My Thoughts On Bilingualism
As someone who has lived in Florida for a long time, I can tell you that everything is bilingual here. You cannot pick up a box of Tylenol without seeing the Spanish equivalent of directions, side effects, and warnings on the adjacent side. I once had a woman tell me, in Spanish of course, that I should learn their language. "For what reason" you ask? The answer was, "Because so many of them are coming here now." Does that sound like they are wanting to come to be Americans and assimilate? Sounds more like a fucking invasion to me.
The pic below was sent to me by a friend shopping at a Costco in Missouri. The first thought I had was, "How stupid are people that you have to warn them not to do stupid shit." The second thought I had was, "How much added expense is there to creating bilingual signs? If you think about the size of the sign (twice as big, right?), the extra ink needed, et cetera. (Actually, there is no et cetera...that is all I could come up with).
Mark Steyn is a conservative Canadian who has written some fantastic books, and has a pretty cool blog site. I remember him utterly befuddled that America would voluntarily become a bilingual nation since it does nothing but create conflict. He then went on to discuss some of the issues Canada has with the French vs English parts (http://www.macleans.ca/general/sign-up-to-fight-unilinguaphobia/). According to Wikipedia, Missouri has a pretty low Hispanic population so why the need for this sign? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_Hispanic_and_Latino_population
Well, I suppose it could be because of stories I have read in the past where an illegal immigrant sues the city because he fell onto train tracks, got run over by a train, lost both legs, and then blamed it on the sign because it was in English only. It could also be because the less we as a people have in common, the less we will get along. This is human nature, and the elites know it, which is why they are pushing for it. If they really cared about 'the people' they would make English the country's official language, and require everyone to learn it. This would force assimilation, plus it would open up doors and opportunities to poor Latinos.
Do you know why practically the entire world knows English, and why Asian kids from third world countries are taught it? It is because they have to. We are the world's super power, not just militarily, but financially as well. English is the international language of business, and knowing it will help these Central and South American people. Assimilation ought to be preferable to segregation and balkanization, but the powers that be do not want that. No, they prefer to provide Spanish only radio and TV stations, Spanish only newspapers and magazines, and even Spanish only supermarkets!
In Miami-Dade county, for instance, two-thirds of the people there speak Spanish and only one-third speak English. I have heard my fellow pharmacists say that they cannot get jobs in certain parts of Florida because they do not speak Spanish. It ought to be the other way around. My girlfriend is a refugee from Vietnam. She learned to speak fluent English without even a hint of an accent from watching TV and listening to the radio, and she did it in six months. Lots of foreigners from all over learn English when they immigrate, but we are intent on leaving Latinos at a disadvantage by discouraging assimilation. As a side note, I remember my Spanish high school teacher, who was Hispanic himself, state that many of the people who come to the States are not even able to read and write in their own native language!
The bottom line is that, once again, something nefarious is being cloaked as compassionate, and so people are on board for this bilingualism even though it divides us and harms the very people it claims to help. When you look at the world as a whole, it does not benefit Americans to learn Spanish, because outside of Spain, no one gives a shit about Spanish. If we really want to help these people, then we need to encourage assimilation, teach them English (which is taught for free at most public libraries), and thus provide tons more opportunities for them world wide.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/05/the-case-against-bilingual-education/305426/