[lg policy] letters to representatives: lANGUAGE POLICY

[Eve Haque]

wrong - it matters very much who WROTE (not forwarded) the message 
because otherwise we don't know what we're up against as language policy 
researchers - if it's "some Johnny Teabagger from Dumbville" then that 
tells us something about the English-only movement - if it's another 
group/person/constituency, then we have learned something else about the 
English-only movement - unspecific descriptors such as "the general 
atmosphere" of the "English only crowd" (who is that exactly? is it 
changing?) tells us nothing new and useful - that's why when we do 
research we don't cite 'anonymous' sources - it tells us nothing.
Eve

Slavomír Čéplö wrote:
> Dear Manel, dear all,
> 
> I must confess I don't understand what all this broohaha is about.
> Unless you are extremely inept at all this IT-stuff, you were able to
> immediately identify the source of this message, which is Harold, and
> we all know that it's not his purpose to convert us to the
> English-only cause, but rather to inform us what the Dark Side is up
> to. How could you possibly object to that?
> And as for the lack of signature, there are only two things a
> signature could have told you: a) who the immediate sender of the
> message is (and how they got your email address etc.) and b) who are
> the troubles souls are who have chosen to pick - of all things - the
> issue of English as official language to write to their President and
> Congressperson. a) is obvious (see above). And as for b), of what use
> could possibly the name of some Johnny Teabagger from Dumbville,
> Arkansas, be to you? The point is not to keep records of who said
> what, but rather what the general atmosphere among the English-only
> crowd is and what kind of arguments they are currently using.
> 
> Yours,
> 
> bulbul
> 
> On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 7:31 PM, Manel Lacorte <mlacorte at umd.edu> wrote:
>> Dear Julia,
>>
>> Thank you for your message. As much as I understand your arguments (and
>> respect and appreciate the work done by Harold for this list), I don't
>> really think that receiving this type of offensive letters without a
>> signature through our list helps me understand any better something that I
>> already know quite well through a variety of other non-academic means. Best.
>> M.
>>
>>
>>
>> Julia De Bres wrote:
>>> This discussion has been held before on this list: as I understand it Hal
>>> forwards on anything relevant to language policy as it comes across his
>>> desk, academic or not, offensive or not. Everyone knows bigoted English Only
>>> champions are out there, and they are as offensive to a non-resident of
>>> America as to anyone else. But what kind of language policy scholars would
>>> we be if we ignored them and only paid attention to views that we agreed
>>> with? Do we really want to only read things by people we agree with? I'd
>>> rather know my enemy.
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> On 5/04/2010, at 6:39 PM, Manel Lacorte <mlacorte at umd.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>> I completely agree with Ofelia's questions and requests. Please remove my
>>> name from the list if I am going to continue receiving this kind of posts.
>>> This is also MY country. Manel Lacorte.
>>>
>>>
>>> Ofelia Garcia wrote:
>>> Where is the signature on this letter? Is this appropriate material to
>>> post? I don't send my personal letters to this group. If this is the kind of
>>> posting that we're getting, then I would want my name removed from this
>>> list. It is also MY country.
>>> Ofelia Garcia
>>> On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 11:03 AM, Harold Schiffman <hfsclpp at gmail.com
>>> <mailto:hfsclpp at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>   Letter to Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-WI 2nd) , 6th-term Democrat
>>>   from Wisconsin.
>>>   lANGUAGE POLICY
>>>   To:
>>>   President Barack Obama
>>>   Rep. Tammy Baldwin
>>>   Sen. Herbert Kohl
>>>   Sen. Russ Feingold
>>>   January 29, 2010
>>>   We want English to be our official language. Immigrants who come to
>>>   our Country are required to learn English. We are waisting Billions of
>>>   dollars each year printing our information in dozens of foreign
>>>   languages. Why do you keep catering to all the foreigners when you
>>>   should be making them abide by our laws? By not making foreigners
>>>   learn our language, you are allowing them to set up little foreign
>>>   communities inside our country and not assimilate into our society. We
>>>   are wasting Billions of our school systems money to teach foreigners
>>>   in their own language.  Stop catering to foreigners and start working
>>>   for "OUR" Country for a change.
>>>   Brodhead , WI
>>>   --
>>>   **************************************
>>>   N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
>>>   its members
>>>   and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
>>>   or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents.
>>>   Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal.
>>>   (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
>>>   For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
>>>   https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
>>>   listinfo/lgpolicy-list
>>>   *******************************************
>>>   _______________________________________________
>>>   This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
>>>   lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
>>>   <mailto:lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu>
>>>   To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format:
>>>   https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list
>> --
>> Manel Lacorte
>> Assoc. Professor of Spanish Applied Linguistics
>> Director, Spanish Language Program
>> Coordinator of Instruction and Professional Development
>> Spanish and Portuguese/SLLC JMZ 2202
>> University of Maryland, College Park MD 20742
>> Tel. 301/405 8233. Fax. 301/314 9752
>> http://www.languages.umd.edu/SpanishPortuguese/
>> _______________________________________________
>> This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
>> lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
>> To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format:
>> https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list
>>
> 
> _______________________________________________
> This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
> lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
> To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list