A lot of us through our lives may have uttered an intolerant view here and there, disparaging of one or other cultures or races. But do these views, often expressed in youth, or amongst groups where a situational dynamic of tribalism may force expression of paranoid dogma, which though articulated, is not held by us in our day to day dealings with other people.
Is a child waxing on about the KKK a racist, or merely an innocent raised amongst wolves? I think to be truly racist, you have to be an adult, express intolerant views, act on those views, and do so over a period of time. If one expresses a racist or offensive remark to another person in anger, is it racist? Or an outburst of intemperance. When we consider that in our human experience we often say hurtful and mean things to people we love dearly, when we are upset and angry, or depressed. Can a person then be judged by the sum of one remark to a stranger?
It has been my experience as a man, that when good friends gather round and talk, the conversation is replete with disparaging remarks, often of a personal racial nature. Things that can be said to good friends, in the security of that friendship, but would not be repeated to a stranger. Is this talk racist? Or is it more properly viewed as the kind of banter that people secure in their brotherhood indulge in.
Do I think that people who come to my country should learn to speak English? Yes I do. Not for my sake, but more importantly, for theirs. The fact that a lot of people find it difficult to speak English is fine. English is a difficult language to learn, and in the modern idiom is full of slang. Persons from other countries, particularly the middle aged and older people, find it extremely difficult to not only learn English, but to enunciate it well. The phonetic makeup of their mother tongue does not translate well into our day to day Language. Anyone having spoken to a Scotsman with a particularly well developed brogue can stand testament to this.
In developed societies, where the rule of law, and the bureaucracy of Government is well established. You will find that resources are expended in ways that on the face of it may seem unduly burdensome, or in some grander scheme of things, as unfair. I would say however that the reason governments invest these resources into such things as foreign language translations and other related activities is that there is a need for the government and its related bureaucracies to communicate well with people with whom English is a second language. Sometimes a very distant second language. The costs of not doing so are greater both in terms of economic impact, and in our duty of care to other human beings. We live, for better or worse, in a polyglot society where many people of different backgrounds, do their best to eke out their lives and live as well as they can.
