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Well, the Geno's Steaks "English-Only" sign controversy hit the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer today. For those who don't live in Philly, or who live under rocks, here is an article to explain what's going on.
Joey Vento, the owner of Geno's, has drawn a lot of fire for the little sign he put up at the takeout window that reads "This is America -- when ordering speak English." A lot of people are, unsurprisingly, calling him a racist and worse, especially because his own grandparents were poor Italian immigrants who couldn't speak English. Other people are applauding him, either because they're genuinely xenophobic or because they admire him for coming out and saying what a lot of us have been thinking but would never dare voice aloud.
Personally, I am saddened by this, especially since it's happening in the city that I have come to call home.[1] I am not, however, surprised. This is just a rehash of the anti-immigrant sentiment that was going around in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many people who were themselves the descendants of immigrants were loudest among the anti-immigrant voices. This appears to be a decade of nostalgia for some of the most embarassing periods in American history: we're reenacting the Cold War and the Vietnam War, so why not anti-immigrant sentiments, too?
Whoops, got off-track a little there. If you have been reading and listening carefully - especially in the article I linked above - you will notice that Joey Vento says
and, later on in the article:
He's not going to turn away customers just because they can't speak good (or any) English, as long as they can order something and pay for it. He may just be expressing his disdain for Latino immigrants. Quite a lot of them have moved into the city during the past few years, especially into the Little Italy area.[2] But I don't think that's why he put up the sign, either.
So, if Vento's not really refusing service to non-English speakers, or just flipping off the entire Latino community, what did he put that sign up for? Publicity, that's what. A lot of people who agree with Vento's sentiments (or think they do, because I doubt he actually has those sentiments), or people who are merely curious about the affair, are now patronizing his business. He's gotten himself free advertising by harnessing the worser inclinations of our society. Any smart person knows that you can hate-monger for fun and profit. Vento's not a racist, just a shrewd businessman. Which is not to say that what he's doing is okay. It's a scam and it's going to fire up all the dumbfucks who actually are racists.
Aside from feeling compelled to set things straight for whoever will listen, I am not really bothered by this. I've never liked cheesesteaks anyway.
[1] Many people are pointing out the irony of this taking place in the "City of Brotherly Love," but probably only because they don't live here, or because they do but don't pay attention.
[2] By the way, many merchants and workers in the Italian Market are actually Latinos (or Asians).
Joey Vento, the owner of Geno's, has drawn a lot of fire for the little sign he put up at the takeout window that reads "This is America -- when ordering speak English." A lot of people are, unsurprisingly, calling him a racist and worse, especially because his own grandparents were poor Italian immigrants who couldn't speak English. Other people are applauding him, either because they're genuinely xenophobic or because they admire him for coming out and saying what a lot of us have been thinking but would never dare voice aloud.
Personally, I am saddened by this, especially since it's happening in the city that I have come to call home.[1] I am not, however, surprised. This is just a rehash of the anti-immigrant sentiment that was going around in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many people who were themselves the descendants of immigrants were loudest among the anti-immigrant voices. This appears to be a decade of nostalgia for some of the most embarassing periods in American history: we're reenacting the Cold War and the Vietnam War, so why not anti-immigrant sentiments, too?
Whoops, got off-track a little there. If you have been reading and listening carefully - especially in the article I linked above - you will notice that Joey Vento says
"There is nobody who can say they are turned down because of the language," he added. "They can point if they want to."
and, later on in the article:
Vento denied that anyone would be refused service if they ordered one of the sliced beef-and-cheese sandwiches, a famed bit of cuisine in the Quaker-founded "City of Brotherly Love," in a language other than English.
He's not going to turn away customers just because they can't speak good (or any) English, as long as they can order something and pay for it. He may just be expressing his disdain for Latino immigrants. Quite a lot of them have moved into the city during the past few years, especially into the Little Italy area.[2] But I don't think that's why he put up the sign, either.
So, if Vento's not really refusing service to non-English speakers, or just flipping off the entire Latino community, what did he put that sign up for? Publicity, that's what. A lot of people who agree with Vento's sentiments (or think they do, because I doubt he actually has those sentiments), or people who are merely curious about the affair, are now patronizing his business. He's gotten himself free advertising by harnessing the worser inclinations of our society. Any smart person knows that you can hate-monger for fun and profit. Vento's not a racist, just a shrewd businessman. Which is not to say that what he's doing is okay. It's a scam and it's going to fire up all the dumbfucks who actually are racists.
Aside from feeling compelled to set things straight for whoever will listen, I am not really bothered by this. I've never liked cheesesteaks anyway.
[1] Many people are pointing out the irony of this taking place in the "City of Brotherly Love," but probably only because they don't live here, or because they do but don't pay attention.
[2] By the way, many merchants and workers in the Italian Market are actually Latinos (or Asians).
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And since when has the procedure for ordering a cheesesteak resembled proper English, anyway? "Whiz-wit"?
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In Mexico, it's Spanish. People who've lived there tell me official forms are to be filled out IN SPANISH and they do not print forms in English to accommodate immigrants, legal or illegal.
Also in Mexico, if you are caught in the country illegally, you will spend a lot more time there than you planned--in prison (unless you can pay the bribes). No country on earth besides this one goes to extreme lengths to accommodate legal immigrants, let alone illegal ones, and I think it's high time this country set some sensible immigration policies. So do my two immigrant aunts, who get pretty hot about illegals being babied. My aunts stood in all the lines, took all the classes, paid all the fees, did all the work to become citizens, and it's not an easy process. (You and I couldn't pass the tests they had to take.)
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