Jun 15, 2009
Nashville’s Pyrotechnic Councilman
So there is a group called Pro-English that recently got a city councilman in Nashville, TN named Eric Crafton to put on the city ballot a measure that would make English the city’s language de jure (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31176525/ns/us_news-life/). The scariest part about this situation is that this measure received 43% of the vote. Of course all the requisite scare tactics are being used by proponents with Mr. Crafton being quoted in an MSNBC piece as saying “English is under attack…”
ATTACK I TELL YOU! MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS IMMEDIATELY!
Give me a break Mr. Crafton with the hyperbole. There is no war on language anywhere unless you count the extinction of countless Native American languages….but let me guess you probably don’t right? Figures as much.
BTW Eric you know your barking up the wrong tree when your putative ally the Chamber of Commerce ain’t (Oops!) got your back! (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/us/11english.html?scp=1&sq=crafton%20tennessee&st=cse)
It stands to reason these measures are being introduced now, because had they been introduced in the previous 8 years one can imagine the irony and late-night fodder given we had a president who so bastardized the King’s English (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ux3DKxxFoM). I wonder if Crafton cringed every time he listened to Bush botch a simple word like nuclear or invisible or……..!
These same groups are talking about shearing money for English as a Second Language (ESL) in Georgia and elsewhere. The beacon of acceptance Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) was quoted….and I am not making this up as saying “A nation of immigrants needs one national language,”
Now wouldn’t a nation of immigrants need a bunch of languages or at least access to them in order to accommodate it’s workforce? Or maybe just as a sign of respect and gratitude?
Again I hope they aren’t targeting the Longhorn state because without this service W. doesn’t stand a chance and even with it his odds aren’t that great.
Well anyway you lost and that is a good thing, because further isolation of our foreign and domestic policy from those who built and continue to build this country does no one any favors I guarantee. OR for that matter those that speak Southern Appalachian English in the eastern part of your beloved state (http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/dictionary/dictionary.html). Are they any less American or patriotic? Careful what box you open Sir for the next one might be Pandora’s.
If people like Mr. Grafton and Inhofe spent half the time and tax-payer money ($350,000 allotted to Mr. Grafton’s stunt) on things that matter maybe we would not be in the climate, economic, and health care pickle we find ourselves in today.
PS Mr. Crafton what were your grades in high school english? I know mine weren’t anything to write home about, but I am pretty sure that doesn’t make me any more or less American than you or the Bhutanese refugees that just moved in down the street from me here in Burlington.