PC Nazis are at it again
The political correctness/sensitivity/diversity Nazis are at it again ...
A tavern in southwest Ohio has been ordered to take down its sign stating simply, "For Service, Speak English" and its staff is now required to take diversity courses. Ohio law says that any proprietor of a place of public accommodation may not deny the full enjoyment of the accommodations based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age or ancestry. OK, fine. Let's take a careful look at exactly what this sign says, though. Does it say "Whites Only" as so many signs did in the 1950s? Nope. Are there any specific, direct references to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry in this sign? Nope. The sign is only a reference to the language that should be spoken to get service. Nothing more, nothing less. It's just the flip side of the signs that say "Se Habla Español," indicating that bilingual personnel are available on the premises to cater to people's needs in Spanish and not English. The proprietor of this tavern probably put this sign up for the one simple reason that he doesn't have bilingual or multilingual personnel who can communicate with (and serve) legals, illegals, etc. in any language other than English, and therefore, any patrons who come in wanting to speak Spanish, Mandarin, etc. can't and won't be fully served.
These days, because the U.S. Hispanic market has tremendous purchasing power that is expanding at no less than an explosive pace (as in, around $600 billion currently and predicted to reach as much as $1 trillion by 2010)not hiring multilingual personnel, not providing multilingual labeling and materials for your products and services, not advertising those products and services in Spanish, etc., is a really dumb move - in fact, it's practically tantamount to business suicide when it comes to long-term planning. But private business owners are not (at least not yet) required to make these changes, and if they decide to commit business suicide, it should be their stupid mistake and their stupid choice to make. And whoever is offended at these stupid choices has every right to choose to go elsewhere and patronize a business that does provide multilingual services, and vote with his or her pocketbook, and allow the free market to take care of the problem through supply and demand and natural extinction of businesses that can't or won't keep up.
I wonder if the tavern might have been allowed to keep its sign up if it had put a "Please" in there.
A tavern in southwest Ohio has been ordered to take down its sign stating simply, "For Service, Speak English" and its staff is now required to take diversity courses. Ohio law says that any proprietor of a place of public accommodation may not deny the full enjoyment of the accommodations based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age or ancestry. OK, fine. Let's take a careful look at exactly what this sign says, though. Does it say "Whites Only" as so many signs did in the 1950s? Nope. Are there any specific, direct references to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, or ancestry in this sign? Nope. The sign is only a reference to the language that should be spoken to get service. Nothing more, nothing less. It's just the flip side of the signs that say "Se Habla Español," indicating that bilingual personnel are available on the premises to cater to people's needs in Spanish and not English. The proprietor of this tavern probably put this sign up for the one simple reason that he doesn't have bilingual or multilingual personnel who can communicate with (and serve) legals, illegals, etc. in any language other than English, and therefore, any patrons who come in wanting to speak Spanish, Mandarin, etc. can't and won't be fully served.
These days, because the U.S. Hispanic market has tremendous purchasing power that is expanding at no less than an explosive pace (as in, around $600 billion currently and predicted to reach as much as $1 trillion by 2010)not hiring multilingual personnel, not providing multilingual labeling and materials for your products and services, not advertising those products and services in Spanish, etc., is a really dumb move - in fact, it's practically tantamount to business suicide when it comes to long-term planning. But private business owners are not (at least not yet) required to make these changes, and if they decide to commit business suicide, it should be their stupid mistake and their stupid choice to make. And whoever is offended at these stupid choices has every right to choose to go elsewhere and patronize a business that does provide multilingual services, and vote with his or her pocketbook, and allow the free market to take care of the problem through supply and demand and natural extinction of businesses that can't or won't keep up.
I wonder if the tavern might have been allowed to keep its sign up if it had put a "Please" in there.
Labels: Hispanic market, multilingual, political correctness, racism, Spanish
posted by Lucrezia Borgia @ 11:11 AM
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