🚀 go-pugleaf

Considering the current movement to render the United States a
bilingual/multilingual country, certain points need to be made.
If these points have been mentioned previously, I apologize; I 
only recently began reading this group.


1. With immigration to the United States continuing at its present
   level <not to mention the new amnesty program>, the United States
   is fast becoming a true "melting pot"; a wider variety of national-
   ities are represented in today's population than ever before. This
   brings the concept of national identity to a critical point. Should
   these immigrants be assimilated into the American identity, or should
   they maintain a separate enclave along the lines of Chinatown or 
   Little Sicily?  I prefer the former option.

2. An American of some repute (I cannot recall the name) once claimed
   that language was the great unifier in any nation.  This can be his-
   torically affirmed by such civil conflicts as the Basque minority
   in Spain and the tribal problems in numerous African nations.  It is
   critical to a nation's survival and prosperity to employ a single,
   relatively universal language.

3. Effecting a national bilingualism/multilingualism would create an 
   inestimable myriad of bureaucracy in both governmental and private
   actions.  Imagine, if you will, a bilingual Army in the next war;
   communication drops to zero, effectiveness drops to zero, casulties
   increase exponentially.  <Prior to flaming me, consider the fact that
   I served 2 1/2 years in the US Army at Fort Hood, Texas, which certainly
   has a large Hispanic population.>  Also consider the day-to-day operation
   of any sizable industry.  Could you deal with, say, eating in a public
   restaurant and being unable to converse with your waiter?  Think about 
   the parallel effects in dealing with law enforcement or medical opera-
   tions.  Surely, you can grasp the inherant chaos in such a scenario.

4. Setting this type of precedent can prove dangerous.  Suppose that in
   20 years or so, another minority language rises to the position current-
   ly held by the Hispanic languages.  Would we then effect *another* offi-
   cial language??  Certainly, the argument could be made, but there must
   be an end to the process.  That end should be, as it has so far in 
   American history, with the original language.  ENGLISH is, should be,
   and hopefully always will be the official language of the USA.


NOTE: It should be noted that I personally am bilingual; I have been a 
      student of the Spanish language for 7 years and consider myself
      fluent.  It is my experience in Spanish-speaking environments that
      leads me to the opinions stated above.


Flames to personal mail, rational opposing viewpoints to the group.



-- 
    Wes Morgan           UUCP:       !cbosgd!ukma!ukecc!wes
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    " Disclaimer? Huh? You mean this was supposed to be *MY* opinion?"