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Why Are These Snowflakes So Upset Over Having To 'Press 1 For English?'
Trump issued an executive order making English the official language of the US.
This weekend, Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring English to be the “official” language of the United States. It’s yet another in his long line of Freedom Fries initiatives, designed largely to thrill his base and nauseate the rest of us.
From the founding of our Republic, English has been used as our national language. Our Nation’s historic governing documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, have all been written in English. It is therefore long past time that English is declared as the official language of the United States. A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language.
Perhaps ironically, people in many countries with “national languages” are far more multilingual than your average American. This is probably not going to lead to a single person deleting their DuoLingo app. (Although personally I find LingoPie or Language Reactor way more helpful!)
Unfortunately, it’s not entirely symbolic. It repeals an executive order from Bill Clinton that required federal agencies to provide language assistance to those who don’t speak English or don’t speak it well, and now makes it optional for them to do so.
One of the more popular responses by far were expressions of joy and relief at the idea of not having to “press 1 for English” anymore.
These are just a few — there were hundreds, many even more passionate.
Those of us who are capable of thinking things through have surely figured out by now that this does not mean that these people are never going to have to do that again, because the US government can’t actually tell private companies how to operate their hotlines. Still, there is just something deeply unsettling about how upset these people are over having to press a button.
What is it? Is it narcissism? Are they upset by the idea of not just being the default option all the time? Is it that they can’t think of anything else that is actually happening in real life to feel oppressed by and they are grasping at straws? Or do they just feel seriously oppressed by anything that acknowledges the existence of other people? And what is it like being that insecure? Like how do you go through life functioning if merely acknowledging the existence of people who may not be proficient enough in English to want to talk to tech support or the cable company in it sends you into a blind rage? Are you just miserable all the time? You’d have to be!
It’s just strange how homogeneity is the only thing that makes some people feel special.
There were also several people who, like this guy, were just really grateful that we’re not like those European countries that have things written in multiple languages, because that’s “so annoying.”
What’s wrong with that? It’s like a free language lesson!
Personally, I love regularly seeing and hearing other languages. I love that I know the words for “cold beer” in both Polish and Spanish just by virtue of living in my neighborhood, despite the fact that this will never be in any way useful to me, as I do not drink beer of any temperature. I’m also incredibly jealous of my friends who grew up speaking more than just English at home. (I do maintain that I sort of understood Portuguese, because The Portuguese Channel was the only one that had “Rainbow Brite,” but that is probably not true. Though I did learn a lot of swear words in Italian at a young age.)
It’s unfortunate, because this obsession with monoculture and homogeneity was something we’ve already overcome as a people. Starting in World War I, the US government and independent organizations like The National Americanization Committee were committed to the assimilation and “Americanization” of immigrants. Some Americanization classes were useful for teaching people English, teaching them about American civics and history. But there were some less high-minded aspects to these programs, specifically those that encouraged immigrants to abandon the culture of their home country for “American culture. Most notably, there was a major push against immigrants continuing to speak their native language and to not teach that language to their children — especially during World War II where those who spoke Japanese, German or Italian were accused of “speaking the enemy’s language.”
Not only was this nonsense cruel in that it cut people off from their histories, from their culture and from older members of their families, it was also especially short-sighted. We now know that there are tons of cognitive benefits to growing up speaking more than one language, but lots of Americans had to miss out on that because our country was too busy coddling ignorance. Whoops!
At the same time, there were reformers like Edith Terry Bremer, who started the International Institute movement in the 1910s, initially through the YWCA, where she held the position of national field secretary. It started out as a way to provide assistance and English classes to female immigrants (who she felt were ignored by most immigrant service providers) and later became a counter to Americanization that helped immigrants adjust to life in America while still respecting their heritage and their culture. (Full disclosure, my Nana worked at the Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island for several decades)
By the 1960s, JFK was talking about this “nation of immigrants” like it was a good thing (it was!) and by the time the 1970s hit, people all over pretty much came to realize that a multicultural America was far preferable to a homogenous America. It’s kinder, it’s more interesting and it’s less ignorant — and it doesn’t cry “oppression” over having to press a freaking button.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
>> It’s kinder, it’s more interesting and it’s less ignorant — and it doesn’t cry “oppression” over having to press a freaking button. <<
It also means that if you live in a big city, then once or twice a month you can find a street party with unusually good food of an Americanized-version of one foreign cuisine or another.
Fuck English! The official language of the country should be AMERICAN!