Language represents a constraint of Colonialism in many respects. How did the English hold onto their colonies despite being extremely outnumbered by their subjects? Creating trade routes, governments, churchs and schools that operated exclusively using the Queen's English. Power was tied directly to use of language. People who couldn't afford education were/are kept in subservient roles. While it may be annoying to not be able to communicate with everyone or perhaps to feel like an outsider in your own country, demanding that people use one language reinforces this power structure. It inhibits people's potential to contribute to our society, and quite frankly, I think we can do with a little bit of humility and new ideas considering the actions our government has taken in the last decade. I am interested in innovative ideas that do not exclusively cater to oppositional attitudes. Xenophobia is not the answer. Clearly. As an aside: spoken language is not the end all and be all of human communication. Hush, anyone?
