Newt Gingrich implies Spanish is "the language of living in a ghetto"

[Lilly Marlene]

Koios,

Wanted to apologize to you for the tone I took yesterday in one of the posts; I came back and edited out a bit of snarkiness in it.

The problem is that we had company (and will have for the rest of the week) and I was growing exasperated because of ceaseless interruptions. I'm sorry, I think that it came through in my post.

Your equanimity is very commendable; you keep a great balance. I wondered how it was going to go, with one of the moderators becoming very active in the debate - because that was what lead to the breakdown on the other board: two of the hosts actually started deleting our posts when we would neutralize their points !

But you seem able to carry it off very well.

 

[Koios]

Thanks, and don’t worry about it Lilly, I know what you mean.

That’s a shame though... about the other board. I think one of the key aspects of engaging in a debate is realizing you can’t always “win”. As proven by this thread—many times you guys have refuted my points so well that you have made me go back and reevaluate my own reasoning.

Well, I’ll see you again once your break is over. Maybe a new “hot topic” will emerge by then.

 

[Friendindeed]

Koios, no problem I know I do things like that too.

It is a losing battle but not for the reason you might think: the real reason is because there really is no persuasive argument IN FAVOR OF a policy which harms many US citizens, just to benefit

1. Global governance agendas;
2. Corporations and other business persons;
3. Citizens from other nations.

Yes, those are the three chief beneficiaries of illegal immigration.

The first two are the draw for President Bush and his kind.

If those first two stopped being a motivation, he would drop his amnesty crusade like a flaming potato.

But even if all these efforts were only for the sake of the illegal immigrants, it would be wrong because it harms Americans.
Just as parents must take care of their own children before the neighbor's, so must a nation take care of its own people before the people of a neighboring nation.

Good point Lily and I had to compliment you on the picture.


I saw some of the fallout from the Newt Gingrich speech and I am with USMC on this one, good on Newt that he speaks what so many of us are thinking instead of pandering like other pols.

 

[HighVoltage123]

I think that knowing foreign languages is great but I also think that in every country there should be only one official language... and that emigrants should actually know the official language of the country before moving to live there.

 

[Friendindeed]

I think that knowing foreign languages is great but I also think that in every country there should be only one official language... and that emigrants should actually know the official language of the country before moving to live there.

Agreed, or at least learn it as quickly as they can instead of expect their new country to tailor everything to them.

 

[Koios]

I think this speaks for itself:

He made a critical mistake.... glad to see he acknowledges it and stepped of to apologize for his rhetoric.

 

[MichaelH]

Saying something like, "language of the ghetto" is terribly politically incorrect...so offensive to those who wish to be offended...but also so terribly correct in the United States. We're not talking here about Castilian Spanish...we're talking about the "Mexicanized" Spanish of the illegal alien.

Unfortunately for the PC crowd, they really can't fire Newt. Don Imus is another story...they can "get at" him (and -- if news this morning is to be trusted -- evidently they have)

While looking at the ubiquitous "contradictions" extant from the PC folks, note that they haven't taken on either Jesse Jackson or Sharpton...both of whom are racist to the core. They also leave the Senior Senator from the great State of West Virginia alone...but, what the hell, a few years wearing a white sheet with eye-holes isn't important, is it?

 

[vyo476]

I guess the bottom line is that Mr. Gingrich just worded the thing badly. People who know English here in America are going to do better than people who don't, and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone, liberal or conservative, who would disagree with that statement. That said, for organizational purposes having a single "national language" would be highly beneficial - or, to put it in better terms, not having a single national language would be and is highly detrimental. I am not a religious person in any way but I think the story of the Tower of Babel fits pretty nicely with our present situation.

The thing that the people who are pressing the opposite side of this argument need to realize is that we are not discriminating against foreign cultures trying to enter America. America is, was, and always will be a melting pot of different cultures and we're not trying to change that. What we are trying to do is improve everyone's chances of succeeding and America's chances of persisting. It doesn't matter one way or the other to any of us if immigrants retain their original language so long as they make an attempt to learn English. This doesn't have anything to do with racism or bigotry or elitism or any of that stuff, it has to do with economic and societal solidarity.

 

[MichaelH]

I guess the bottom line is that Mr. Gingrich just worded the thing badly. People who know English here in America are going to do better than people who don't, and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone, liberal or conservative, who would disagree with that statement. That said, for organizational purposes having a single "national language" would be highly beneficial - or, to put it in better terms, not having a single national language would be and is highly detrimental. I am not a religious person in any way but I think the story of the Tower of Babel fits pretty nicely with our present situation.

The thing that the people who are pressing the opposite side of this argument need to realize is that we are not discriminating against foreign cultures trying to enter America. America is, was, and always will be a melting pot of different cultures and we're not trying to change that. What we are trying to do is improve everyone's chances of succeeding and America's chances of persisting. It doesn't matter one way or the other to any of us if immigrants retain their original language so long as they make an attempt to learn English. This doesn't have anything to do with racism or bigotry or elitism or any of that stuff, it has to do with economic and societal solidarity.

That's really the "bottom line" here. Well-stated.

Hate to beat the same drum (the tune is boring) but the PC crowd wants to point at "one official language" as racist. Expecting schools to knuckle under and teach in whatever languages exist "in the neighborhood" is idiotic...

As an aside, here...folks in Montreal who deal with tourism and tourists are kind and considerate of "English only" speakers. Those NOT associated with tourism display comtempt for those not speaking French.

 

[Friendindeed]

Last 4 posts = good