Why does the United States of America need an official language?

[blondeatlast]

:shrug:

[orwell]

1. Because...

...it's an election year...

[donco6]

3. Beat me to it. eom

[blondeatlast]

4. !Verdad! nt

[tridim]

5. and because Republicans are racist assholes

[blondeatlast]

8. And have become increasingly unafraid of appealing to that bloc.

:scared:

[Cha]

25. If I were among the largest

growing population in the US..i.e. Latino..this would piss me off more than I already am.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

To get out the racist vote

[blondeatlast]

16. Republicans are becoming ever more blatant about it, aren't they? nt

[joemurphy]

2. I suggest that America's official flower be the marigold.

It's kinda purty but when held close to the nostrils it kinda stinks.

[havocmom]

6. So bigots can have official sanction for discriminating

[Warpy]

7. It doesn't, of course, the GOP is playing to xenophobic dumbasses

in lily white suburbs in the hope they can avoid doing anything about the debt, the war, the gas crisis, runaway inflation, the falling Dow, the gutted social support system, the cruelest healthcare nonsystem in the world, and the gang of criminals illegally squatting in the White HOuse.\

That's why.

[arcane1]

10. sigh... Warpy, didn't you KNOW????

ALL of those problems are the fault of illegal immigrants, and that making English the "official" language (whatever that even means!) will take care of those problems ONCE and FOR ALL!!!! :crazy:

[blondeatlast]

13. Got it. It stops desperate people from squeezing through iron gates

for a job.

[ClassWarrior]

9. I think each state should have its own official language.

States' rights, y'know. And I want mine to be Esperanto. Or Klingon.

NGU.

[blondeatlast]

11. Connecticut Cowboy--Connecticut or Texas?

Or does either one care to claim a pathetic attempt to drawl with Larchmont Lockjaw?

[Career Prole]

12. Because it's got nothing whatsoever to do with Iraq,

indictments, the economy, health-care, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...

[blondeatlast]

14. WE HAVE A WINNER! I am sick to death of momentary legislation. nt

[Career Prole]

18. Woohoo! I *never* win!!

:toast:
:woohoo:

[mrcheerful]

15. To show just how stupid americans are, I mean we speak american not

english, people in england speak english. BTW, Just which brand of english are they going for? You got southren english, northren english, afro american english, eubonic english, cali english and depending where the person's from depends on if you understand 1/2 of what they are saying plus the facts that word useage means different things in different regions. In the north you have pop, in ohio its soda, then in another state its sodipop. So with all this bastardation of english, will they then have to rewrite laws so we know which english we use is the legal english? Like I said stupid laws for stupid people.

[Deja Q]

17. b/c the corporations find it cheaper to make everyone else learn English

Many European countries don't have official languages.

Or if they do, they're all nice enough to print documentation in 20 languages rather than making those little iconic pictures that NOBODY understands...

[uppityperson]

19. So we can all understand each other and Our Dear Leader?

[blondeatlast]

20. It's gonna take a lot more than an official language for the latter... mt

[uppityperson]

21. A whole lot more for sure, you know dudess?

[personman]

22. Nationalist bigots...

They are the only ones who really get all weepy-eyed about these meaningless, symbolic, masturbatory gestures, and are so arrogant as to be exclusive toward anything foreign.

-personman

[blondeatlast]

23. And the Rs rely on them to get elected.

I'd be embarrassed if my party pandered to me the way the Rs pander to the xenophobic racists.

[Cha]

24. That's what I want to

know! When I read this on Roadrunner ..my first thought was the Senate was up to Fearmongering Jingoism again!

[Cha]

26. Actually our official

language is Americanese but they're too damn dumb in the Senate to know that.

[niyad]

27. insecurity-- I mean, how can they know they are special and superior

if people around them are speaking in tongues and dialects they don't understand? (not, I suspect, that they actually comprehend english all that well, either)

[tirechewer]

28. We need an official language....

so that all of the people who are manning the barricades against those who make war on Christmas can have a way to talk to each other. To be truly official though, I think it would have to be Bill O'Reilly English. Gah. Can you imagine anything worse? Follow the bouncing falafel, and you too can speak the official language. ;)

[blondeatlast]

29. *slaps forehead* Of course! It's all about the war on Christmas!

Everything comes downm to defending Christmas in the end, doesn't it?!

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Great post.

[tirechewer]

33. Indeed it does.....

If we they don't protect Christmas, they won't have anything to spoil for the rest of us. ;)

[Telly Savalas]

30. Oui. Tout le monde doit parler français.

On edit: I missed the "why" in the title of your post. J'suis desolé

[blondeatlast]

31. No preocupar, señor.

:hi:

[Igel]

32. Because we want to be enlightened, like

France and Mexico.

France's official language is French, and there's a state academy set up to make sure only the right words are allowed in the media and official publications.

And, in spite of all the rapidly dying indigenous languages in Mexico, Spanish is the only official language there.

Those damned racist Mexicans and French.

On the other hand, I personally think the proposed Senate requirement is fairly silly, in some regards; however, I do believe that naturalization shouldn't just test how well you memorized a list of questions and the answers in English, it really should test how well you can participate in civic discourse and defend your interests in the dominant language of public discourse.