[extropy-chat] Psychology of investments in infrastructure

[Samantha Atkins]

On Jul 3, 2006, at 12:54 PM, spike wrote:

>> bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Samantha Atkins
> ...
>
>>> Everywhere in the maternity hospital,
>>> everything had Spanish.  But I saw something I had never seen in
>>> America: a sign posted in Spanish only.
>>>
>>
>> I think this is a travesty.  The "melting pot" is no longer
>> maintained or seen as a good thing...   With heavy identity with  
>> one's
>> "tribe" individuality is lost.
>>
>> - samantha
>
> Since then I have given this some thought.  In all the English and  
> Spanish
> signs, the message is simple enough that most Taxifornians already  
> know the
> message even if they offer no Inglese equivalent.  For instance we  
> all know
> that Cuidado caliente is Caution, hot.  But this Spanish-only sign  
> in the
> hospital started with Cuidado, then had a bunch of Espaniol I didn't
> recognize and couldn't easily decipher, so I didn't comprehende for  
> what
> they were cuidadoing me, but it was a mucho big sign that cuidadoed  
> me, muy
> grande.  So I asked la nurse: que pasa senorita, oye como na?
>
> The Taxifornia maternity patients are majority habla Spanish now.   
> If an
> expectant madre has sufficient pesos in Mexico, it makes a lot of  
> sense to
> take a muy poco vacation in the Norte, visit relatives and friends  
> for a few
> weeks, in about the ochoeth month of pregnancy.  No visa is  
> required, no
> verde card, nada, only a passport, since the madre is not actually  
> getting a
> job here.  The doctor bills will be picked up by la hospital, the  
> baby has
> dual US and Mexican citizenship forever, as will all of the baby's
> offspring, so her options are many.  All this can be bought for the  
> price of
> an airline ticket.
>
> There is one other wild card here.  Spanish is a far easier second  
> language
> for Asians to learn than Inglese.  The Japanese guy that runs the  
> local
> sushi bar commented that he is far more fluent in Spanish than  
> English, even
> tho he wasn't really trying to learn it.  He worked at English, but  
> absorbed
> the Espaniol.  Spanish might become the defacto favored second  
> language for
> the melting pot that is Taxifornia.


I do not believe that such an official second language policy is  
generally a good idea.  It is a fine idea to have signs in locations  
such as hospital be multi-lingual.  But I do not feel comfortable  
with an assumption that some other language should always be  
available much less given equal or greater footing in the US or parts  
of the US.  An influx of immigrants generally has not led to this in  
the past.  There are communities where other languages are common and  
small communities where even the signs are in other languages.  But I  
believe it is important to resist much more than that and insist  
immigrants learn the one official language if they wish to be  
successful in this country.

Other issues of our notions of "multiculturalism" are more problematic.

- samantha