On Fri, May 27, 2005 at 11:21:10PM +0100, Timwi wrote:
We have more than enough English-speaking contributors already. I think we - the interlingual community - have absolutely *every* right to voice our resentment over English-language media being nauseatingly anglo-centric.
Of course you have a right. Having a right and being right are not the same thing, however.
I, for one, will pay more attention to stuff in and about a language I understand than in and about a language I don't. To expect otherwise of me is unrealistic, sadistic, and absurd. Likewise, I don't expect otherwise from others. I don't expect French news media, Arabic news media, or Serbian news media to spend more than a cursory bit on English, and I likewise don't expect English news media to spend more than a cursory bit on French, Arabic, or Serbian.
Here's a hint: the exhortation to assume good faith is a good idea not because it's "nice", but because every person is an individual, and judging that person by the behavior of other people with the same nationality, native language, or geographical location is the opposite of an assumption of good faith.
If you have a problem with a given journalist, contact the journalist and let him or her know. If you have a gripe with a particular interview or story, get in touch with whoever conducted the exercise. Don't generalize a few anecdotal examples as representative of the entire language-sharing demographic.
By directing unjustified ire at an entire linguistic population is counterproductive in the extreme.
-- Chad Perrin [ CCD CopyWrite | http://ccd.apotheon.org ]