Can identity affect a language? If yes, how does it affect it? Can a language affect identity? If yes, how does it affect it?
Yes, language and identity are very closely connected! Like you have mentioned, it goes both ways. The language variety that you speak as a native language is closely tied to your geographical identity. For instance, American English consists of words like 'squaw' and 'totem' - borrowings from Native American languages to describe the new natural environment that British settlers found when they arrived in America. These borrowings have since passed into general American English vocabulary. It is also very much tied to your cultural and personal identity - in which case language becomes a touchstone for cultural heritage and identity. The language that you choose to use is often the language closest to your heart or that which you wish to be affiliated with. History will tell you this: William the Conqueror of France spoke French at his coronation in Britain, not English. The Norman French of Britain (this was long after William) started to speak a modified version of English to differentiate themselves from the Parisian French during the Hundred Years' War between France and Britain.In many parts of the world today, people are increasingly adopting English as a first or second language for economic reasons. The trouble is, choosing not to speak your 'native' language can feel like a betrayal of your own cultural heritage and identity. Each language gives us the key to a whole new different world and unique viewpoint. A few years back, Malaysia retracted its English policy in schools and started using Bahasa Melayu as the language of instruction for science and mathematics, not least because of pressure from Malay nationalists who feared that the position of the national language was being threatened. This is a very real issue playing out across the world today - chances are, you don't have to look too far to see this happening around you. This is just the tip of the iceberg - it's only what I can remember offhand - and I hope I've gone some way in answering your question! If you're interested, some related issues include: centrifugal and centripetal force in linguistics, the notion of a standard variety and linguistic diversity (linguistic human rights are a v interesting idea!).
Why do people hate scene kids?
Since there are a lot of "scenes" I'll let you know that I'm talking about the type of kids who tease their bright colored or black hair, have obsessions with dinosaurs, guns, and robots, and have usernames like XxXLaurenxLycanthropyxXx. My question is why do people hate them? They may or may not be dressing in a way for attention but they don't cut or act depressed so I don't know why everybody finds them so annoying. Explain this to me. If I understand your answer, you might get ten points. p.s. I know I'm stereotyping but most of the scene kids I know, call themselves scene so I don't feel too guilty. I'm also asking this in the R&P section just because it's mostly you guys + "punks" and metalheads who seem to have a problem with them in my experience.
Why do some goths hate emos?
Let me get this straight here: I am a goth myself. I absolutely love the subculture and almost everything about it. However, I do not hate emos. I am not a huge lover of the fashion, but I see no reason to discriminate against them as people just because their subculture is different from ours. Because we may find some of them annoying does not give us the right to be, in any way, unfair towards all of them.
Should 'race' as an idea be eliminated? Should people stop clinging to their racial stereotypes?
Okay, lets look at France Officially speaking, France has publicly "ended racial & ethnic divisions" by enforcing the policy of One people One identity. However, France is, and always has been a multicultural society. There are over 75 ethnic groups within France, and that's not counting the immigrants. But by marginalising them, all they've really done is created a new way of discriminating against non-White, non-"French" peoples. Ending racial divisions requires fostering mutual respect among people of different backgrounds, its not just about pretending that different communities don't exist. All that does is lead to isolation, marginalisation, and resentment. Countries that pretend that racial divisons don't exist are among the places with the WORST race relations on the planet. Look at Brasil. Look at the Dominican Republic. Societies which claim to be racial democracies have some of the worst racism imaginable. Darkskinned Dominicans who "look Haitian" get deported every day. Black Brasilians have generally NO avenues for social improvement aside from sports, music and entertainment; Brasil is 50% Afrodescendiente and yet you'll never see a Black or Mulatto president there. Ending the idea of race will do NOTHING to stop racism, and in fact it would probably make it worse, since now ANYONE can be racist and NOBODY could prove it. THIS is what happens when you wish away your problems rather than confront them head on: http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/Muslims-riot-France.jpg http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/images/2007/11/25/france_riot.jpg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnLw3Ghjym8 Race exists. Racial differences exist. The sooner we learn to accept and respect people's racial, cultural and ethnic differences, the better of we'll be. There's no reason to pretend race and racism doesn't exist, all it does is leave the issue unsolved and allows it to fester and develop into something deeper and more problematic.
Why are people so sensitive about religious belief?
Because, at least for most of us religious people, we feel that religion is part of out identity and speaking bad about it is like attacking our identity. This is one part to it.Let me explain.I have been wondering, as I am a religious person myself, why I get so hurt when atheists say things like the world would be better off without religion, religious belief is a delusion, religion is a fairytale etc… I just get so mad, upset, offended etc… Then after some introspection, talking to people, learning online (including Quora) etc… I have found the answer; Because most of us religious folks identify by our religion, it is our identity, and attacking our religion is like attacking our identity. I know many atheists disagree that religious people should have religion as part of their identity, but it’s the way things are for most of us religious folks. Religious tells us how to live our life (like how to dress, what to eat) etc… It is our identity!The reason why we get so hurt when someone attacks our faith is because we feel like our own very identity gets attacked. The effects are just as hurtful as attacking a gay or otherwise LGBT person’s sexuality and sexual orientation. This is why religious people even killed others or themselves because of criticizing their religion. This is why it’s so sensitive.So what is the best thing you could do in this situation? Well you could try these things:Do not be angry when discussing religion. This can result very badly.Be very kind, polite, nice, gentle and sensible when you discuss faith. Maybe even don’t challenge every religious person’s beliefs, it feels hostile to us. I have managed to speak well without any hard feelings with nonbelievers when they have acted this way (being very kind, polite etc…)Always have compassion when someone is religious, especially if you know someone is sensitive about their faith (most of us religious people are sensitive about our faiths so you should be very careful).
Why does Vietnam use the Latin alphabet in their writing system? Is that a wise choice?
No I don't think it's a wise choiceI can't even read what's on my ancestors shrine when we go there to light incenseMy family has a family book with all our ancestors details and I can't read itIt's a problem when people walk into a historical site and the only thing they understand is the donation boxIt's a problem when tourists from other countries explain and teach Vietnamese about their own cultureAll the poetry on the walls become hieroglyphsAll the arts like calligraphy can no longer be fully appreciatedVietnam becomes a hybrid quái thai civilization and nobody respects usLatin script is just ugly in my opinion. Yes feel free to hate me but it's my opinionYes I think we should have developed another system based on Chinese characters and Chu Nom. That is our real heritage.In the past public education is not available so of course everyone is illiterated. In the past education is only for nobilitlies. Now it is different, so the difficulty of the script cannot be blamed for low literacy. China never had problem once public education is availableVietnam’s switch to Latin alphabet is a disconnection between the past and the present. A deliberate destruction of our cultural heritage which is just as rich and beautiful and China Japan or KoreaEven the Koreans realize that and began to teach characters again in schoolsAnd why did Vietnam do this? More than just to spread literacy, it was to make Vietnam more advanced since Asia was poor and undeveloped back then. China, the biggest power in Asia collapsed. Vietnamese were not confident in their Asian heritage anymore and thought Western culture was better. Similar to reasons the Japanese underwent Meiji restoration and got rid of their traditional calendar.Vietnam would be a more interesting country had it stuck with developing its own cultural heritageI just don't understand what's so beautiful about this. Not only is it difficult to read , it is so nguệch ngoạc it looks like scribblesI absolutely hate Quốc ngữ temples. They are so ugly in my opinion. Do you ever see girls trying to take photos with them?I bet I'm not the only one thinking this way. If Vietnamese are so confident with the Latin alphabet why the need to force it to look like characters?
Why do so many people dislike/hate illegal immigrants so much?
I took this immigration class this summer in central mexico. It wasnt about statistics or anything like that.. it was a class about the personal story of immigration. What i learned mostly was people are ignorant to the way illegal immigrants mostly mexicans are. Have you noticed that no one cares about illegals from norway or ireland? no because they are white and they speak the same language and have some of the same customs.. but Latino people are darker, speak differently and their country is seen as dirty, lazy, and uneducated. We tie that view of mexico and latin america to the people who inhabit it. America has always had an issue with immigrants before Latinos, it was the irish, and before that we treated africans like dogs.. Why does america do it? I think we are all trying to claim something, find our sincere heritage, and be one united group, and people may think immigrants our infringing on our unity.
Are modern day people losing their sense of Irish pride ?
And there was me thinking our national identity was in our language, sports, music, dance and literature. Guess I must be wrong. The only national identity we have must be in hating the British. Are you for real? Can you support your "fact" that British people look down on the Irish. My mother is English. She came to Ireland to study and then stayed here, married and raised a family. But I'm sure my mother probably looks down on me because I'm Irish. They joke about us and we joke about them but it's lighthearted. I joke about with my friends. Does that mean I look down on them? Hardly. It seems to me that the only person that is losing their sense of Irish pride is you. You're trapped in the past. Seeing as you don't even realise that the Irish language isn't "Gaelic" then your point is completely invalid. Did you know that Scottish and Welsh are also classed as Gaelic. But then shock horror, aren't those British languages?