Proving that no portion of these fifty states is immune from liberal fascism, a Texas principal has essentially lost her job for requiring her students to speak English only on the campus. This same immersion technique was used by my high school Spanish teacher, of course with Spanish as the operative language, and is an effective strategy for learning language. The principal’s reasoning was that since testing was to be given in English, it might be helpful if students were fluent in the language, supposing that graduating from high school and speaking the language of the country you live in might just be helpful toward insuring successful lives for her charges. “Silly principal… you’re fired!”
Multiculturalism, the idea that a wide range of diverse and discrete cultures encouraged to coexist side by side in a nation adds to the rich and vibrant tapestry of society, is another liberal pipe dream that works better in the imagination than in actual practice. Most of the universe functions best in moderation and balance. Water is vital to survival, but too much water and only an ark can save mankind. Some sunshine is wonderful, but tip the scales slightly and you get Death Valley. The melting pot of America worked best when welcoming the “huddled masses” from every nation and group to our shores, and melding them into one people. The immigrants brought with them their traditions, foods and faiths, but at the same time were encouraged to adjust to our secular society, to become one with us, to become Americans, not just refugees. E Pluribus Unum. The enslaving of Blacks and the subsequent racism, the prejudice against the Irish, the disdain for Italians, and the atrocities committed against Japanese immigrants are all times we fell short of the American vision by not being accepting enough in our ranks. The logic goes, faulty logic though it is, that if some acceptance is good, more acceptance is better. If some level of diversity is good, then even more diversity is better. Our relationship to society is much like any other relationship that we have. “Opposites attract”… but not polar opposites. Some differences add spice to a relationship, complementing each other; but extreme differences can lead to friction and incompatibility. There needs to be balance. There needs to be common ground. Perhaps most of all, there needs to be communication.
In recent years the U.S. has followed Europe’s lead in accepting diversity to the point of virtual balkanization. We no longer expect the people we invite into our homeland to adjust to our existing culture, or even to the language we speak. We instead change our ways to accommodate them; we alter our bureaucracy to eliminate the need for them to learn our language; we even give tacit approval to the barbaric influences of some of the nations they have left by our steadfast adherence to non-judgmentalism and political correctness. In bowing at the throne of diversity we have coronated the power of disunity; perhaps more than any other time in our history we have become a nation of conclaves, gangs, and cabals, different in so many fundamentals that no common ground can be found, nor is any desired. Pressure to conform to the ideas of what it means to be an American is taboo in our liberal politically correct societal death wish. The balances have shifted in a disastrous direction. We have traded unity for coexistence, but without unity, there can be no lasting coexistence.
American society can be compared to the human body, with all its wonderfully diverse organs, tissues, and structures all marvelously functioning within the same skin. Despite the diversity though, there needs to be systems that tie everything together to make us an organism rather than just a collection of body parts. Language is the lifeblood of any society. Without a common language, any depth of unity is at a serious disadvantage to parochialism and distrust. I am not necessarily advocating mandating English as the national language, mostly because I really don’t like mandates People should be free to be anti-social if they insist… but it shouldn’t be encouraged. I prefer the gentle persuasion of society to the heavy hand of government. I’m not a slave to style, and I certainly don’t believe that the government should mandate drab gray uniforms for all, but there should be norms. If you want to wear a tie dyed cape and your underwear outside your pants, you’re free to do that, this is America, but don’t expect me to treat you as normal… you’re not… and you won’t be working for my company. Likewise with speaking the language of the country. You’re free to continue to speak your native tongue, but why should the burden of communication be placed on the rest of the country that you wish to become a part of? And if you can’t speak with us, and we can’t speak with you, how can we relate to each other… do you even want to?
IMHO: Therein lies the true question. It is reasonable to assume that if I chose to become a Brazilian, I would learn Portuguese; or a Russian, that I would learn Russian. If I intended to spend the rest of my life in Germany, I would learn to speak German; or in France… no not France. For centuries immigrants have come here, struggled to learn the language, their children fluent within one generation, so that they could be a living part of this great nation. In this age of enlightenment, education and technology, is that suddenly so difficult a thing to do? Or is this refusal to accept American language and society sometimes a rejection of America itself, a desire to remain separate and apart? It’s not just an immigrant problem. Whole groups of people are using language to divide themselves from others. Inflection, pronunciations, jargon and idiomatic speech are used to divide old from young, black from white, right from left, religious from non-religious. Not all of it is a conscious effort to divide, but the effect is the same, we do not communicate. One needs to question the wisdom, if not the motives, of a government that seems intent on facilitating this confusion of tongues. Using language to divide people is as old as the Tower of Babel, and there may be no more permanent way to destroy a society.
