I saw this bumper sticker yesterday:
Text:
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you’re reading it in English, thank a soldier.
It reminded me of when Lisa and I visited the Atomic Testing Museum here in Vegas last year (inspired posts here and here). There was a video about atomic testing in Nevada with a lot of scientists who took part talking about it. Several of them said things to the effect of, “Yeah, ok, so it turns out testing nuclear bombs had some negative effects for people, and we’re sorry about that. But we had to do it, and if we didn’t, you’d be living in the Soviet Union right now!”
I understand that the point of the bumper sticker is that speaking English means we haven’t been taken over by some other country that doesn’t speak English (apparently we don’t have to worry about Britain, Canada, or the many former colonies where at least a large minority speak English or where it is the language used for official government matters) and haven’t been forced to adopt their culture. But I have to say, when I think of things that would worry me if some other country took over the U.S., whether we’d continue to speak English wouldn’t be my top concern.
Comments 14
ms liberty — January 3, 2009
I bet the survivors of North America's indigenous races don't think English is a sign of their freedom.
Elena — January 3, 2009
Well... "If you're reading this in English, thank a Navajo code talker."
Heather Leila — January 3, 2009
With the rest of the world taking English classes, I really wonder why some Americans are so nervous and protective about the English language. Did you hear about the case in Louisiana this summer? After the valedictorian gave part of her speech in Vietnamese (because she is Vietnamese and her family doesn't speak much English) the school board tried to pass a rule prohibiting graduations speeches made in anything but English.
http://heatherleila3.blogspot.com/2008/07/terrebonne-should-be-renamed-goodland.html
Sonja — January 3, 2009
Reading this in Germany gives this a completely different meaning...
What's the other sticker say? It seems as if there's an Italian flag on it, which is confusing.
Village Idiot — January 3, 2009
If you can't read this, thank your woefully underfunded education system.
So which language besides english would we be speaking if not for soldiers? Apache? French? Spanish? And are these other languages unfit for human communication or something?
¡América será bilingüe sobre mi cadáver!
Cecil — January 3, 2009
Also, fj cruiser? Apparently this individual is not a citizen of the Earth if they can drive around that large SUV
http://blog.vehiclevoice.com/Toyota%20FJ%20Cruiser%20F34%20Blog.jpg
abc — January 4, 2009
"But I have to say, when I think of things that would worry me if some other country took over the U.S., whether we’d continue to speak English wouldn’t be my top concern."
This sentence confuses me. What's bothering you about the bumper sticker? There is no assumption that speaking English would be anyone's top concern if the US were overtaken. There's no suggestion that it should be anyone's top concern, either. It's simply a clever way of drawing our attention to the fact that without our military, our lives would be very different. This is done via reflection on what language we're speaking, but the message isn't dependent on that. (In fact, once it causes us to reflect on the possible scenarios it makes salient, we notice that some of them need not involve our actually speaking a language other than English.) The means to the message and the message itself are distinct.
Am I missing something? What bothers you?
yikes — January 4, 2009
Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but it bothers ME because "if you're reading it in English" is nonsensical. There's no other way TO read it, because it is written in English. Many non-native English speakers can read English. Does this mean that a soldier kept the bumper sticker factory from being held hostage and forced to print their slogans in a language other than English?
If it said "SINCE you're reading this in English, you should thank a soldier," the point might be better made. As it stands, it is just lame jingoism.
Gis — January 4, 2009
For some reason, the fact that "english" and "soldier" are in italics REALLY pisses me off.
Dave — January 5, 2009
Sonja - you're totally right about non-English-speaking countries reading this message differently. I live in Quebec, where the use of English is associated with military conquest and colonialism, so driving around with one of these bumper stickers could get you lynched, or be found completely hilarious.
Gwen — January 5, 2009
abc--
I dislike the way it plays on this idea that English is endangered, or that we're lucky we're still able to speak English, which is the same rhetoric used by organizations like English Only that want to adopt English as our official language. Should I also thank them for protecting me from, say, bilingual education?
Also, I agree with Yikes--it's the jingoistic element.
OP Minded — January 5, 2009
Like a lot of people, my parents first taught me to read... why do teachers get the credit?
Bea Moreira — January 6, 2009
When I graduated in high school (08) I went to a acquaintance/friend's house, and saw this on her mother's car. I'm Brazilian, and have an accent (not super strong, sometimes it's unoticeable, but still, I have it), and really didn't know what to make of this sticker. What is even weirder is that I had an English class with this girl, and I LOVE English, and did really well at that class (it was an elective, Semantics).
I'm not going to say that sticker offended me, but I wasn't particularly happy with it. I tried to understand what the person meant, and I could only come with the fact that he/she is probably anti-immigrant, and probably favors English as official language. Look, as I said, I loved my English class, as I loved my Portuguese, Spanish, and French classes, I love languages, and it is this very fact that makes this sticker so weirdly appalling to me.
I'm very opposed to English Only, and love diversity. This sticker is for people who favor English Only, and may even favor war.
Andrew — January 11, 2009
I must say, I'm with 'abc'. While I'm certainly not for English-only campaigns (we're a country of diverse backgrounds, none of which should be squashed), this doesn't appear IMO to be about English per se. It's just a round about way of showing that we should thank our soldiers for their contributions to our physical freedom and teachers for their contributions to our mental freedom. Probably not the best way to go about it, but hey, when were bumper stickers ever a forum of debate?