enter one furious journalist

[chanter1944]

How dare they?

I've just heard via the BBC that the US Congress is attempting to pass a legislation amending the constitution so that English would become the official language of the United States.

What the *colorful phrases in several languages* do they think they're doing? The answer would probably be some long-winded speech heavy on the rhetoric and involving words like "fitting in" and "should be thankful", unless I miss my guess... or my more than slightly satirical view of the right wing.

Have they not taken one nanosecond to realize that this proposal flies in the face of everything from the Civil Rights Act to the concept of the open, nonjudgmental society we're supposedly promoting around the world? Emphasis on supposedly. And don't even get me started on the imposition of an official language inflaming tensions between social groups, to say nothing of international relations.

This makes the idea of our promoting democracy here there and everywhere that much more laughable... granted that isn't hard to do to begin with. So it's another case of do as I say, not as I do, is it? God, what am I still doing in this bloody country?

and this coming down from a right-leaning Congress lead by a president who can barely master his choice for "official" languages. Nucular indeed.

Todos los ciudadanos educados y creen que los libertidades civiles y derechos humanos deben continuar, levantanse y hacen los politicos oirlos!

Take *that* to your capital hill and smoke it.

Comments

[spunbutterfly.livejournal.com]

Does that mean people who speak another language in their own homes (because we know the government likes to push themselves even into the bedroom) are punishable by law? What if someone /doesn't/ speak English, but they're trying, by taking classes or such? Is THAT punishable by law?

No.

* English would be designated the official language of the U.S. government – indeed, the only language that federal employees and officials, including members of Congress, would be permitted to use for most government business.
* The English Only mandate would extend to federal "actions, documents, policies ... publications, income tax forms, informational materials," records, proceedings, letters to citizens – indeed, to any form of written communication on behalf of the U.S. government.
* Exceptions to the ban on federal use of other languages would be permitted for purposes that include national security, international trade and diplomacy, public health and safety, criminal proceedings, language teaching, certain handicapped programs, and the preservation of Native American languages.
* An "entitlement" would be created, ensuring the "right" of every person to communicate with the federal government in English – in effect, a guaranteee of language rights, but for English speakers only.
* Civil lawsuits to enforce the law would be permitted by persons claiming to have been "injured by a violation" of it – a "right of action" that could give virtually any taxpayer the standing to sue in federal court.
* Naturalization ceremonies would be specifically restricted to English only.
* Bilingual provisions of the Voting Rights Act, which guarantee minority-language voting materials in certain jurisdictions, would be repealed.

And the first time this was an issue was in 1981, as well as, like I said previously, during Clinton's administration when the House passed the legislation but it failed in the Senate in 1996.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/langleg.htm

As well as any page you google the terms: official language legislation congress

[kitrona.livejournal.com]

And how often are government "actions, documents, policies" and the rest in anything OTHER than English? My husband works for the Federal governemtn, and I'm fairly sure that he doesn't encounter this on a regular basis.

Yay, legislated discrimination.

[spunbutterfly.livejournal.com]

.... and the point of that was?

I was pointing out to you that nowhere in there does it state they will police the languages you speak at home. At no point are they saying we're going to go into your home and make sure you are speaking English. I wasn't disputing the fact that English is already the predominant language in most official documents. But there are still publications, forms, and other documents that are printed in other languages, usually Spanish.

So again, what was the point of your comment back? Maybe you should use smaller words, English isn't _my_ first language.

[kitrona.livejournal.com]

I was unclear as to your intent.

And I'm done. If you can't debate without getting snarky, I have no use for you. Obviously I hit a nerve with my wondering about English being spoken in homes, but as you've admirably proven that as of now, they won't worry about that, I have no more to say. Congratulations, you won!

[spunbutterfly.livejournal.com]

If I was debating, I'd say yay me. But there's no victory here, because I was regurgitating facts from another website. I won't state my opinion on this subject either way except that knee-jerk reactions suck.

If you thought I was being snark, I'm sorry? I guess? English is not my first language, though I am now fluent in it, and thought maybe your out of field response actually was relevant to what I had cut/pasted from http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/langleg.htm and I, in my non-native speaking state, completely missed the point.