Ok. Finally finished a new system implementation, so I've got time to respond.
Mazra wrote:
gbaji wrote:
America, as presented in the ad, isn't an ideal, or a culture, it's just a place people live in. Get it? That's why it's offensive.
It's offensive that America is presented as a country where people of different nationalities can come to seek a better future?
Not at all. But, as we've already agreed (at least Joph and I did), a large portion of that "better future" in the US occurs once those people learn to speak English, or for their children when they do. So showing people of different national origins all singing "America the Beautiful" in English, they would have sent a strong positive message about how immigrants are the backbone of our nation. By having them sing in different languages, they send a completely different and disjointed message about America.
Quote:
You know, like your ancestors did a couple of hundred years ago?
Yes. The ones who learned English because they recognized that this was the common language spoken in the US and would therefore be part of "becoming American". 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. If the goal of every immigrant coming to America is to learn English, and we want to celebrate how America is about all these people from all these different places all coming together, wouldn't having them all sing in English be the best way to accomplish that?
By having them sing in different languages, it sends the opposite message. It sends a message of distance and separation between all the different people who come to America. It sends a message of an America that isn't a melting pot, where each immigrant contributes to and improves our common culture, but one where we all stay separate and distinct (many cultures within one nation). I really don't understand how people can't see this. We can argue about which approach to cultural integration is best, but it's strange to deny that this is even what this is about in the first place.
Edited, Feb 12th 2014 5:30pm by gbaji