History has blessed us with all the freedom and advantages of multiculturalism. But it has also blessed us, because of the accident of our origins, with the linguistic unity that brings a critically needed cohesion to a nation as diverse, multiracial and multiethnic as America. Why gratuitously throw away that priceless asset? How mindless to call the desire to retain it 'racist.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the importance of linguistic unity in a multicultural society and critiques the view that prioritizing language retention is racist.
In this quote, Charles Krauthammer emphasizes the value of linguistic unity as a crucial element for cohesion in a diverse nation like America. He argues that while multiculturalism offers numerous freedoms and advantages, the shared language serves as a vital asset that should be cherished and preserved, rather than dismissed as a form of racism. This reflection on the intersection of culture and language prompts a reevaluation of how society approaches the preservation of its linguistic heritage amidst increasing diversity.
In practice
In a debate about immigration policy, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of preserving the English language.
If you get a call to go to a certain place in the middle of the night to pick up stolen goods, and it turns out the stolen goods don't show up but the cops show up, I think you're going to have a very weak story saying, 'Well, I got swindled here.'
I believe that the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument is a noble undertaking.
The joy of losing consists in this: Where there are no expectations, there is no disappointment.
You're betraying your whole life if you don't say what you think - and you don't say it honestly and bluntly.
When a party is in opposition, it opposes. That's its job. But when it comes to power, it must govern. Easy rhetoric is over, the press of reality becomes irresistible. By necessity, it adopts some of the policies it had once denounced. And a new national consensus is born.
Sometimes it's easy to go where the wind blows, but those that stand firmly planted are forces to be reckoned with.
We would like otherworldly visitations to come as distinct voices with clear instructions, but they may only give small signs in dreams, or as sudden hunches and insights that cannot be denied. They feel more as if they emerge from inside and steer you from within like an inner guardian angel. . . . And, most amazing, it has never forgotten you, although you may have spent most of your life ignoring it.
No charter of freedom will be worth looking at which does not ensure the same measure of freedom for the minorities as for the majority.
I was amazed as people must be who are seized and kidnapped, and who realize that in the strange world of their captors they have a value absolutely unconnected with anything they know about themselves.
Those who call for censorship in the name of the oppressed ought to recognize it is never the oppressed who determine the bounds of censorship.
Men who have greatness within them don't go in for politics.
Dead men are not friends to living men, and give them no gifts. (Ghan-buri-Ghan, of allies during war)
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