Politics and Culture

Jane Velez Mitchell on CNN, interviewing Larry Whitten, Marine and small business owner:

Larry Sanchez replies:

My last name is gē[r]ădō with a rather difficult rolling of the "r." First, I think it would sound ridiculous to say my name the way abuelo did, in the middle of a torrent of Anglicisms: "Good evening. Welcome to the first annual gē[r]ădō turkey shoot and barbacoa." Second, I'd be held liable for the mouth damage caused by inflicting the correct pronunciation (not to mention the inconvenience of driving them to the hospital) on unsuspecting Anglos.

Anglicizing Spanish names to people whose primary language isn't Spanish and who speak English is a very considerate thing to do: It's easier for them to understand and lets people off the hook for pronouncing it.

So, why is Jane Velez Mitchell so angry (I wonder if she tortures the Mitchells this way)? Well, she's a liberal (left-type). Liberals are often very angry because their philosophy is based on Marx. Marx thought of history as forces in opposition, a "dialectic" that spurs progress until the forces are equal, at which time history ends.

The result of this thinking is that progressives are always on the lookout for offense, lest their side give power away to the enemy. Originally, it was economics. Eventually, the race-conscious and feminists began using this model.

Now, Ms. Velez-Mitchell might be too stupid to realize this, but that doesn't mean that Marxism didn't influence her.

Ms. V-M thinking:

"A white man is forcing a brown man to do something. The brown man should resist or the white man, sensing advantage, will press the brown man until he enslaves us- either physically or psychologically."

Now, would anybody care, complain were Americans working in Mexico forced to say "esmith"?

Other dumminess:

It's lost on Ms. V-M that he just asked those who worked on the phone to Anglicize their names. In other words, those for whom changing the pronunciation of their names would help people be more comfortable. I assume that Spanish-speaking customers would still be able to hear the sound of Martin's name in a glorious Mexican accent.

New Mexico (why doesn't she pronounce it [nuevo mehicō]?) was part of Mexico and...what?

The names of all of those cities are religious ("the angels," "Saint Francis," "the sacrament"). What does that mean?