3 ms·
What a strange hill to die on. English is the colonial language, and its global success was singularly due to imperialist hegemony. This is taught at the univ
by sammalloy 3y ago
What a strange hill to die on. English is the colonial language, and its global success was singularly due to imperialist hegemony. This is taught at the university system level and is in every textbook on the subject. I love a good myth about capitalism just as much as the next exploited worker, but attributing the success of English to trade is equivalent to teaching children myths about Thanksgiving and Washington chopping down a cherry tree.
- awesome_dude 3y agoI cannot see anyone trying to argue anything about why it was successful, only you have decided that that is the point. I've merely pointed out that it is widespread and that there are (at least) three reasons for people to speak it. Edit: Note, if you don't wish to speak it, that's fine by me - I'll be just as happy to not hear from you again :-)
- sammalloy 3y agoEnglish is widely spoken because it was the colonial language enforced at the highest levels of society. This is still true today and is currently a primary plank in the political platform of US conservatives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-only_movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-only_movement There are libraries of books written solely on this subject. Your bizarre hypothesis ignores this and instead points to slavery and trade. More to the point, there are new articles on how English was enforced on subjugated people published on an almost weekly basis. Last week, the article I read on this topic was about how indigenous orphans were prohibited from using their native language and forced to use only English. But let’s talk about glowing myths about trade and slavery instead which have literally nothing to do with it.
- awesome_dude 3y agoThen stop speaking it. Let's have a korero in Maaori instead.
- sammalloy 3y agoWhy do you think an irreversible binomial employed as a thought-terminating cliché in the form of an argumentum ergo decedo is an appropriate response?
- awesome_dude 3y ago[flagged]
- sammalloy 3y ago[flagged]
- dang 3y agoWe've banned this account for using HN primarily for ideological battle and ignoring our request to stop. Regardless of what you're battling for or against, this is not what HN is for, and destroys what it is for. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
- awesome_dude 3y ago1. Could be worse, could be constant false accusations (as per your responses). You are more than welcome to paste any denial of colonialism. 2. You have not offered anything close to a reasoned argument, and then you complain that you haven't received one back. 3. I have said before, and I am quite happy to reiterate, because you have nothing to offer here, and I am very VERY happy if I never hear from you again. (Although I doubt you will stop, you are getting the attention you seem to want) 4. Finally, also, please fix your state of denial, and, can I strongly recommend that you stop looking to books for the effects of colonialism, when you are dealing with people that have actually experienced it, and continue to experience its effects.
- 3y ago