Hasta la Wal-Mart, Baby!
It is official. Spanish is now the official language of the United States. Why? Because Wal-Mart says so. Not in so many words maybe, but definitely by their actions. It started innocently enough. First one, then two clerks with little attachments on their name tags that say “Habla Espanol.” Then the headlines of the celebrity magazines in the checkout aisle, one by one, started switching from english to spanish. Over time it grew. More clerks. More magazines in espanol. Packaging all over the store slowly became predominately spanish, with the english relegated to the back or bottom of the boxes.
Then, today, the straw that broke the camel’s back. The music. Not just the typical, quiet, background music. Loud, in your face, dominate your shopping experience kind of music. Elevator music? No way! Blues? Jazz? Not a chance! This was South of the border, hat dancin’, big old fat guitar twangin’ mariachi bangin’ music. Come on WalMart. I understand your desire to market to a growing ethnic population, but the music?! You’re making us listen to the music?!
Now don’t get me wrong. I have no problem at all with the Mexican immigrants that have come to our community, after all, as the sign says, “A great place to work and play.” I am a retailer in my community, and I truly appreciate my customers from the South part of North America. They are courteous, happy, and happy to spend money. They never cause grief, they never cut in line, and they alway say hello, thank you, and goodbye. That’s a lot more than I can say about most of my American born customers. But they don’t expect me to speak spanish. They don’t expect me to have spanish labels on my products, and they definitely don’t expect me to have a band of mariachis playing ranchero while they shop.
Wal-Mart has come a long way from the store I remember that had and American flag hanging in every entrance and signs everywhere that used to say “Whenever we can, we buy American made!” Now, the flags must be a little too controversial, and the signs have disappeared along with anything that is American made. In fact, if you’re an inventor who wants your product sold in a Wal-Mart, they are going to tell you the same thing they have told countless suppliers before you. “Fly to China. Meet with some manufacturing plants, and call us when you have cut the cost by at least 70%.”
Wal-Mart is no longer America’s store. Its primary customers in America aren’t Americans anymore, and they no longer have Sam’s legacy desire of supporting American suppliers and manufactures. They’re buying in chinese, selling in spanish, and earning billions of American dollars doing it, all the while paying their employees a pittance and bankrupting the communities they serve.
Sadly, though, while I target Wal-Mart with this rant, they are just a drop in the bucket of the shift in our nations attitude toward nationalism. In the great state of California, at least in the school district that I have some personal experience with, they will not hire a teacher that doesn’t speak spanish. English speaking students are left out because the teachers and most of the class speak to each other all day in spanish. In Salt Lake City, the five year old daughter of a friend isn’t allowed to speak or write english in for half of every school day. She will be expected to be able to speak fluent spanish in order to graduate in twelve years.
Why not German? Why not Japanese? If my kids are going to be required to learn a second language in order to graduate from high school, shouldn’t I, as a parent, be able to choose for my child to learn the language of a country with a growing economy instead of the language of some of the worlds most impoverished countries? Ten years down the road I would rather see my daughter making a business deal to provide information services to a multi-billion dollar Japanese technology firm than being able order dinner from the taco truck in fluent spanish so as not to force the non-english speaking cook behind the window to decipher that difficult english language in the country he chose to live in.
I’m kind of sick of it. I really would like to put a bullet in the forehead of every Che Gueverra shirt I see, but they aren’t even being worn by Latinos. They are being worn by the left wing, liberal, ass kissing communist wannabes that sprung from the genes of third generation, never worked for a penny in their lives, rich ass, spoiled little bronwyn brats that couldn’t give a shit about the millions of lives lost to the real horrors that communism brought into Central and Southern America. It’s these bohemian pricks that are forcing this dual identity on America. Not the hard working immigrants that are trying to make a living here.
There is nothing wrong with national pride. Somewhere along the line someone decided that being an American was something to be ashamed of. To hell with that. I’m proud that I’m American. I’m proud of my language. I’m proud to have the Stars and Striped blowing in the wind out in front of my home. And I am proud to live in a country of immigrants. Asian, European, African, Latino, and more. Imagine though if we all spoke the language of our forefathers. It would be chaos and America would never have become the worlds most powerful country.
The english language is what binds us as a nation, and gives us strength. To make it secondary to spanish anywhere in this nation is an insult to every man and woman who have given their lives in the name of it. If Wal-Mart wants to sell out America to get money from it’s Mexican customers so they can send it to China, that’s there choice. It’s a free country. But where I spend my money is a mine.
Peace,
Wisdom
