"I wish I was strong like him", "I wish I could be as smart as him", well I wish we could be just slightly more proud of ourselves. People grow up always striving and wanting more. Almost everyone has heard as they've grown up that you should "always appreciate what you have" and that "you never appreciate how important something or someone is until you lose them." Unfortunately, we only apply to the second quote, because humans are just ignorant beings.
It don't make sense to me. You're raised learning that everyone is different and special and unique or whatever it is they feed you. Everyone is special, and no one is the same; yet, why is it that people always wish they were like others? Over 75% of people go through life wishing they were different, less than a half of that percentage are happy with their attributes. Even I've wished to be more like others it's natural. Scientifically speaking, the human species are a social organism. They group together almost like a school of fish, or a herd of cattle. The lot of us crave to be special, but its conflicted with our wanting to fit in with society.
That's what brings us to language.
There are somethings in which require some sort of similarity, such as languages. In most countries, students learn English from a young age because it's a dominant language, present throughout the world; therefore many are told they have to learn it in order to be successful or be able to communicate with others. Even if you're raised speaking English, a lot of you were probably told you're speaking the wrong English. What's that supposed to mean? Can you really just classify a whole entire dialect as incorrect? Assimilate it? There are many different Englishes just as there are many different languages. N' I don't need to speak in the fancy "correct" English for my thoughts to be understood. Had the first words of this text been something like "Y'all're all crazy self conscious and a'int so fonda bein different" It clearly would've had a different impression, maybe not even taken seriously. Why is it that we're suddenly uneducated if we don't use the perfect English? There isn't a perfect English at all, just people speaking their own ways and deciding to use one kind of dialect in order to fit in.
I've seen so many smart people, literal geniuses, and yes, they struggle to speak proper English, or English at all. That doesn't make them dumber, it just makes others ignorant towards their potential. Back in the 1860's, Chinese migrated to America and were hired for many jobs, they were seen as uneducated so they were hired more because they were cheaper. Yet, at the same time, they were more efficient than the average American. They weren't uneducated, no, they were far from it. They were hardworking, dedicated, and knew what they were doing, they were simply better workers than the American citizen; but they were called job thieves and stupid, and they didn't have the vocabulary to show otherwise.
But we can prove otherwise
Times are changing. They always are but now change and difference is being accepted, more than it ever has in the past. Now is the time we, both the children of this generations and the veterans of the last, take action to accept and acknowledge difference as a sign of experience. If someone is bilingual, they don't speak English and some other language that makes them less intelligent, they're sophisticated. Multilingualism is a sign of intelligence, it shows that you know more than just one way of speaking, and it's time that we accept that. Difference is an advancement, not a setback. Difference is unity, not a barrier. Difference is us, not them.
I enjoyed reading this Outhman, great job!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to first commend you for (clearly) using "hard facts" in your opinion column when speaking of how everyone wants to be different and how less than half of 75% of people wish they were different. From the opinion columns that we read together in class, they all lacked "hard facts", so seeing that you were able to incorporate into your opinion column was refreshing, in fact, you went as far to use statistics.
You did a pretty good job with 'projecting' your voice (or rather, putting it out there). You were successful with presenting your voice, as so if I were to read anything else you've written, I would be able to identify that you wrote it. You do this successfully by speaking in a formal manner, as so the reader takes you seriously and see you as educated (taking a jab and what you later), but also combining it with some colloquial language; such as, when you start a paragraph with "It don't make sense to me" and would sometimes use the word "whatever".
"If someone is bilingual, they don't speak English and some other language that makes them less intelligent, they're sophisticated": I believe that this statement encompasses the "logos" needed for an opinion column; although you use "logos" in other parts of the opinion column, I chose this one statement and use because I agree with you completely. Logically, for the lack of a better word, someone who is bilingual is, in a sense, is superior to someone who is monolingual. You are able to express yourself in more than way and can present your identity uniquely (compared to a monolingual).
Going back to the bilingualism and monolingualism: I do find it quite ironic if, using your example, that an American who can only speak English sees themself as much superior to the Chinese worker because of his little vocabulary. The fact that that worker is actually putting in the 'work' to speak another language is impressive in itself and respectable since they are adapting to a new environment so that they can take care of themself and their family. And when you do put that into perspective, wouldn't you say that the worker is the "better" (or rather superior) person?
And continuing off irony, when the Chinese worker migrated to America, they were given a job, but involuntarily and figuratively signed a contract to be paid less, and when the American learns of this, they demean the workers and insult them by calling them, as you said, "job thieves". However, the American definitely has more privileges than the Chinese worker and if given the chance to work in the same conditions as the Chinese, they would most definitely disagree to those terms. I find it quite humorous and just thought it was worth mentioning.
Opinion columns use "hard facts" so that it gives credibility to the article, which can support the reason for the opinion column. So, in this case, with the statistic you used, I suggest next time you cite the source in some way. Whether you put it in a bibliography or straight out reference it in the article would be useful for the reader. You may never know, the reader could be skeptical or maybe they want to research the data you wrote about.
I love how you consistently argued against multiple points, even yourself, stating that, “Everyone is special, and no one is the same; yet, why is it that people always wish they were like others?”. It is that argument’s answer where you stated that, as social creatures, we strive to stay together, even if it means conforming, that really pulled at the logos strings. And it is in that logic that you snuck in your hard facts that “Over 75% of people go through life wishing they were different, less than a half of that percentage are happy with their attributes.” Also, another hard fact was when you spoke of the Chinese migrating to the U.S. in the 1860’s, which, again, was cleverly snuck in.
ReplyDeleteYou continuously point at faults in our current times, stating that difference is not a crutch nor is difference meant to be viewed as a way to make people less sophisticated, making this quite a newsworthy column. I personally found that your ending statement spoke to me, which was “Difference is an advancement, not a setback. Difference is unity, not a barrier. Difference is us, not them.” This is because I, too, have felt that difference would never be seen, to me, as something that could belittle a person.
But I have to ask, why is it that you have taken on a more hate-filled and annoyed voice for your column rather than one which could be calm and passive?
Although, if I were to improve this column, I would try to include personal stories of the author as I feel that, in an opinion column, it is also important to have a personal story in an opinion column to help you to improve your call to action.
This response was a pleasure to read. Your opinion column demonstrated a good understanding of the relationship between language and identity, as well as the conventions of the opinion column text type. Your final call to action was particularly effective. With that in mind, the text could have been better grounded in some newsworthy context for it to read more authentically. Also, when including facts or statistics try to better frame them. In this attempt they were rather broad. Well done.
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