Arabic is offensive!!1

[Saito Hajime]

Yes, the title is in jest.

Article here.

So, recently, a school in the USA had a small experiment where the Pledge of Allegiance was to be spoken in a different language. When it was spoken in Arabic, there was an immediate backlash. The school made an official apology and the pledge will only be done in English from now on.

According to other sources, the person who organised this received death threats.

Apparently Afghanistan veterans were offended by this, in spite of Afghanistan not speaking Arabic XD

So, any thoughts?

 

[Dervish]

I was going to say, Farsi =/= Arabic.

 

[Minibit]

You might want to mark with a prefix whether this is a debate or a discussion before people assume for themselves and hell breaks out =3=

Use the 'edit thread' link at the top of the post

 

[Diana]

Our country was BUILT on a melding of cultures. Apologizing for reciting the pledge in a different language is Un-American and goes against the ideals this country was founded on. >:[

 

[chainedfiction]

I have no idea what to say. I've never seen someone get yelled at for reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in another language in my area. However, I don't believe they handled the situation very well- the students in particular. Hard for me to put the pieces together, but this is the gist of how I feel. I also believe that they should've continued pledging in different languages for that special week. If I was stuck in that situation, from my perspective, I'd be the odd one out, wondering what the hell had gotten into the student's heads.

 

[Kooriryu]

layers

 

[Ser K+]

What was that about English from now on? I don't understand stupid.

I get a bit of nationalism from what happened. They probably forgot that the majority of their ancestry isn't from "American" soil.
A language is a language, from a basic human's standpoint it has no meaning, and should not be what causes a problem as trivial as this.

 

[Saito Hajime]

What was that about English from now on? I don't understand stupid.

Excuse me?

If you didn't catch what I meant, I meant that the school was going to stop letting the pledge be performed in any language other than English.

 

[Minibit]

Excuse me?

If you didn't catch what I meant, I meant that the school was going to stop letting the pledge be performed in any language other than English.

I think it was a joke. "I don't understand stupid" was implying that Stupid is a language in which the stuff about only saying the pledge in english was spoken

Personally the practice of saying the pledge freaks me out regardless of language. A bit too "we are the borg" for my comfort zone

 

[Ser K+]

Excuse me?

If you didn't catch what I meant, I meant that the school was going to stop letting the pledge be performed in any language other than English.

Yeah,
The first line was the only non-serious one.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Oh heaven forbid that people are exposed to other languages.

 

[Asuras]

 

[SlamifiedBuddafied]

Some people are fucking stupid.
EZ as that.


In other words, don't hate on something you're ignorant of.
Like Arabic.​

 

[chainedfiction]

He didn't bother editing the thread yet... >>

 

[Saito Hajime]

Sorry, I fixed it!

 

[Brovo]

Our country was BUILT on a melding of cultures. Apologizing for reciting the pledge in a different language is Un-American and goes against the ideals this country was founded on. >:[

B-B-But America is a Christian country! All the non-whites should leave, the whites were here first! Obviously! REAGAN WAS THE BEST PRESIDENT THAT EVER LIVED.

Now if y'all will excuse me, I need to wash my mouth out with soap.

 

[☆Luna☆]

Well then. I'm genuinely curious what they think the danger in hearing other languages is.

 

[Quiet One]

Wouldn't saying the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic essentially be an insult to terrorists rather than to America? It'd be like "Hey, look, we're using a language used by a group you made us irrationally fear to express pride in our country! Ha ha!"

 

[☆Luna☆]

Wouldn't saying the Pledge of Allegiance in Arabic essentially be an insult to terrorists rather than to America? It'd be like "Hey, look, we're using a language used by a group you made us irrationally fear to express pride in our country! Ha ha!"

This feels relevant.

 

[Finhawk]

Well then. I'm genuinely curious what they think the danger in hearing other languages is.

Hearing any other language than English on American soil is obviously going to turn you into a bloodthirsty terrorist.