History has blessed us with all the freedom and advantages of multiculturalism. But it has also blessed us, because of the accident of our origins, with the linguistic unity that brings a critically needed cohesion to a nation as diverse, multiracial and multiethnic as America. Why gratuitously throw away that priceless asset? How mindless to call the desire to retain it 'racist.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the importance of linguistic unity in a multicultural society and critiques the view that prioritizing language retention is racist.
In this quote, Charles Krauthammer emphasizes the value of linguistic unity as a crucial element for cohesion in a diverse nation like America. He argues that while multiculturalism offers numerous freedoms and advantages, the shared language serves as a vital asset that should be cherished and preserved, rather than dismissed as a form of racism. This reflection on the intersection of culture and language prompts a reevaluation of how society approaches the preservation of its linguistic heritage amidst increasing diversity.
In practice
In a debate about immigration policy, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of preserving the English language.
If you get a call to go to a certain place in the middle of the night to pick up stolen goods, and it turns out the stolen goods don't show up but the cops show up, I think you're going to have a very weak story saying, 'Well, I got swindled here.'
I believe that the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument is a noble undertaking.
The joy of losing consists in this: Where there are no expectations, there is no disappointment.
You're betraying your whole life if you don't say what you think - and you don't say it honestly and bluntly.
When a party is in opposition, it opposes. That's its job. But when it comes to power, it must govern. Easy rhetoric is over, the press of reality becomes irresistible. By necessity, it adopts some of the policies it had once denounced. And a new national consensus is born.
Sometimes it's easy to go where the wind blows, but those that stand firmly planted are forces to be reckoned with.
What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more' ... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Do you know who will go first on the Day of Resurrection to the shade of God...Those who when given what is right accept it, when asked for something give freely and who judge in favor of others as they do for themselves."
There's the constant concern with what happens to you when you die. Every society thinks about that and makes things to deal with that.
When the great Tao is abandoned, benevolence and righteousness arise.
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd be either a lunatic on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.
The young feel tired at the end of an action, the old at the beginning.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.