Honk for Engilsh

I was forwarded an email recently: pictures from "birther" and "tea bag" rallies from the past year or so in which right wing protesters misspelled their picket signs to hilarious effect. Examples included, "This is America and our only lanaguage is English", "Amensty" (with a big Ghostbusters 'X' through it), "Stundents for McCain-Palin", "Thank you, Fox News for keeping us infromed", among others. The pictures brought to mind the power of the slogan when espousing political rhetoric, and how their use replaces any actual dialogue or original thought, to say nothing of nuance or...meaning. And this what the front lines of the culture wars often boil down to. They might as well be standing on opposite sides of a fence yelling "Tastes great!" "Less filling".

I could also see it echoed in a short film I recently saw called "Taught to Hate". It follows a teenager's path as he first parrots the hate-speech of his elderly uncle, then spreads it to his friends and finally ends up assaulting and accidentally killing a migrant worker. While admittedly a bit on-the-nose, the film showed how old saws, inherited wisdom and useless statistics can clamor through the community like an empty safe falling down a stairwell. It made me think of another one of those photos from the email. A little girl sits next to her mother, squinting in the sun, holding a picket sign. Next to her stands a woman whose sign says, "No Amnety". I looked at the picture and thought, "her parents should know better". But then, who taught them to spell?