what does it mean?

[cos]

Please comment on this post before you read anyone else's comments.

This weekend, I saw a bumper sticker that said,
Straight, White, English-Speaking
Proud American
For a moment, I was offended ... then I started thinking of several different possible intentions, meanings, and contexts for this slogan. After a bit of confusion, I settled on curiosity. What does it mean? What did the people who sold it intend for it to convey, and what did the person who put it on their car intend to say by it? I can think of several different possibilities or nuances, and maybe there are more.

So tell me, what do you read in this bumper sticker slogan? And if, like me, you see several possibilities, which one came first, before you thought about it?

Comments

[sunspiral.livejournal.com]

I vote for the narrow-minded bigot interpretation.

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

(i responded to another comment with this)

hmm...i thought the sticker was amusing, once my initial reaction of "huh?" was over. reason being, my mom has this button that says "i'm straight but not narrow". i have issues with things like that, because it sounds like those people who feel the need to point out their straightness while adamantly pointing out their ability to "tolerate" or "accept" those of us who aren't. in a perfect world, i would imagine that differences would be celebrated as variety but completely ignored as things that stick out and need to be "tolerated"

this sticker, to me, is thumbing its nose at that, saying "i am this, and i don't really feel the need to envelope you all in my tolerant arms by saying that i am this but i don't mind if you're not".

(i don't think i have much of a problem with what the sticker says, since i do believe that it was written in satire (maybe bigoted, but maybe not, it's the kind of phrase i would use with other words if i got sick enough of all these "proud to be X" things), but i *would* be somewhat wary around a person sporting it.)

[sunspiral.livejournal.com]

The use of "English Speaking" in a bumper sticker or similar generally indicates a particularly nasty variety of USA-grown bigot. That and there's nothing in the text to qualify the sentiments expressed.

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

hmm...english-speaking didn't even register.

i just posted a rather lengthy post about my reaction and what i interpreted from it - if you're interested.

[tpau]

hmm, i don't know. i am in no way USA-grown, i came here at 12, but damn straight i learned english ,andi think everyoneelse shoudl as well... i am nto sure that makes me a biggot in any way however...

[sunspiral.livejournal.com]

No, but I doubt that you make an issue of it on the butt of your car.

[tpau]

no, but possibly only because i have not seen such a sticker. it is something i fairly strongly believe in, and if i saw one i might buy it and display it on my car...

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

i know quite a few people who've come to live in the USA, and to a one, have learned right good english to a one. sometimes better than the natives (like my "step" mom). :>

if i moved to france, i think i'd damn well be expected to be fluent or regret every moment i tried to communicate. as for employment? i'd DAMNED well have a work permit/visa or be on my way to becoming a citizen. i don't think they tolerate folx that try to otherwise get jobs. har.

#

should learn english

[cos]

I came here at age 7, and learned English fairly quickly. Most people who come here young, do so. It's somewhat harder the older they are, and I have a lot of sympathy for grandparents of immigrants, who come here with them, and find it difficult to learn a new language - and mostly don't need to, because they're not working and their adult children are taking care of them.

Overall, though, it's going to come down to availability and motivation in each individual case. I want us to have a common language that most everyone here can understand, but that's never going to happen. I don't know ASL, for example, and there are some ASL speakers who can't learn to speak English, for obvious reasons. There are people with mental/learning disabilities that make it very difficult for them to learn a new language. What about someone who's working 70 hours a week to make a basic living, comes home dead tired every day, and happens to be somewhere where they can get by without speaking English - and can't afford to pay for an English class anyway, even if they had the time? And, of course, there's the new immigrant, who will speak English next year, but doesn't yet. At a casual encounter, you can't tell which of these you're dealing with.

I do think everyone in the US should learn English, but whenever I hear someone say that, even though I agree with the statement itself, it gives me the uncomfortable feeling that they think it's a moral failing to not learn English, and that therefore, those who don't speak English deserve ... something. To be looked down upon, at least. I really don't like that thought.

[cos]

When I was canvassing with lady_tabitha in NH this past Saturday, the first question we asked each person who was home and talked to us was some variant of, "what issues are most important to you, in thinking about this election?" One old woman we came upon thought for a while, and the first one that came to mind for her was "the open door policy". "They're letting too many people in," she said, and remarked about how she runs into people who don't speak English. I suggested to her that funding for English classes and education in general had been less available recently, and there may be people who want to learn English who don't have as much of an opportunity to. She said she hadn't thought of that, but that could be a problem too.