Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English
*** Disclaimer: This is NOT directed to the OP, since I know they didn't write this.***
My issue is this: are people so incensed at illegal immigration that they are attacking language? What on earth is so wrong with having bilingual packaging that the author made an effort to mention it specifically? I have lived in a province my whole life that is the only officially bilingual one in Canada. I have grown up with bilingual packaging, and it hasn't harmed me in the least. In fact, while many of my friends were happy, overjoyed actually, to be making $11/hr in a summer job, I was earning $20+/hr
because I am bilingual (BTW, my first language is English. I am honored to have been able to learn the French language continuously for 20+ years now). There are so many advantages to being bilingual other than the money.
Now, I admit that the bilingual situation is not completely rosy where I live. There is animosity because people think that people who speak one language get better schools, health care, etc. There are opinions that people who speak that language are trying to "take over", and there are fears that anyone who doesn't speak that language can't get a "good" job. There was even a political party in power here back in the late 1980s/early 90s whose job it was to appeal the official languages act of 1969 that proclaimed English and French official languages of business in the province.
I realize that my perception of the situation might be a bit skewed because I am Canadian, and we aren't (yet) experiencing the problems at the magnitude that you folks are down there. Due to the geographical situation, we probably never will. If I were in your situation, I would be ticked beyond belief that I had to pay God knows how much for health care, and watch my father die of cancer because we can't afford treatment, but some person who swam/floated/hid away in a crate and just snuck into the country is automatically given something that I have to work very hard for.
So, those are my comments in a nutshell. I'm not saying that people don't have the right to be angry. I'm on board with you in the fight against illegal immigration; there was a story in a Canadian national newspaper not long ago about how there are US brokers who collect money from illegal immigrants, help them fill out refugee forms, and drive them to the US/Canadian border to apply for refugee status. I'm totally against that. What I am ALSO against is a general backlash against
people who speak a certain language and may be of a certain culture.
I'd better stop there...I could go on for hours...!