English Language Only Ordinance: A "No Brainer" with a Subtle Punch

Frederick County, like many others (see Baltimore Sun editorial about Anne Arundel County) is considering what's promoted as a "no-brainer" by the Board of County Commissioners: an ordinance that would officially designate English as the exclusive language for doing business in Frederick County. (public hearing 7 pm tues feb 21 @ winchester hall)

As many people have written in other places such as the Sun, the move can be viewed as pandering, an empty gesture that can be primarily chalked up to politicians' wish to play to anti-immigrant voters and their anxieties.

Federal law (such as, Occupational Health and Safety Administration requirements for translated Material Data Safety Sheets, for example) requires employers to accommodate employees whose primary language is not English*, so Frederick County will have to comply. (I'm waiting to see if the local point of view agrees with my research, to hear from county attorney John Mathias and risk manager Mike Beard, so stay tuned).

If you put this ordinance win the context of the current atmosphere of fiscal austerity, however, it sends the wrong message to managers and employees.

Today's is a world where the workplace and customer base is increasingly diverse, whether people want to accept it or not. When I worked at a large manufacturer with a diverse workforce (primarily Hispanic and Vietnamese), especially on the production lines, our company realized it was in our best interest to voluntarily provide safety signage and train managers in other languages.

With the passage of this ordinance, managers now have an unspoken signal: stay away from people with differences, as a matter of fact, to make your life simpler, don't even hire them. They may never write it in their job interview notes, but it will undoubtedly be in the backs of their minds as they look for employees who can fit within the communication parameters that are being set.

That's bad when there are hardworking legal immigrants in our community looking for work.

Our County Commissioners have missed the boat on this one. Hiding from the need to be diverse in public communications is a shortsighted; you won't find visionary American businesses hiding their heads in the sand.

*while the assumption is that hispanic immigrants are the dominant non-English language group, Frederick County Public schools' English Language Learners report notes that languages such as Burmese have large populations in our community as well.

Part II: The Demise of Independent Readers

Last blog I talked about the misconception by some readers that

newspapers are supposed to represent the opinions of their audience in editorial pages.

Another interesting news phenomenon in the Internet age is the method in which media consumers select their news, considering there is

1. More access than ever to choices of news sources due to the Internet and

2. More access than ever to non-trained news sources (i.e. journalists trained to fact check with two sources, etc.) on the Internet

As citizens of a democratic society, we have a deep responsibility to seek credible news sources, or to balance partisan sources with information from the opposing view in a search for the truth.

One of the reasons our country is so polarized is the fact that more and more people are getting their news from sources that only verify their own worldview; in other words, liberals in Frederick don't listen to WFMD, Fox TV or read the Washington Times and conservatives live sans NPR, MSNBC and the Huffington Post.

I polled my own friends in a highly unscientific poll on Facebook. I received 34 responses, 51 percent who label themselves as liberal or liberal/moderate; 37% moderate and 12% conservative. I reviewed the responses one by one and can tell you that the highest mix of liberal and moderate respondents (most are from Frederick) use the Frederick News Post, Washington Post, CNN Online and TV,and NPR (most of which are classified often by conservatives as having a liberal bias). CNN was a go-to source across the moderate-liberal span.

I didn't see my conservative respondents turning to talk radio or Fox for their news, but I also didn't see the liberals or moderates turning there to balance what they are hearing.

Its a subject that I hope journalism schools and sociologists will continue to explore (if anyone has access to any good studies, send them my way!) as the vitriol increases and polarization continues.

Another interesting article on the same subject came out in the Washington Post at about the same time I was conducting my little facebook poll:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-south-carolina-a-window-on-an-ideologically-polarized-news-market/2012/01/11/gIQA2ygPDQ_story.html ).