Pod People

[Kaos]

I may be the only person who remembers this, but there was a movie in the 70s or 80s called Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  In that movie, there were these Pod People who were cloning and replacing everybody in the world (one at a time, basically).  Donald Sutherland was in it.  Brooke Adams (who I used to think was cute), Goldblum.  Don't remember who all else.  

As the pod people took over more and more they'd screech and point out those who weren't of the pod.  

That's what today's political/cultural climate reminds me of.  Take Tom Brokaw for instance.  He's never  been what you'd consider a right-leaning media personality. He's bashed Trump often and supported leftist positions regularly.  

Yesterday he says what should be a most rational and obvious thing:  That hispanics should work to assimilate into American culture and begin by learning English.   Cue the pod people. 



He's having to apologize amid screeching, bashing and pointing from the pods.  

Why?  Why should he apologize?  If your language, your customs, your practices, your way of life is so freaking awesome, then stay where the hell you were.  Don't come here waving your flags, babbling your languages, forcing your customs and traditions on us.  Come here to be American, not set up Mexico or Iran or Syria or Senegal here.  Those places are crappy for a reason and that reason is apparently YOU.   

Learn the language. Become part of American culture. Or go home.  

[The Six]

Duke Professor Resigns After Email Telling Chinese Students to Speak English 100 percent of the time
Link

A Duke University assistant professor resigned from her leadership role over the weekend amid backlash for sending an email to students advising them to speak English “100% of the time.”
Megan Neely, director of graduate studies for Duke’s Master of Biostatistics program, sent an email to students Friday citing complaints by “two separate faculty members” about students speaking Chinese in class and “not taking the opportunity to improve their English.”
“I have no idea how hard it has been and still is for you to come to the US and have to learn in a non-native language,” she wrote, CNN reported. “As such, I have the upmost [sic] respect for what you are doing. That being said, I encourage you to commit to using English 100% of the time when you are in Hock [Plaza] or any other professional setting.”
Ms. Neely stepped down from her director position Saturday and said her email “was not appropriate.”
“I deeply regret the hurt my email has caused,” Ms. Neely wrote Sunday in an email signed jointly with Department Chair Elizabeth DeLong, The Duke Chronicle reported. “It was not my intention. Moving forward, it is my sincerest wish that every student in the Master of Biostatistics is successful in all of their endeavors.”
Mary Klotman, dean of the School of Medicine, said in a separate email to students that “there is absolutely no restriction or limitation on the language you use to converse and communicate with each other.”

“Your career opportunities and recommendations will not in any way be influenced by the language you use outside the classroom,” Ms. Klotman wrote, The Chronicle reported. “And your privacy will always be protected.”
Chinese students in Ms. Neely’s program are reportedly demanding the administration investigate the instructor.
The Executive Committee of the Academic Council plans to discuss the matter at its Jan. 30 meeting, The Chronicle reported.

[CCTAU]

“Your career opportunities and recommendations will not in any way be influenced by the language you use outside the classroom,” Ms. Klotman wrote, The Chronicle reported. “And your privacy will always be protected.”

But inside the classroom is where this was requested. Snowflakes will bow to anything.