some cases Spanish is also an official state language.


Common usage does not make something "Official" I'm afraid.
 
"Or maybe the fact that every school in the country requires a unit of English every year (out of 12 years). Most colleges require a few English units for just about any major. Common sense kind of dictates what that means, doesn't it?"

In sweden we have an equal amount of tuition in english as we have in swedish from the fourth year and up (out of 12 years). Eight years of english studies does not make english the official language. What it does is that it benefits us in our contact with other nations, and gives us the means to find opinions about the world originated from other sources than our own cultural context.

i dont want to generelize the americans since i know that about half the nation is quite sane, but i do think many americans are underinformed about the world and other views than the ones they've been taught through tradition.
When republicans speak about this election being a fight between good and evil and say stuff like "we must stand behind our commander and chief. We must let Bush finish what he has started", it just makes them sound really unintelligent and ignorant. join the modern world and read more than your local papers! :)
 
Yes, read what the liberal media writes, and get your information with that skewed leftist slant. Right...
Research all aspects. There are more reasons to support someone than simply the war.
Pro-life, pro-choice - big issues for many people.
I am not going to list any more examples.
 
Decado said:
i dont want to generelize the americans since i know that about half the nation is quite sane, but i do think many americans are underinformed about the world and other views than the ones they've been taught through tradition.
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Now, it is not necessarily true that the American's are not informed. My parents know how it is with me living here and what people think (plus my mom reads the German news, the american news, etc), but there are other issues on the table than just Iraq and foreign policy.
There are some other issues that deeply divide the way people think in the US, so therefore they will vote left or right based on their beliefs. Don't kid yourself into thinking that these people made these decisions just because you in Sweden don't like Bush.
We also have our own issues in our country. The president's job is to appease the people of the United States, while at the same time preserving a relationship with the other countries in the world. Bush may not have the best relationship to the other countries based on the war alone, but we still export and import many products and quite freely at that. On an economic standpoint things are not as bad as with the war.
 
i realise that it is mre complex then the foreign policy. i was just trying to avoid bringing up religion and morality. those are subjects that should not be discussed in a civilized forum :)

it seem to me that the system with just two major candidates is not good enough when they are so evenly supported. there should be a third way that incorporates good parts from both wings.
 
Also, with regards to language:

"For more than 200 years, Americans have gotten by without declaring English our official language."
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/question.htm


Official language:
None.
English de facto nationwide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

"No Official Language
English has never been legally made the official language of the United States. Hundreds of world languages (in fact evey language on the face of the globe) are spoken in America among immigrant communities. Native American tribes, especially the larger tribes such as the Navajo in the southwest, maintain their own vital languages."
http://www.lifeintheusa.com/landhistory/official.htm


"The United States does not have an official language; nevertheless, English is the language used for legislation, regulations, executive orders, treaties, federal court rulings, and all other official pronouncements. In some states, English, Hawaiian and Spanish are official. In 2000, the census bureau printed the standard census questionnaires in six languages: English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. The English-Only movement seeks to establish English as the only official language of the nation."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_in_the_United_States
 
Decado said:
i realise that it is mre complex then the foreign policy. i was just trying to avoid bringing up religion and morality. those are subjects that should not be discussed in a civilized forum :)

it seem to me that the system with just two major candidates is not good enough when they are so evenly supported. there should be a third way that incorporates good parts from both wings.
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Well, unfortunately you can not ignore these facts as the Americans select their canidate for the next president.
And they were apparently not so evenly supported. 3.5 million more people voted for Bush, which is actually quite a large number based on elections of late. Also the GOP managed to increase their numbers in both the House and Senate. The Southern Democrat is also dead. The South has voted for more Republicans than Democrats.
I didn't want to bring up religion and morality,but rather state that these were definite issues as well. Also beneficial to Bush was the fact that he is consistent. He never wavered and changed his mind as often as Kerry did.

And let's not even bring up the Health care issue.
 
I find it very amusing, and very worrying, that a seemingly quite large number of people in America are more concerned about stopping two people from getting married, or about stopping women having freedom of choice, than they are in, having a job, or progressing peace and stability in the middle east, or being able to afford to be treated in hospital.

I'm not going to get into a debate on the rights or wrongs of gay marriage, or abortion, or stem-cell research. I just find it crazy that people rated these "moral issues", which basically affect their lives in no way at all, as more important than than the economy, or national security, or the welfare of American citizens, or a stable and peaceful world. It's madness.
 
I pity the American people. They'll have a lot of work to do after four more years of bushisms. The administration doesn't even seem to _get_ how much they're hurting the image of the USA in the world. Four more years, and I'm pretty sure - if they go on walking the Earth like an elephant in porcelaine - we'll see more and more reasons for terrorism, and thus more terrorism. America has become a liability to the world. Something must be done...
 
fryke said:
The administration doesn't even seem to _get_ how much they're hurting the image of the USA in the world. Four more years, and I'm pretty sure - if they go on walking the Earth like an elephant in porcelaine - we'll see more and more reasons for terrorism, and thus more terrorism. America has become a liability to the world
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Agreed, well said, fryke. Alas. :(
 
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