Let me see now...
One line of reasoning presented here is that if you move to a country, you shouldn't have to learn how to function there, but that said country should conform to your standard of living? Wow, so all those people mad at US tourists for speaking loudly at the locals who don't speak English are racists?
Yeah, didn't think that made sense. I mean, if it were true, all we US Citizens need to do is spread ourselves out all over the world, and if the world wanted to avoid being racists, they'd have to conform to our language!
Glad that wasn't my idea.
Moving on... this isn't an issue of race. It is an issue of culture. Did you know that genetically speaking, race is pretty much meaningless? The genetic differences between people due to "race" are a fraction of the differences between any two people of the same racial group!
Language is not a function of genetics. it is a matter of culture. If anything, real racists should want those of different "races" that move into their home country to remain ignorant of the primary language. Granted, its probably something of an intelligence gap: the intelligent aren't going to fess up and the stupid won't realize how it benefits them.
After all, what are U.S. laws written in? English with fun Latin phrases, right? So if tu no hablas ingles and you don't read it either, then you have to take someone else's word for it? Oh, I don't just mean the cop on the beat. I mean laws in general. That senator, that congressmen, that judge? You have to hope that whoever is translating is doing it right! And my apologizes to Spanish speakers since I probably butchered what little I used a few sentences ago.
A bit off topic, but since so many people like to bring it up...
The entire U.S. wasn't "stolen" from the different indigenous people groups. Some of it? Yes, I am afraid so. However, large tracts of it were purchased. New York Island was purchased from the people inhabiting it. Alaska was boughten from the Russians. The Louisiana Purchase, the area between the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers (if memory serves), was purchased from the French. Texas won its freedom from Mexico, and later joined the USA. Those aren't the original owners, but they are who we got it from. What about the tribes before them?
Well, what about the tribes before the tribes? The indingenous people groups were... people! What happened in Europe? Tribes fought other tribes for land! It happened in what would later become the Americas as well. How far back do we have to go to find the "real" owners?
Also, in many cases, native people groups retained hunting and fishing rights. Obviously such rights were lost, but I am not trying to say that they weren't. I am not saying atrocities never happened to them. I am saying that you need to look for the specific people, and not be so general.
Ugh, late enough for me already, and I've barely scratched the surface.
First, I heartily recommend The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. It tends to cover those things the public school system glossed over or intentionally misrepresented.
Second "American English" as the form of English spoken in the USA is often referred to, as well as all language in general, should be concerned with how little it is often actually known, even by native speakers. I graduated from college and I still don't know really when to use "who" and when to use "whom". The reason this matters is that written language is how our history and our laws are passed on. That is why so many squabbles happen today. People look at something, read it, and try to use modern definitions for things written long ago.
Thank you, and goodnight Pokegym.
