Monday, September 7, 2015

Sarah Palin: Let's all 'speak American' - Nicole Chatham 6th period


In this news article, Sarah Palin responds to a difference in views between Republican candidates: Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. The disagreement in views is over candidates and the language that they use to speak during the presidential campaign trail. While Donald Trump believes that candidates should not speak Spanish while campaigning in the United States, Jeb Bush disagrees calling Trump intolerant.

Sarah Palin now has the floor to speak, as in this article she is interviewed by CNN on a few different topics. She believes that it is a benefit of Jeb Bush to be fluent in Spanish in order to connect with the large majority of the Hispanic population in the U.S. However, she also thinks that immigrants and those living in the United States should speak English. She believes that the English language is a unifying aspect of America, that it’s representative of our country, and that it should be understood by all. She also goes on to discuss other topics such as the Federal Energy Department and how she would get rid of it, as well as how she would consider the position of Energy Secretary in Donald Trump’s political cabinet.

Analysis- Overall, I found this article to be pretty interesting! The topic of immigration is very prevalent in the presidential campaign and this viewpoint brings more opinions to the discussion. I agree with Sarah Palin in the sense of wanting to have America unified and to improve communication for all. However, I also find this viewpoint to be difficult, as America has been very diverse in languages and cultures from day one. I feel that this article relates back in U.S. history when European colonists came to the New World to settle. In the process of claiming new land, the European colonists took over the areas where Native Americans lived, and in an effort to unify the colonies, the European settlers tried to convert the natives to their new ways and language. I am curious to see where this topic leads and whether Sarah Palin’s words will spark future discussion during this political campaign.

4 comments:

  1. I agree and disagree with Sarah Palin. I think that people should value more the diversity of our country. I think it is perfectly fine if people in America don't know how to speak English, and I think we should try better to accommodate them instead of telling them to learn English. I mean, we are already asking so much of immigrants, we shouldn't have to ask them to learn a completely new language too. If you think about it, the American southwest was Spanish before it was "American" so I almost think it is unfair to tell people to learn English. But I do agree that English is a very big unifying factor in America, so we could encourage people to learn English, but certainly not require it or force it.

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  3. I totally agree in the sense of a more unified, stable society! However, seeing as how everyone obviously has different opinions and it's impossible to make everyone happy, so I think she should have a better strategy than, "Everyone should learn how to speak English and Spanish".

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  4. First off, if the US's national language was English then maybe everyone should learn English but since we don't even have a national language it would be benefitial to all to at least learn more than one language as it has been scientifically proven to be better for you. Secondly, this nation was built on top of people who didn't speak English (the Native Americans and various immigrants) so I do think English is key, but I really think being bilingual in one other language should be the norm rather than the exception here in America where we have so many different languages in close quarters.

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