Another lovely chain-letter

I just received another chain-letter dealing with immigration. A couple portions of it makes me laugh, because, what can I say? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's rather contradictory.

The main complaint deals with Hispanics singing the National Anthem in Spanish. It makes the claim that, "No where did they sing it in Italian, Japanese, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German, Portuguese, Greek, French, or any other language because of immigration." It then goes on saying, "Sorry if this offends anyone but this is My counTRY - IF IT IS YOUR COUNTRY SPEAK UP --- a splease pass this along~"

Then it stated, "Think about this: If you don't want to forward this for fear cof offending someone-----YOU'RE PART OF THE PROGBLEM !!!!"

From there, it went on to say, "Will we still be the Country of choice and still be America if we continue to make the changes forced on us by the people from other countries that came to live in America because is it the try of Choice??????"

It continued, "All we have to say is, when will they do something about MY RIGHTS? We've gone so far the other way, bent over backwards to not offend anyone, that I am now being offended. But it seems that no one has a problem with that."

It then claims that following was an editorial written by a citizen in Tampa Bay. It said, "I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grude against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America. Our population is almost entirely made up of descendents of immigrants. However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand. This idea of American being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity.As Americans......we have our own culture, our own society, our own language, and our own lifestyle. This culture has been developed over centuries of struggled, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom. We speak ENGLISH, not Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Greek, Polish, Italian, French, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become of our society, learn the language! 'In God We Trust' is our national motto. This is not some Christian, ring wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women.......on Christian principles..........on Christian principles............ founded this nation..... and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home........because God is part of our culture. If Stars and Stripes offend you, or you don't like Uncle Sam, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. This is OUR COUNTRY, our land, and our lifestyle. Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his opinion and we will allow you every opportunity to do so! But once you are done complaining...... whining..... and griping......about our flag....... our pledge...... our national motto......or our way of life....I highly encourage you American Freedom....THE RIGHT TO LEAVE"

Now, I've done some research on this chain letter and portions of it are false. What I've learned, if it's a chain letter and suggests for you to pass it forward, then it's either 100% false or partially false.

First off, the Spanish version of the National Anthem, Nuestro Himno, is not the first Spanish version of the Star-Spangled Banner. In 1919, there was another version, titled, "Himno nacional-La Bandera de Estrellas."

It's funny, because this "editorial" in its true form had nothing to do with Hispanic immigrants learning English.

It's also funny, because when will people stop referring to our language as English? If we want to learn English, then we should travel to England and take some classes.

It's also not true that this nation was founded by Christians and Christian principles. Many of our Founding Fathers were Deists or Unitarians, as opposed to Christians. "Under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance was placed there only to distinguish ourselves as being separate from then Communist Russia.

The portion of the chain-letter that bothers me the most is toward the very end. It goes on and on saying that they're not against immigration, that people have the right to come here to better their lives. It states that we all have a first amendment right to speak out and express ourselves. Then it goes on to state that after people are done whining and complaining (expressing their first amendment right), then they can express their right to leave. Again, this is contradictory and ignorant. It's a false dilemma-esque, narrow- and simple-minded way of thinking. "Sure you can speak your mind, but if you don't agree with me, you can leave!" "Yeah, you have the right to believe what you want, but if you think you're right, you can believe it elsewhere!" It's an attempt to try and sugar-coat and euphemize their narrow-minded and stereotypical views. Even though they know deep down that they don't believe in equality, equal opportunity, and free speech (on all levels), if they say they do, then all is well. If I tell a woman that I believe she has the right to run for president and then go on a rant on why women shouldn't be allowed to run for office, that'd be the same kind of thinking.

What makes America great is our diversity and multi-culturalism. What makes America great is our freedom of speech, press, and religion. Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism can all be practiced here and we're not in an all out war like those in parts of Africa, the Middle East, etc. We can dissent against the government and not worry about cops knocking on our doors or being locked up like in China and other parts.

While immigrants should learn American-English enough to fulfill their job requirements on a daily basis, I think we have a lot more important things to worry about than Latino-Americans paying their respects to us by singing the Star-Spangled Banner in their native tongue. We have a lot more important things to worry about than that.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Spangled_Banner

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/american.htm