From the New York Times: “But while racial and ethnic minorities (and working-class whites) must continue to learn “standard” American English — the country’s dominant language — all children surely need to learn to understand and appreciate the nuances of America’s diverse ways of speaking.”
Dennis Prager on his radio show today: “I have no idea what that means. Here’s how blacks diversely speak? How latinos diversely speak?”
NYT: “In a multiethnic, multicultural America where Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority and Asians are the fastest-growing minority, national politicians also will have to be fluent in multiple ways of speaking.”
Dennis: “Makes me throw up. I don’t want them to be fluent in multiple ways of speaking. When I hear politicians sound different before different audiences, it makes me sick. I’ve spoken to every ethnic group in America and I’ve spoke exactly the same. It is a matter of pride to me to not condescend to my audience.”
NYT:”For too long, sounding presidential meant sounding like a white, middle- or upper-class straight man (with modest leeway for regional accents). In 2012 and beyond, it’s going to take a lot more than that to win over the hearts and minds — and ears — of the American people.”
Dennis: “I’m also supposed to sound gay? The vast majority of gays sound like straights. All lesbians do and most gay men. This is the crap at Stanford.”
NYT: “H. Samy Alim, the director of the Center for Race, Ethnicity and Language at Stanford University, and Geneva Smitherman, a professor of English at Michigan State University, are the authors of “Articulate While Black: Barack Obama, Language, and Race in the U.S.””
Dennis says he’s working on his autobiography and it is tentatively titled, “A Man, A Jew And An American.”
