Michael Savage is now advertising his radio show with the following tagline: Protect our borders, language, and culture! I don't have a problem enforcing the borders. If those who want cheap labor want to hire the poor from other countries to in their labor needs, then they need to pass laws that enable them to do it, so that we can account for those who are in our country. If workers from other countries are actually forcing down the price of labor we can't argue the point without the data.
But, language and culture are another story. When we were in Germany we were harassed by some German skinheads for speaking English in Germany. I would rather not be beat up, so we switched to German until we got off the train. The problem, of course, is that people communicate best in their mother tongue. One's vocabulary is higher. Ones experience with the language is more numerous. And, people should communicate with each other in the most effective means possible. In fact, if we had been forced to communicate only in German while we were in Germany we would certainly had been at a disadvantage.
For example, a friend of ours went with us to the Hamburg Fish Market early one morning. Many people stay up all night partying, then go to the Fish Market for Breakfast and to shop at the little shops. So, many people do this that they even had a little auction going on when we were there. Our friend was always interested in getting a "good" deal, so winning a bid at an auction could certainly result in a nice discount. So, our friend began to bid in German as is the custom in that country. Unfortunately our friend was taught German by a Bavarian with a strong southern German accent. And, if you combine the southern German accent with an American accent the auctioneer misunderstood a 14 for a 40 in his bid, and our friend was greatly disappointed when he discovered how much he owed. Of course an auction in Germany is never going to be held in English, and an auction in America is never going to be held in German, but the point isn't that we should make everything in the country multilingual. Instead, we should try to make things that are easy make multilingual, make them multilingual. Where is the harm in that? America should be excepting of other people no matter what language they speak. English isn't going anywhere very soon anyway.
Now for culture I have an even bigger problem than for language. The little tag line Michael Savage uses makes it sound like culture is as trivial a problem or issue as borders or language. But culture is not so easy, and I certainly don't want the government regulating my culture.
The first point that I would like to make is that the government can never regulate culture. In fact, culture can and is mainly regulated by families. Mothers and Fathers pass their culture to their children. Or, they elect not to. If they elect not to, then culture comes from the peers that the children hang around with in school and on the playground.
Look at the example of the Jews. They have managed to pass their culture down through the generations for nearly 5000 years. They have passed their culture from generation to generation despite governments that would rather have them not pass their culture to the next generation. The Spanish Inquisition, the Nazi Holocaust, the Egyptian and Babylonian captivities and much more persecution through out the ages were never able to prevent the dissemination of culture to the next generation. And, so if culture is important to the parent, then the culture will be transmitted to the next generation without flaw. Many parents take their children to church and concerts and museums. Many parents teach their children, how to play musical instruments, sing, act and perform. Many parents turn on the TV and have the TV teach their children for them. The culture is what the parents choose it to be for their children.
So, how is it that Michael Alan Weiner would preserve the "American Culture?" And, how would he decide what things were worthy of saving? Would he make film class mandatory so that our children learn to appreciate film? What other things would he deem worthy to be taught to our children? And, what is preventing the parents from telling their children that dreadful phrase, "Don't worry son, that crap the school is teaching doesn't really matter. It's a bunch of crap that they think you should learn, but you will never use it. Just forget it after the test and be done with it. Now lets go do something important like hunting, then we'll get back in time for Saturday Night WWF." How can anyone create a uniform American culture with that? But, better yet, why should we?
Every American brings his or her own bit of American culture to the table. And American culture will continue to change as new people grow up and add their own experience to the American experience. Just because some members of the older generation are disappointed in the decline and fall of the horse and buggy does not mean that the American culture is now bad because we don't have many horse and buggies any more. It is just that people will always become nostalgic for the way things once were. American culture will continue to grow and change as time goes on. We no longer have Fibber McGee and Molly on the radio, but that just means that Fibber and Molly have moved from current culture to past history.
Parents just need to remember that what they teach their children is our American culture and if they don't like what they see they just need to teach their children what they want the American culture to become. That is what we have done with our kids, and most of them are still functioning to this very day.
-----------------------------------------------------
Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."
Cross Posted @ Bring It On, tblog, Blogger and BlogSpirit