You know what? Americans can be pretty stupid. Not only did a lot of people "tweet" saying the Coca Cola ad featured our national anthem, but even those who recognize the difference between "America the Beautiful" and "The Star Spangled Banner" were going off about parts of the song being sung in different languages. Wow. I guess America should no longer be a beacon of shining light that people from all over the world will look to for safety and sanctuary. I get that English is our language (though how many citizens are aware that when our founding fathers voted, we were only a small handful of votes shy of being a German-speaking nation?) but does that mean that people of other backgrounds can't use their native tongue to express how beautiful our country is??? I guess that beauty is only topographical, right now.
It's funny, when you think about it. A lot of my ancestry is Irish, and they spoke English when they came to America, but people who had already been here were very much anti-Irish because they were coming here and "taking all the jobs". People would refuse to hire "micks", telling them to go back to Ireland. (Sound familiar, my Latino friends?) We have become too greedy a people; we are no longer willing to share our "American dream" with others.
My ideas about immigration have certainly changed over the years, I would like to think for the better, and that could be a whole new rant. I think I had better save that for another post, though, since I do have to get to work.
