Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Spanish-language commercials on English-language TV

Wes Mantooth · 03-14-2010, 01:18 PM

In my opinion the major problem here in the US is that we haven't attempted build an infrastructure to accommodate for foreign speaking immigrants. Looking at our history of immigration we have a long standing tradition of "Americanizing" immigrants in every way possible, even going so far as to (and I'd have to check to see if this is true) give them more American sounding names straight off the boat. Its created an environment that's woefully unprepared for the influx of Spanish speaking people and worse still its created a sense of entitlement amongst US citizens to an unchanging "American culture".

I do think things are changing here in the US, it seems more and more people are open to the idea of learning or at least accepting Spanish and I wouldn't be surprised if in a few generations a good percentage of Americans have at least a basic understanding of the language.

One thing that bugs me about this issue is it plays into the stereotype of the lazy, ignorant, stupid American who can't be bothered to learn about other cultures or deal with a changing world. I hate this stereotype, its an unfair assessment of us as a people and the things we've accomplished as a nation but it gets really difficult to defend against when we make such a huge deal out of this issue. We should be able to adapt quicker and easier to a changing world and not always be dragged kicking and screaming into every cultural shift we face. I think we're better then that as a country.

03-14-2010, 01:18 PM	#44 (permalink)
Wes Mantooth Junkie Location: Tennessee	In my opinion the major problem here in the US is that we haven't attempted build an infrastructure to accommodate for foreign speaking immigrants. Looking at our history of immigration we have a long standing tradition of "Americanizing" immigrants in every way possible, even going so far as to (and I'd have to check to see if this is true) give them more American sounding names straight off the boat. Its created an environment that's woefully unprepared for the influx of Spanish speaking people and worse still its created a sense of entitlement amongst US citizens to an unchanging "American culture". I do think things are changing here in the US, it seems more and more people are open to the idea of learning or at least accepting Spanish and I wouldn't be surprised if in a few generations a good percentage of Americans have at least a basic understanding of the language. One thing that bugs me about this issue is it plays into the stereotype of the lazy, ignorant, stupid American who can't be bothered to learn about other cultures or deal with a changing world. I hate this stereotype, its an unfair assessment of us as a people and the things we've accomplished as a nation but it gets really difficult to defend against when we make such a huge deal out of this issue. We should be able to adapt quicker and easier to a changing world and not always be dragged kicking and screaming into every cultural shift we face. I think we're better then that as a country. __________________ “My god I must have missed it...its hell down here!”