Well shit, I saw a hateful racist bumper sticker this morning and it put me in a funk

[Union Label]

This is what it said. Uncle Sam wants you to speak English WTF is wrong with these hateful pricks?

[Maestro]

1. Don't let the xenophobic pricks get to you.

For the longest time I had a bumper sticker that said, "Bilingual is 2X Better." It finally just wore off after about ten years of use. :)

[blondeatlast]

7. !Me gusta! nt

[Union Label]

8. Thanks for the encouraging words everyone

I just cant see this happening in this day and age here in blue California and the Bay Area at that.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. keep yer chin up.

[Cheap_Trick]

3. they suffer from cranial-rectal fusion

in layman's terms, they have their heads up their asses. that's why so few conservatives die from colon cancer. they can see trouble before it starts.

[aikoaiko]

4. I think its more xenophobic than racist, IMHO

It applies to all races.

[gollygee]

6. I wonder

If a guy with a bumper sticker like that met a tall blonde woman who only spoke French, he'd be falling over himself trying to get her attention.

[aikoaiko]

12. Well, attention/sex with a hottie does override all prejudice.

;)

[Buns_of_Fire]

22. Lenny Bruce once did a bit on this in the sixties...

He would say to the males in the audience (I'm paraphrasing, here, from memory), "Okay, let's say you have to get married. And it'll be to either a white, white woman or a black, black woman. They're both roughly the same age, so it's not really an unfair comparison. Married. Remember, this is at least a 20-year span. Twenty years of watching her take off her hose, snuggling real close on cold nights, seeing every facet of her.

"Now here's the punch line: The white, white woman is Kate Smith -- and the black, black woman is Lena Horne!

"So you're not concerned about "black" or "white" anymore, are you?..."

(I learned a lot from Lenny Bruce.)

[TankLV]

15. Very good and interesting point...

one of those things that make you go hmmmm...

[Buzz Clik]

5. I like the fact that I can pick up bits and pieces of languages quickly....

... and I can become functional in languages when visiting other countries. But, I'm always very grateful when, as a visitor, I find people who can and will speak English to me.

I can only imagine my reaction if I encountered someone who was encouraging others in their country to never speak to me in English because they hate me. It probably happens, but I refuse to join that herd of morons in the US.

[EstimatedProphet]

9. Some sixtoed sisterfucker here has that too

Takes up the whole of his pickup gate.

[xchrom]

10. i know how you feel. nt

[LanternWaste]

11. I guess he's a guy who wants to rename...

I guess he's a guy who wants to rename the city of Baton Rouge to Red Stick.

English-Only proponents are a waste of my time, my patience, and my air.

[WinkyDink]

13. Is language "racial"?

[DCKit]

14. Maybe it was one of US speaking to the freepers? n/t

[wake.up.america]

19. Went to a handball tournament in Switzerland. Spoke to people in English, German, and Spanish...

no big deal. My daughter speaks English, German, some French and a little Turkish. Very interesting life it must be to be angry with people who don't speak English. Yikes!!!!

[Ayesha]

16. My bumper sticker response

Welcome to America. Now speak Cherokee!

[BoneDaddy]

17. dont give them power

over your mood.

[hfojvt]

18. I am not sure how that is either hateful or racist

Your OP is undermined by the fact that it is in English. Try it again auf Deutsch or something. You know what would make a hateful bumpersticker, something that concluded "WTF is wrong with these hateful pricks?" That's hateful. And sexist. And way, way over the top, as if a simple bumpersticker is the moral equivalent of four huge guys pounding on somebody with baseball bats for speaking spanish. No comprendo.

[Orsino]

20. "Uncle Sam Is Fictional" n/t

[Cyrano]

21. Hatred is the first (and perhaps the only) response of the truly ignorant.

When you see a bumper sticker like that, the vehicle's owner might as well be driving around with a bumper sticker that reads "I'm an incredible moron, an asshole, and a racist prick. If you don't believe me, just read my bumper sticker."

Yeah, that would be a lot to put on a bumper sticker, but I think it pretty well states the interpretation of the "Uncle Sam ... " bumper sticker being displayed by this idiot.

By tomorrow, your funk might be gone. But be prepared for it's return. There's no shortage of assholes in the world.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. When I see stickers like that I speak profanity.

[karlrschneider]

24. In what tongue?

:eyes:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

32. Profanity is pretty universal.

Cabron. Scheisskopf. Merde. Fuckhead.

[Perry Logan]

25. And I'm sure the driver butchers English with every word he speaks.

[IndianaJones]

26. what would Lou Dobbs say? nt.

[BB1]

27. Welcome to Holland. Where you'll be spoken to in English

of course. As a dutiful 51st state we would welcome you no other way. We also would not forgo the opportunity to point out that English and German and Dutch are quite similar and related for centuries.

Besides, Uncle Sam doesn't want you to speak English - he wants you to kill everyone who doesn't.

Or so it seems, although the language the use on the hill doesn't even remotely resembles English spoken in the sticks.

[judaspriestess]

28. I'm sure he's refering to his actual Uncle Sam who is also

his daddy and his mothers brother.

[RB TexLa]

29. Not as racist as the "Work ... It's the White thing to do" one

[krispos42]

31. Ouch!

Where did you see that one?!?!?!?

:puke:

[DangerDave921]

33. Wow

That is utterly despicable. Never heard that one. Although as a kid I do remember other kids saying, "Thanks, mighty white of you" when you did something nice for them. Ugh!

The English-only thing is not really racist. More like linguist, if that's a word. It does not imply racial inferiority.

[krispos42]

30. It sounds like he's upset with the integration problem in America

Which I can understand, although I don't feel inclined to post stupid bumper stickers on my car.

The problem stems from NAFTA (a corporatist polity) smashing the Mexican economy and our lax law enforcement not throwing people that hire illegals in jail (also a corporatist policy) creating a vacuum for cheap labor in America And, of couse, nature abhorrs a vacuum.

Because the majority of immigrants in this country are Mexican, and an awful lot of those entered illegally for economic reasons and see little if any reason to integrate, it's creating a problem. It is not like when Europeans came here in the late 19th and early 20th century, there was little contact with the home country. There was no instant, regular communication with the home country. They couldn't go there on on a casual visit. Contact was cut off. No telephone, no email, telegraphs were very expensive, and it took weeks for a letter to cross the Atlantic.

This is not the case now. And the constant flood of people entering illegally, mostly from Mexico, who come here only to work and send money home don't integrate. Yeah, it's true that third-generation Americans of Mexican decent speak fluent English and only a little Spanish, but we have a quarter million "first generation" Mexicans coming here every year for the last three decades.

Dropping such a big chunk of a particular ethnic group in the "melting pot" that is America makes the melting process awful slow. One big chunk of ices melts a lot slower then a dozen little cubes of the same weight.

I do think that the United States can easily accomdate 300,000 immigrants a year. In fact, with our birthrate declining and the population aging, I think it's mandatory that we do so. However, I also think it's time to start spreading it out to other countries, especially those where the population is in trouble and upheaval. Darfur comes to mind. 50,000 people a year from that troubled area of the world would really help out there. Lebanon, Palestine, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Iran, North Korea... maybe Pakistan, now that the shit has hit the fan there.

Okay, flame away...

[King Coal]

35. No flame here. I'd say you have that spot on.

[LeftishBrit]

34. Well, I suppose it might be a good idea if Bush spoke English!

Seriously, I can't stand racists and xenophobes. We have them here too.

[Bigmack]

36. At least it didn't say...

"Jesus wants you to speak English.... like He did!"