Nadenu wrote:
gbaji wrote:
Jophiel wrote:
gbaji wrote:
I just find it strange that we can all agree that it's good for immigrants to learn English, but then disagree on the message sent by this commercial.
That's because the rest of us realize that this commercial holds zero sway or influence over who will or won't learn English...
That's not the point. It *will* influence how people view the idea of America:
You realize this commercial was shown in America. To Americans. And most of us already know what it's like in here.
Uh. Yes. The whole point of the ad is to change American's perception of what it means to be American. Specifically to get them to adopt the "all the world in one country" approach to immigration and reject the "melting pot of cultures" approach.
Jophiel wrote:
gbaji wrote:
That's not the point. It *will* influence how people view the idea of America
Nah, not really.
And yet, the nearly unanimous knee jerk reaction to anyone saying that the song should have been sung in English was to call those people racists and xenophobes, wasn't it? What is that if not influencing how people view the idea of America? It was so successful on most of you that even when it's pointed out to you, you refuse to admit it.
Why do you think that the belief that the commercial would have better reflected the image of America if all the people had sung the song in English is a racist or xenophobic one? I mean, you've already acknowledged that it's a good thing for immigrants to the US to learn English. And I'm assuming you agree that if everyone sings in English, then they can all understand each other. So why the opposition to this idea?
It's interesting to me to see the nearly Pavlovian reaction from the left. The vague associations between anything that kinda feels like rejecting another culture and assumptions of racism are super strong among you guys. Did it occur to any of you that it's not about white vs brown? It's not about "current English only speaker in the US versus new other-language-speaking immigrant"? I'm betting most of you never considered that the kid singing Tagalog probably can't understand the person singing in Korean, nor can that person likely understand the person singing in Hebrew, who can't understand the person singing in French, who can't understand the person singing in Cantonese, etc, etc, etc.
The need to adopt and use a common language is as much about ensuring that new immigrants have a way to communicate with each other as it does with ensuring that they can communicate with existing citizens. It's about bringing us all together, not keeping us apart. Yet so many of you had the opposite reaction, and I suspect you aren't even sure why. If you stop and actually think about what those who questioned the commercial were saying and
why they were saying it, they make complete sense and their reasons are not bigoted at all.
But the commercial looks pretty. And it's got people from different cultural backgrounds. So it
feels wrong to criticize it in any way. And feelings are more important than reason in a case like this I guess.