[lit-ideas] Re: speaking of libraries in the United States of Earth

  • From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 13:07:14 -0500


Yost with the Most wrote:

Furthermore, it's not parochialism. You may be comfortable with the creation of an American slave caste who cannot speak English. I want everyone to speak English so they are not forced to be slaves.

You know, of course, that I am not comfortable with any kind of class-caste system, but we certainly do have one, and the vast majority of people who are locked out of the privileged life are lovely white speakers of English -- yourself for instance. I could be wrong -- you don't know the secret handshake of the Skull and Bones, do you? While it's true that not speaking the language of the dominant culture severely restricts one's economic opportunities, relagating such to the bottom of the economic pyramid -- and for that reason I support expenditures for ESL classes in the public schools and etc. -- still, the fact that one doesn't speak English is not anyone's business but that of the individual. And how you personally interact with those people is purely your business. But should a person who has not learned to speak English -- whether through laziness, obstreperousness, intellectual incapacity, nostalgia for the homeland, imprudence, or circumstances beyond the control of the individual -- be locked out of essential services as a matter of social policy? THAT is creating a caste system. But I wouldn't worry much. In time we'll all be speaking Chinese. A wretched, whiny sounding language -- but thank God it won't be Danish, what a sick cow sound that is!


Mike Geary

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