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Geo

Beach Fanatic
Dec 24, 2006
2,740
2,795
Santa Rosa Beach, FL
2. When he said, "... we go over to Europe, and all we can say is, 'Merci, beaucoup' ", that was elitist. Most people I know never dream of going to New York City, much less Europe. Only the privileged few (or those in the military) take for granted that an overseas trip is a given. Obama's blas? comment about traveling to Europe is elitist. The talking heads on CNN also agree with me on this. And consistently they have been, not just on the Democratic Party's side, but on Obama's side during the primaries.

It is so true that most Americans don't go to Europe (or other parts of the world). But the reality is they *could* go if they wanted to- or getting to the heart of it- might go if they knew that it was even an option...

Until I met my wife at 30- no one told me that it was cheaper to go to Europe than to go to Disney. No one told me that I was allowed to just go. I assumed it was something only for the priviledged few probably because I was told this at an early age...

IMHO- Travel abroad isn't so much for the rich or the elite as much as it is for the informed, the encouraged and the interested...

I think Obama is guilty of forgetting this but I don't believe his comments were elitist...

2 cents...
 

DemoLady

Beach Lover
Jun 5, 2008
102
122
www.waltondemocrats.org
Who is an elitist?

According to CNN, Obama said that rather than Latinos assimilating, U.S. children should learn Spanish. It's a noble goal for U.S. citizens to not be so provincial and to be able to converse in other languages. But it just shows just how elitist Obama is -- he has no clue that in a county in a suburb of a major U.S. city (e.g., Atlanta), there is a 40% illteracy rate in the ENGLISH language.

Even Jack Cafferty and the CNN crew were dissing Obama for his comments regarding this issue.

It's interesting that Obama is called an "elitist" for suggesting that U.S. citizens should learn Spanish. One definition of an "elitist" is the "belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources." Seems to me that in this situation, the "elitist" would be the person saying "I'm not going to learn another language other than English because my language is better than yours."

Rather than debate whether or not our children should learn a second language, perhaps we should be deciding which languages will prepare them for the future and give up our "elitist" belief that we shouldn't have to do anything to assimilate others or ourselves into the international community. The Chinese are teaching their young children English because they want to do business with us -- as they become a world power. We correctly expect immigrants to learn English so they, too, can be more easily assimilated in the U.S. lifestyle.

The estimated Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2006, was 44.3 million making people of Hispanic origin the nation?s largest ethnic or race minority. Hispanics constituted 15% of the nation's total population. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 24% of the nation?s total population by 2050.

Only an "elitist" would say, "Learn my language because I'm not going to learn yours." Europeans, who live in countries the size of many of our states, think nothing of having to learn other languages. (We all know the French love to make fun of Americans trying to navigate the French language.)

Maybe someday English will become the universal language. But, would that really be a good thing?

p.s. My 3-year-old granddaughter thinks nothing of switching between English/Spanish/French. The color red may be "rojo" "red" or "rouge" depending on her mood. She doesn't look like an elitist -- but maybe??? :clap:
 

traderx

Beach Fanatic
Mar 25, 2008
2,133
467
Maybe someday English will become the universal language. But, would that really be a good thing?


English is the universal language. When business meetings are held in Europe and the meeting participants are from different countries, they speak English. When the EU meets, they speak English for crying out loud. Air traffic controllers and pilots the world over speak English. So, when a Turkish pilot talks to air traffic control in China, both sides speak English.

Why is this so? Because the US is the dominant economic engine of the world and green is the universal color. Britain held the mantle before us hence the English legacy is long-standing.

As for Obama suggesting that we teach our kids Spanish, he himself does not speak Spanish. Was he being an elitist? If he had suggested any language other than French, I would say no but by pushing French, he pandered to his leftist supporters on the upper west side. This may have been an attempt to negate his move to the middle and the accompanying fanfare. Now that he has locked lips with the French, he can now safely scamper back towards the middle. :wave:
 

DemoLady

Beach Lover
Jun 5, 2008
102
122
www.waltondemocrats.org
I see your point

I see your point and stand corrected -- English is the language of business and international communication. However, what I meant to say by "universal language" was this:

A universal language would be one spoken by everybody and there are far more people in the world who know not a single word of English than there are who speak it.

English might arguably be termed a "global language" and it has clearly achieved that status by as a direct and as an indirect of the tradition of British colonialism and current US dominance, as you state.
 

Geo

Beach Fanatic
Dec 24, 2006
2,740
2,795
Santa Rosa Beach, FL
As for Obama suggesting that we teach our kids Spanish, he himself does not speak Spanish. Was he being an elitist? If he had suggested any language other than French, I would say no but by pushing French, he pandered to his leftist supporters on the upper west side. This may have been an attempt to negate his move to the middle and the accompanying fanfare. Now that he has locked lips with the French, he can now safely scamper back towards the middle. :wave:

Fascinating...

And here the whole time I thought Obama was addressing the fact that, unlike most industrialized nations, the vast majority of the US population is not multilingual (and that we should do something about it)...

But rather than making reasonable points all this time he was really pandering to those elitest French bastages...

:roll:
 

traderx

Beach Fanatic
Mar 25, 2008
2,133
467
Fascinating...

And here the whole time I thought Obama was addressing the fact that, unlike most industrialized nations, the vast majority of the US population is not multilingual (and that we should do something about it)...

But rather than making reasonable points all this time he was really pandering to those elitest French bastages...

:roll:

Well yeah, but the operative question is why? Or more specifically, why now? In addition to his leftist pandering, he goes to Europe in two weeks and his ports of call include Paris. The Dems seem to be obsessed with "restoring our reputation in the world" and especially in western Europe. Paris seems to be the targeted crossroads for the repair work hence Obama, I'm guessing, also pandered to the hapless French so they would assemble in huge thongs in the street and cheer him and then those here at home who care about such things, well they can allow the warm and fuzzies to run down their backbone or if they want to be like Chris Matthews, down their leg.
 

TooFarTampa

SoWal Insider
Well yeah, but the operative question is why? Or more specifically, why now? In addition to his leftist pandering, he goes to Europe in two weeks and his ports of call include Paris. The Dems seem to be obsessed with "restoring our reputation in the world" and especially in western Europe. Paris seems to be the targeted crossroads for the repair work hence Obama, I'm guessing, also pandered to the hapless French so they would assemble in huge thongs in the street and cheer him and then those here at home who care about such things, well they can allow the warm and fuzzies to run down their backbone or if they want to be like Chris Matthews, down their leg.

And then there's his trip to Germany. It is weird that he is/was trying to get clearance to do a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate. While I do agree that improving our relations with other countries IS important, trying to connect with the Euros at this time seems a little, um, premature. Or maybe just pandering or grandstanding. :dunno: It definitely doesn't seem appropriate.
 

Bob

SoWal Insider
Nov 16, 2004
10,366
1,391
O'Wal
here's truly inappropriate behavior, a US President doing a drive-by neck rub on the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Anyone who replaces Bush will make for a better President.
 
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