Kennt Nichts
Of my eight great-grandparents, I think only two were born in the US (and, if memory serves, one in Canada). While all my grandparents were born in the US, I think two of them may have grown up speaking other languages.
Speaking of other languages, I speak German pretty fluently, took Latin and Spanish in high school and can still read both, can get around in Dutch well enough to order beer and read the newspaper, and am going to learn Russian one of these days.
There. The bona fides are out of the way. Now, on to the thesis.
Als Journalist, Nick Coleman ist ein fabelhafte Metzger."
There's a bill in the House that'd require public assistance recipients learn English:
As documented in a recent study by the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, the mood of many Minnesotans, especially in "exurbia," has turned increasingly hostile toward immigrants and refugees. Many people who have never met an immigrant other than at a convenience store service counter want them to stop with all the foreign gibberish and learn to talk the local lingo. Pronto. ("Pronto" is Italian, but let's skip over that).
Which brings me to a Know-Nothing proposal from a 28-year-old state representative named Brad Finstad. I don't usually pick on kids who are still wet behind the ears, but this one deserves a spanking [Note to Fraters: Literary pennies from heaven]. Young Bradley, a second-term Republican from New Ulm, wants to require new arrivals to learn English in a year or lose their state benefits. I'd like to see Bradley learn a new language in a year...
Ironically, he follows that by saying "Gott im Himmel", which is, not to pick nits, incorrect in German. So perhaps we should wait for Rep. "Young Bradley" Finstad
and Coleman to learn another language. But I digress.
The whole piece leads up to this little rant at the end:
One hundred years ago, during the first year of our beautiful State Capitol, Col. Colvill [Commander of the legendary First Minnesota Regiment, singularly and as a group among the great heroes of the Civil War] was supposed to lead a procession carrying the First Minnesota's battle flags from the old Capitol building to the new one for installation in the rotunda. But the old warhorse, who was badly wounded at Gettysburg, died in his sleep the night before. Instead of bearing his bullet-torn battle flags, he was carried into the Capitol himself and laid in state -- the first Minnesotan given that honor -- while former comrades filed past his casket.
I want you to think about that next time you bump into the colonel's statue, Bradley. Did all of the veterans who mourned Colvill's passing 100 year ago speak English?
At that time in history, it's very likely they didn't.
But - and this is a key distinction, for all of you who take Nick Coleman seriously - they served their country, demonstrating their attachment to and love for the United States with their very lives.
There is a legitimate concern that we are repeating the same mistakes the Europeans have made; handing over boundless public largesse to immigrants many of whom are not, in turn, demonstrating any loyalty to the nation that's feeding and housing them, and eventually letting them at a standard of living they could never achieve in their native countries. The Germans of New Ulm (and, for that matter, my hometown) showed their allegiance to this nation, and the society that adopted them, by joining the Army (as did, indeed, my ex-father-in-law, who spoke German until age eight and served with distinction in the Navy during WWII); is it too much to ask that the new immigrants merely make a serious effort to learn to get by in English?
Learn the language; be loyal to the nation. It doesn't seem that much to ask, does it?
Join the military, learn the language; immigrants routinely do one, the other or both to assimilate to this nation. Pity Nick Coleman can't seem to manage either.
UPDATE: Ryan hauls off on Coleman, too, and he's a lot funnier than I am.
Posted by Mitch at
January 5, 2005 07:46 AM
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Same old same old Nick. Where to start? Exurbia is increasingly hostile toward immigrants? (I love the use of Exurbia as a liberal tag for all things evil, seeing as how that's where they all want to live and raise their kids.) Throughout US history each immigrant group in turn has been hostile to the next. Nothing new. And what constitutes hostile? Asking new immigrants to learn the lingua franca of the country? At one time immigrants could settle in homogenous groups -- largely farming communities or urban neighborhood blocs -- and conduct community activities and commerce in their native tongue. No longer.
Posted by: chriss at January 5, 2005 12:09 PMHere's the problem with Nick: Anyone who questions limitless government largesse is immediately tagged as an unfeeling cretin.
Never mind the legitimate debate about if we are actually doing immigrants (and their children) a disservice by not requiring them to learn English. Never mind the legitimate debate that could be had about how many years we should allow immigrants to learn English.
Nope, not for Nick. Anyone who questions limitless government programs and subsidies as the best answer to all issues is an uncaring, unfeeling meany-pants.
Oh, and if there was a 28 year old liberal Democrat in the legislature you can be that Nick would be praising his initiative, not questioning his basic goodness and motives.
28 years old, in the legislature, and already a target of Nick. Sounds like "young Bradley" has a very bright future! But, I guess 28 is too young to "know stuff."
And while Nick blasts Geraghty for calling him "a nasty little man," he has no problem calling Finstad "wet behind the ears" and deserving of a spanking. Spanking, questioning what the Power Line guys are compensating for... sounds like Nick has some issues of his own for a shrink!
Hey, what a coincidence! I took on Coleman today as well. We're kind of like Coleman-bashing Brothers, with the same hairline and everything!
Posted by: Ryan at January 5, 2005 12:36 PMIs it me, or is Coleman like that hyperactive nephew with an inattentive set of parents that is always doing goofy/stupid things to get attention of any sort? Be it bashing or scolding, seems to me that he needs the 'validation'.
Posted by: mdmhvonpa at January 5, 2005 12:46 PMHeh.
Upon submitting his citizenship papers, my father was drafted into the US Army, sent to Korea, and didn't get his citizen ship until after he was discharged. I don't know how long it took him to master english. the point is, his citizenship came at a pretty steep price.
Getting asked to learn english in exchange gov't assistance, seems a pretty fair deal in comparison.
Posted by: Rick at January 5, 2005 02:54 PMI see where "Nick Boy" Coleman went after the NRO column on him over some small factual errors, but not the mood/spirit/leitmotif that N. Coleman has exuded all these years. Nick was an idiot 20 years ago as writer and is still an idiot (guess that classifies you to work on a paper). His opinions if you stand in his liberal way is that you are a mean evil person. Well, Nick Coleman, you are the mean spirited man who thinks everyone should pay YOUR way.
This guy is up for a Fiskie in 2005, I hope.
Posted by: Greg at January 5, 2005 03:05 PMMr. Coleman has also missed a major difference: I pretty much guarantee that NONE of those veterans to whom he refers were living off public assistance, as those programs didn't exist then. And so Rep. Finstad's bill wouldn't have any bearing on them, or anyone like them today. Rep. Finstad's bill says nothing at all about people who aren't on public assistance. If you want to work, or be an entrepreneur, or even go into the military, the bill doesn't require you to learn English. It just says that if you're going to live off public assistance, you should learn English as a first step toward being a productive citizen.
Nice blog, by the way!
Posted by: UML Guy at January 6, 2005 01:40 AMI am sure that it is a waste of my time to add my comments to a conservative blog, but I am hoping that the readers may be interested in more than self-validating rants and appreciate a little factual information regarding this topic of the anti-immigrant proposal by Rep. Finstad. First, a bit of historical context: to Mr. UML Guy who indicated that the German non-English speaking immigrants who came to the US did not receive anything for free...you are forgetting about a little thing called the Homestead Act of 1862.check it out, you will find that the US government gave millions of acres of land for FREE to settlers (immigrants and US citizens alike) to come to the West! That is why people came in covered wagons to the West, for the free land or free mineral claims (yep, if you found a mind in public land, it was yours!) Sweet deal for your ancestors!
My own ancestors, however, were Native American people and Spanish settlers who lost their lands after the US military conquests of the 19th century. Don't fret, I won't go into a tirade about the ethnic cleansings, etc. that took place, just wanted to mention this fact so you understand that to be American is NOT the same as being a Christian, English-speaking White person (never was, never will be!) An immigrant needs to learn English in order to successfully communicate with his/hers monolingual English speaking community, it is a tool, as simple as that. Also, a new immigrant may want to be come a US citizen in order to fully participate in the political life of the nation, but he or she already has all the OBLIGATIONS of a citizen!
Neither speaking English nor US citizenship indicates who is a good American. Legal immigrants are people that play by the rules (came here legally!), that pay taxes, can join the military (or be drafted!) should be treated the same as any other American when requesting public assistance. After all, this is one of the services they and all of us are paying for with our taxes...so in case we fall in hard times, we can have a safety net while we get back on our feet...Rep. Finstad's proposal is just another attempt by a politician to appear super patriotic in order to score points with the voters. Alas, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel".
Let me conclude by giving you White Americans, on behalf of the ORIGINAL inhabitants of the US, a warm welcome to OUR America...enjoy your stay, but don't bother the other guests! miigwech, gracias, thank you...
Posted by: Native American at January 10, 2005 12:56 PMSorry because of this, but somehow I feel compelled to comment here, as it bugs me that you are criticizing Cole for his usuage of the German language, whilst you yourself are not using it properly.
For one: "Gott im Himmel" is a statement that is used in Germany. It isn't used very often, usually we prefer to say " Oh mein Gott" or "Herr Gott nochmal", but it is correct.
If you wanted to criticize him on terms of using incorrect German, I would suggest that you use following sentence: "Not long ago, mein kinder, the boot was on the other foot." as this should really read: "Not long ago, mein Kind, the boot..."
On the other hand your sentence: "Als Journalist, Nick Coleman ist ein fabelhafte Metzger." isn't grammatically correct either.
The correct usage would be : " Als Journalist ist Nick Coleman ein fabelhafter Metzger."
Note that the sentence structure as well as the adjective weren't right.
I really don't intend to undermine your arguments, as I don't think his article was well thought through either, but I just don't like people criticizing others on things that they don't do any better themselves.
Sorry!
P.S. Just in case you were asking yourself - I am German.
Posted by: Tarantulady at January 12, 2005 05:10 AM