Speak English!: Racist Revolt As Coca-Cola Airs Multilingual ‘America the Beautiful’

Steinhauer said:
The song was written by Katherine Lee Bates
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She was a very strong progressive, politically. John Scalzi did a post about her, the ad, and some of the arguments going on around it at About That Coke Ad | Whatever

(text below from his post)

Dear every conservative getting his underwear in a twist about that Coca Cola Super Bowl commerical in which not only was the “deeply Christian patriotic anthem” sung in something other than the English that Jesus spoke, but also featured a gay couple being happy with their kid:
Dudes, you’re aware that Katharine Lee Bates, the writer of the song, was almost certainly a lesbian, right? And while undoubtedly Christian, Bates used her faith as a foundation for progressive social activism that would have given the conservatives of her time, and possibly some conservatives now, the shudders and shakes (she also nearly resigned her professorship at Wellesley when the school thought to force its faculty to profess their fealty to the Christian faith).
Bates was a pacifist with the dream of uniting people “from the Pacific to the Atlantic, around the other way… and that will include all the nations and all the people, from sea to shining sea.” Which is to say that it’s an excellent bet that Bates would be delighted to hear her song sung in as many different languages by as many different sorts of people as possible.
And as for the idea that “unity” requires all people to be the same and adhere to the same top-down political and social orthodoxy, there’s this useful quote:
In 1910, when a colleague described “free-flying spinsters” as “fringe on the garment of life”, Bates answered: “I always thought the fringe had the best of it. I don’t think I mind not being woven in.”
​
In their outrage about “America the Beautiful” being hijacked to represent something it does not, conservatives are perhaps missing the irony that the song has been hijacked at least once before, by them. Perhaps they’re just mad that someone had the temerity to hijack it back. I don’t think it’s entirely out of the realm of possibility that Ms. Bates would be amused by that.
 
Steinhauer said:
I have a close friend whom speaks Farsi. He was a former special forces soldier from Turkey. He and I discussed the process he went through to become a US Citizen. He took English classes at Georgia Tech with many different foreign nationals. From what he told me, was that people who spoke Spanish have a certain disdain for learning about anything to do with American culture. He recalled that they would sit in class, and do nothing, to learn English, but instead, would mock the teacher.

So, after becoming an American citizen, he went back to his former classmates and told them "Speak English, or go home!!"

he is a level one redneck now ... :lol:
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In bold, I have different experience from your friend - at my university, there are many latino students speak English very well and there are excellent ESL programs at K-12 schools.
 
So i saw someone post of how to become a mexico citizen. Because i was born in u.s. i had to go through that process just a few months ago. Learn spanish, take a history test and a few stuff in law. Thats it. And if you are a minor and have mezican parenrs. Take your birth certificate and done. Also umm....coca cola does not mean "kill" in spanish. That is "matar" unless there is some history to bame coca cola. To what i knew coca meant "cocaine" and "cola" its juat how soft drinks are called aometimes, not so much in fronter area. But i could be wrong. I sont know the history to the drink x_x
 
For me, I take a different approach, I strongly recommended immigrants who interest to live in US to learn to speak/write in English to become completely independent from translators and it saves a lot of time, also increase more opportunities.

I have no problem with English requirement for citizenship test and they don't have to be perfect in English to become a citizenship.
 
Dreamer03 said:
So i saw someone post of how to become a mexico citizen. Because i was born in u.s. i had to go through that process just a few months ago. Learn spanish, take a history test and a few stuff in law. Thats it. And if you are a minor and have mezican parenrs. Take your birth certificate and done. Also umm....coca cola does not mean "kill" in spanish. That is "matar" unless there is some history to bame coca cola. To what i knew coca meant "cocaine" and "cola" its juat how soft drinks are called aometimes, not so much in fronter area. But i could be wrong. I sont know the history to the drink x_x
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Until 1905, the soft drink, marketed as a tonic, contained extracts of cocaine as well as the caffeine-rich kola nut.

There's cokes name. Also, coca cola definitely doesn't mean kill... Wow, that is a pretty intense twist like I've never heard. It made me laugh pretty hard though! :laugh2:
 
Now I noticed that conservatives are angry about the Coca Cola commercial and here we are that we are liberal and want peace in our North America.

I was not happy about them coming over on Turtle Island (North America) and made us suffered under them so that they can grabbed any lands they want to own. No one don't want to show respect for us as we were the First Natives here before they came as especially Spanish who were from Spain to settle down in South America, Mexico and part of United States like California, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. They were all speaking Spanish and English. In Canada, we have two languages, too. English and French. So there is no official language by the government.

ASL is our first language for the Deaf and English is our second language. That is what those languages were suppose to be. If we were force to speak English and not sign ASL. Then we have a lot of trouble not understanding what they are saying in English. English itself is not an easy language. That is hard, no matter what. No wonder we were comfortable in our own language like ASL, Spanish or French or any other languages that they are comfortable to communicate. You can not say that English is the official language in USA. I don't think so. Us, Natives, were pretty upset about them forcing us to speak their language in English and we are more comfortable in our dialect of speaking Native tongues (different languages in USA and Canada).
 
Sigh . . . I'm a social and political conservative, and neither the song nor the Cheerios commercial make me angry. (I don't understand any connection between the song or commercial but since they're both mentioned, I included both.) I don't drink any kind of soda, so that's irrelevant to me.

This so tiresome.
 
Most immigrants to America end up learning English because most of them want to. However, they want to maintain their language from their home country. Other countries encourage their citizens to learn multiple languages, including English so I don't understand why some people in America are so adamant about learning English or go home. Actually, it takes time for people who move here to learn English if they haven't already.

Silly
 
I know you do have more conservative views than me and some others here, Reba...like what you wrote there-:)
 
dogmom said:
Shel :applause:
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Thank you. I know so many people who have moved from other countries, deaf and hearing (my ex husband being one of them) and all of them have learned English. Sure, some of them aren't 100% fluent in English but at least they did because they know that in America, English is the most used language. However, all of them still use their home country's languages and have pride about it. No BIG DEAL!!!
 
True that!

When my bubbie came here as a teen with some of her family, to escape poverty/pogroms in Russia, she eventually learned English, while still remaining strong in Yiddish and Russian. When my dad was growing up as first generation, the home languages were Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian <especially if his parents did not want him to understand what they said> and English.

I think the United States has a history of many languages <though tragically, some have been excluded, such as ASL and the decimation of Native languages :-(
and I think it's important to honor the richness of them - and certainly to acknowledge the history of First Nations language genocide and the re-emergence of some various languages being reclaimed.
Part of honoring the languages involves making a public and intentional effort to promote role models and media that display a variety of people.
 
English peeps took American away from someone else originally people, native Indians.
 
Really? Come on. :|

The video is meant for diversity, not political or race issues. If you are attention enough, you'll notice those backgrounds are from our country. USA! Not everyone speak English who is an American. I think it's cool to listen a song in many different languages, even if the video provides sign languages.

The last time I checked, the video is not forcing anybody to learn any language, or it tries to convince everyone to be liberal or whatever, either.

Please.
 
I don't expect fluent English from newcomers to America, and I appreciate any of their efforts to learn English. I certainly don't expect anyone to forget their native languages.

However, if someone wants to become a citizen of the USA I would expect them to want to learn the predominant language and culture of this nation. After all, wouldn't that be expected of any person moving to any other country desiring citizenship or long-term residence?

It's kind of like someone saying, "I want to be involved in the deaf community but I can't/won't learn ASL or about deaf culture."

There's no need for hate or anger.
 
Reba said:
I don't expect fluent English from newcomers to America, and I appreciate any of their efforts to learn English. I certainly don't expect anyone to forget their native languages.

However, if someone wants to become a citizen of the USA I would expect them to want to learn the predominant language and culture of this nation. After all, wouldn't that be expected of any person moving to any other country desiring citizenship or long-term residence?

It's kind of like someone saying, "I want to be involved in the deaf community but I can't/won't learn ASL or about deaf culture."

There's no need for hate or anger.
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It would be like someone signing America the Beautiful to deaf Americans in BSL, Auslan and Deutschgebardensprache (DGS).

England has their Patriotic Songs, so does Australia and Germany. We have ours, and they are in English.
 
Frisky Feline said:
English peeps took American away from someone else originally people, native Indians.
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I happen to be one of those - I am a native American. Please stop using us as examples - I get along just fine with my fellow Americans.
 
This song is by a German Band that is mocking America:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFVdvXGIT34]Rammstein "We're all living in America" (HD) English Subtitle - YouTube[/ame]

subtitled in English ....

I can't help but notice they copied Mtv and rock 'n roll ...
 
Steinhauer said:
It would be like someone signing America the Beautiful to deaf Americans in BSL, Auslan and Deutschgebardensprache (DGS).

England has their Patriotic Songs, so does Australia and Germany. We have ours, and they are in English.
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That's fine with me if America the Beautiful to be translated in different languages, including sign languages.

I already know that America the Beautiful is originally written in English.
 
Steinhauer said:
I happen to be one of those - I am a native American. Please stop using us as examples - I get along just fine with my fellow Americans.
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FF isn't alone, I have some Native American blood and sometime, I do feel like that.
 
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