[PLUG-TALK] Re: [PLUG] Sounds good to me ;)

Russ Johnson russj at dimstar.net
Tue Jun 18 04:49:20 UTC 2002


On Mon, 2002-06-17 at 17:30, Craighead, Scot D wrote:
> I think you miss what I am saying.

That's certainly possible. (I'm dense, but not quite as much as lead...)

> Certainly every culture that has
> integrated into America has added to it.  I like to go to River Front Park
> on Cinco de Mayo and I enjoy the food.  I have many friends who are
> immigrants.  I like Mexican food, clothes and music.  We should exchange
> with each other what we have to contribute.

I agree, wholeheartedly.

> At the same time, I think the
> military should be garding the border and stopping illegals from coming
> here.

Why? Why can't we have easier legal methods for those folks to get here?
If there are that many coming in across a harsh border that kills
hundreds of thousands in the attempt each year, maybe we should have
border stations that allow folks to enter legally. 

In contrast to the southern border, we have the northern border. It's
the longest undefended border in the world. We also don't seem to have a
problem there. 

> I think the state and federal governments should not spend one dime
> of my tax money translating ballots and driver's hand books into other
> languages.  While the immigrant has one language to learn,

On the west coast, that may be true for the most part. In the east,
especially NYC and places like New Orleans, English is NOT always the
dominant language. Since we are a country of immigrants, the dominant
language can change over time. In parts of Hillsboro, there are places
where businesses don't bother to use English on their signs, as most of
the folks who do business in that part of town speak nothing but
Spanish. 

> I can't learn all of the languages of every country.

No one is expecting you to. However, it is recognized by the whole world
that English is the hardest language to learn as a second language.
Mostly because it's a mixture of just about every other European
language there is. At the same time, if you know English, it's
supposedly easier to learn just about any other language, for the exact
same reason. 

> They are coming here.  If they think
> that not learning English will not hurt them, they are deluding themselves.
> Learning English will open many doors for the immigrant.  Can we agree on
> that?

Yes, we do agree on that. I also don't think that any of "them" feel
that they don't need to learn English. However, making it easier to make
the transition is a good thing.

-- 
"The power to untie is stronger than the power to tie."                 
                                                                        
Well, yeah, otherwise my shoes would tie themselves.                    
                                                                        
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Russ Johnson                                                            
Stargate Online                                                         
                                                                        
http://www.dimstar.net                                                  
telnet://telnet.dimstar.net                                             
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