Mike Lindell must have something pretty solid.
I had a short visit with a liberal friend of mine recently. He told me that, for his daughter's graduation, his Dad offered to pay for a Disney cruise for the whole family (something like $15,000). My friend didn't want to refuse his Dad's generous offer, and since Disney cruises require vaccination he went right ahead and got the vaccine for himself, his wife, and both kids. He claimed there was no way around it since "they passed a law that says it's not illegal to mandate vaccines." He couldn't cite the law, nor could he understand why I thought it was a bad idea. He was just so excited about the possibility of going on a Disney cruise. I don't know what to do about friends and family like this anymore. God help us.
Discussion 9- (Change and Choice) How can languages change? How do new languages form? Is change good or bad?
New words and phrases are created all the time, while others are dropped from society for different reasons. Meaning shifts also take place regularly through human history. Bogus, dude, bad, sick, and spam are a few examples given in the text. Another interesting example is the word gay, which can be found in many songs prior to the 1970s in which it simply means to be happy or delightful. Obviously, it carries a more complex definition today that now includes sexual preference. Units of measurement also come to mind. Ancient measurements like the stadia or cubit were ultimately replaced with British standards that we still use today. Internal and external changes are responsible for the evolution of language. It evolves into dialects as the population moves and splits apart, eventually becoming distinct languages in their own right. Social, political, and ideological interests all contribute to language change as well. Change can be good or bad depending on the goals of the speaker, and how they present their ideas.
Just as the term youse carries certain assumptions, “Y’all has overtones of the “old” South, and some folks feel that it signifies a similarly “uneducated,” “low-class,” or “dumb” speaker, as well as someone who continues to believe in an outmoded “Southern” value system.” (Ottenheimer, 295). I would argue that y’all is a contraction, something that follows the rules of English. Also, I wouldn’t say that chivalry, honor, hard work, and dedication to family are part of an “outmoded value system,” but rather, these are part of the misconceptions humans can have about others. This also proves that “dialects are the result of change. They are just different—that’s all. Of course, people may want to assign relative value to one or another dialect, but that’s just a matter of language ideology.” (Ibid, 301). There’s an even bigger misconception at work in what are known as mock languages.
“Hill identifies Mock Spanish as a form of language play that occurs primarily among Anglos, or Americans who are predominantly monolingual in English. It includes jokey expressions such as no problemo or hasta la pasta or numero two-oh, as well as more aggressively negative expressions such as hasta la vista, baby (as heard, for example, in the Terminator movies) These kinds of expressions are seen as funny or aggressive primarily because, for their Anglo speakers, they access hidden negative stereotypes of Spanish speakers and, in particular, of Mexicans and Mexican Americans.” (Ibid, 334). What negative stereotype can be inferred from phrases like hasta la vista, baby, no problemo, or hasta la pasta? These are better examples of codeswitching than racism I think. The racism lies in saying that only white people use mock languages. I also think the Terminator learned that phrase from a kid who was trying to teach him Spanish in the movie, since it sounded more badass than English. This is bringing cultures together, even a compliment to Spanish, not racism. When you refer to something as uber terrific, it doesn’t mean you’re making fun of Germans does it? This is precisely the type of garbage that forced Taco Bell to change their old slogans Run for the border and Yo quiero Taco Bell. They were also accused of being racist in a commercial for naked chicken chalupas. In this regard, I’d say change is bad. The articles are linked below.
The final insult to “Anglo speakers” made me cringe. “The mock African American dialects that are attributed to the fun-loving characters in Hollywood cartoons (think, for example, of the crab character in The Little Mermaid or the crows in Dumbo) are probably good examples of the same sort of hidden linguistic racism.” (Ibid, 335). But if every character sounded like a white guy, the movie would still be seen as racist due to a lack of linguistic diversity, so you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Personally, I always imagined the crab to be of Jamaican descent, and I always thought the crows in Dumbo were just cool, country white guys. I never associated the accent with black people until I got to college and learned about hidden linguistic racism. Ultimately, as languages change so do ideas about what constitutes racism. I’d bet that many of things labeled racist today were not so just a few generations ago.
Works Cited:
LATimes.com. “Yo Quiero Respect and Sensitivity.” Accessed 5/12/2020. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-21-me-31260-story.html
Ottenheimer, Harriet Joseph and Judith M.S. Pine. The Anthropology of Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology, Fourth Edition. Boston: Cengage Learning, Inc. (2019).
Rath, Julien. “Taco Bell edited an ad for its 'Naked Chicken Chalupa' that some viewers claimed was 'racist'.” Accessed 5/12/2020. https://www.businessinsider.com/taco-bell-edited-racist-ad-naked-chicken-chalupa-and-is-removing-from-menu-2017-3
Don't feel bad if you've never heard of White Lion. This song will cement their place in history forever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhCqJuXvoWo
Lyrics:
Little child dry your crying eyes How can I explain the fear you feel inside 'Cause you were born into this evil world Where man is killing man and no one knows just why What have we become just look what we have done All that we destroyed you must build again
When the children cry let them know we tried 'Cause when the children sing then the new world begins
Little child you must show the way To a better day for all the young 'Cause you were born for all the world to see That we all can live with love and peace No more presidents and all the wars will end One united world under God
When the children cry let them know we tried 'Cause when the children sing then the new world begins
What have we become just look what we have done All that we destroyed you must build again No more presidents and all the wars will end One united world under God
When the children cry let them know we tried When the children fight let them know it ain't right When the children pray let them know the way 'Cause when the children sing then the new world begins
"Yeah, well that's why I'm proud to be an American."
:08-17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsE-E4OPZ84
I was inspired to remember the many reasons I'm proud to be an American after seeing this article today:
https://www.rt.com/news/528197-france-mandatory-vaccination-covid-considered/
Happy Independence Day everyone!
"Marine Major Pleads Not Guilty to 9 Charges in DC Capitol Riot, Gets Released By Court"
Also, "Marine Corps the Least Vaccinated Military Service, New Data Shows"
