Political correctness run amok

Well, I was talking about the topic of this post — which was a restaurant owner who posted a sign “This is America – when ordering, speak English.” The sign doesn’t distinguish between visitors and residents.

As for fatherhood… um, where have you been? Top family films of the last year or two are things like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “Finding Nemo”, and “The Incredibles”. “Frequency” from a few years ago was all about how the absence of his father messed up John Sullivan’s life — and by saving him through time travel, everything is made better.

Captain Kirk was from Iowa, not Canada. But instead of getting values and morals from church and family, we now get them from Hollywood, so this observation makes a lot of sense.

For example, Hollywood plays a key role in keeping America and other cultures anti-father. When was the last time you saw a film with a plot anything like this:

Deprived of any contact with his children based on some false allegations made by their mother, and thrown in prison as a deadbeat dad for not handing over money he never had, divorced father Joe Schmoe played by Arnold Scwarzenegger is out to get his children back and set things right. When he proves his innocence and that the vindictive mother is lying in court just to separate him from his children and the family court judge only increases his child support as a result, Joe attempts to obtain justice by …

Contrast that with the typical drama, where fathers are nearly always portrayed as a scumbag of one sort or another, if not a buffoon, and mothers are nearly always portrayed as sweet, innocent, pretty things who never lie and always deserve better.

You would think rather than peddling the same old story over and over Hollywood would get real for a change, at least to have something different than the same old thing remade with a slightly different twist over and over and over again.

The reinstatement of Constitutional rights for fathers and children, if it ever happens, will be preceded by a plethora of stories such as this coming out of Hollywood, because just as children get their morals and values from Hollywood now, so too do judges, legislators, and bureaucrats.

I couldn’t understand a word of Chinese when I went to China despite phrasebook study, but I could still buy things by pointing, signing, and so forth.

You were a visitor, not an invader determined to stay. Apples and oranges.

“Cultural sensitivity is always asymmetric. Even in Star Trek the Federation crews always had to bend over backwards to accomodate alien races but it was never the other way around for some reason”

lol, come to think of it, that is a great observation.

of course Captain Kirk was Canadian, haa haa

I don’t see how these are contradictory — they’re basic principles of courtesy. If you go to another country, it’s nice to learn their language. However, if you don’t speak it or don’t speak it well, it’s nice of the people there not to get in your face and spurn you for not knowing it, rather than making at least some effort to understand you.

I often make an effort to study a phrasebook when I go to another country, but sometimes I don’t have time. (In my experience, tourists to the U.S. generally speak better English compared to Americans visiting other countries.) I couldn’t understand a word of Chinese when I went to China despite phrasebook study, but I could still buy things by pointing, signing, and so forth. I never got shit for it. And it’s not like China is a terribly tolerant place.

Cultural sensitivity is always asymmetric. Even in Star Trek the Federation crews always had to bend over backwards to accomodate alien races but it was never the other way around for some reason. :^)

I own a small business and if I can’t understand what someone wants because they don’t speak English and I don’t speak their language, well, I can’t serve them and they need to take their business somewhere else. I may lose out on some business but my business is conducted in English (office and administrative services). It’s not really something I can offer in other languages unless I would be fluent in the other language and I am not fluent in any language other than English. I learned some French in high school and some German in the Army while stationed in Germany. As Lord Dilly says, the US Military ensures their soldiers, sailors and airmen know enough of a local language to at least order in a store, ask what something is and how much it costs, and ask for the bathroom…

Before being deployed to Iraq, we got “cultural sensitivity” training. We saw videos that said we should learn the local language, if only enough to order food. We were admonished against being an “Ugly American” by expecting other countries to accomodate us. Huh. So yet again, America is held to a different standard than the rest of the world.

Most can’t afford the cost to stand up for their rights.