Tim James is running for Governor in Alabama. In this brilliant ad he say:
I’m Tim James. Why do our politicians make us give drivers lisence exams in 12 languages? This is Alabama, we speak english. If you want to live here, learn it. We’re only giving that test in english, if I’m Governor. Maybe it’s the businessman in me, but we’ll save money. And it makes sense. Does it to you?
James makes a great point. If you want to live in any country you have a responsibility to respect that nation. The first thing you should do is learn the language. Part of what has made the United States great is the knowledge and experience brought by new immigrants. However, past immigrants learned to speak the language and adopted the culture. Today, immigrants are taught to break the law and enter the country illegally. Once they have taken that step, it’s no wonder they have no respect for the country, or its laws. In addition, if new citizens want to pursue the American Dream, the first step is learning english. Time James is dead on in this ad – and it should only be the first step. The United States should continue to welcome new immigrants, but in order to become a citizen people must respect the country and its traditions.
Actually the real reason that they spoke English was that most already did, having immigrated from Britain, Ireland or Scotland. The ones that didn’t lived in their own communities (Little Italy, China Town) though they learned English eventually they did not join an American nation, they retained their own cultures, even the Cubano people in Miami, legal citizens, have not drowned in the sludge of the melting pot. Rather they keep their own language and culture intact. On a side note about breaking laws, there are more white supremist groups in prison then Hispanic suremist ones. Marginalisation is just the first step to pissing people off, of course the Right would know all about that
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First of all, past immigrants to North America brought diseases to which it’s original inhabitants had no immunity, slaughtered many of those not killed by viral epidemics, and enslaved much of the remaining population. Should new immigrants adopt that behaviour? Also your facts are a little (a lot) off: those immigrants (and their descendants) made little to no effort to learn the cultural practices and languages of the original inhabitants.
Secondly, this policy doesn’t even make sense from an economic perspective, let alone from a human perspective. In the short term perhaps only offering driver’s licensing exams in English would save the state money, but then recent immigrants who had not yet mastered the English language would be unable to pass their licensing exams and, in cities with poor public transit and vast urban sprawl (aka much of America), would be unable to reach their English classes and/or jobs, increasing reliance on welfare = greater cost to the state in the long-run.
You’re a racist. I know that isn’t really news or anything…but your boy Tim James isn’t any better
What’s wrong with multiculturalism and diversity? Bigot
Multiculturalism is a cancer destroying the West. It has nothing to do with race, hence the “culture” in “multiculturalism.”
It is an indisputable fact that Western civilization is vastly superior to all other cultures. I recommend you read the story of former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver to find out how great other societies are. Nonetheless, if you believe other cultures are superior, why move to the United States? Unlike many other cultures, Western civilization is founded upon free states – if you like third world tribalism you’re free to move there. If you want to live in the United Sates great! – learn the language and assimilate into the great melting pot.
Pete, not all of the original immigrants were english speaking. Many of the first scots to come over spoke variations of english which greatly incorporated Gaelic or spoke Gaelic exclusively. The learned english or french in order to trade with other settlers, and eventually their Scottish heritage was little more than a name in the book at Ellis Island. As well, many Welsh immigrants did not speak english when they came over, but instead spoke, shockingly enough, Welsh. They learned english pretty bloody quickly, and integrated into the english speaking population. In the years leading up to World War 1, many Polish and Ukranian immigrants came to North America, and beyond doing traditional dances and occasionally singing in their native language, they have completely abandoned their original culture, opting to be Canadians or Americans instead. Today, 1 in 30 people can trace their lineage back to a War Bride, usually a woman of non-anglo-saxon descent who left her old culture behind to join her soldier husband in the new world. Those women left everything behind and became part of the melting pot.
Italians and Chinese were originally treated much in the manner of the Irish, ostracized by the rest of the community who didnt trust them. The irish worked hard and eventually integrated, the Italians and the Chinese formed sub-communities within their own communities, but they did learn the dominant language within their towns and cities, and thereby did mix and mingle. Chinatown and Little Italy are ambassadors, they mingle with and welcome all other cultures, they speak the dominant language of their city, they just serve different bread, soup and coffee than the rest of the city.
There’s nothing racist about asking someone to learn the dominant language of an area, many of us work hard and learn at least a little bit of other languages when we visit counties overseas, and ones who live in other countries, even temporarily, do gain fluency in the native language. Its only fair that when people come here, they extend us the same courtesies.
dang amazing stuff bro.
Totally agree with Tim James on this one