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June 13, 2006
More Anti-"English Only" Baloney
Earlier Moonbattery reported on Joey Vento, the owner of Geno's Steaks in Philadelphia, who was bold enough to put up a small sign requesting that his patrons try to order in English.
His audacity is not going unpunished by the self-righteous brownshirts of political correctness. Rachel Lawton, acting executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, has announced the opening of a case against Geno's Steaks, intoning:
The complaint will say that the sign discourages patronage by non-English speakers because of their national origin and/or ancestry.
The charge is obviously absurd. Vento's own grandparents are immigrants from Sicily. No one has been denied service. As Vento points out, "If you don't speak English, the sign means nothing."
But with the standard liberal tactic of sending out squads of lawyers, activists, and/or bureaucrats to attack anyone not on board with their ideology, it doesn't matter if their case has merit. It just matters that they can make your life an expensive hell until you submit.
To his immense credit, Vento's not backing down:
I don't see why I should have to. It's freedom of speech.
As usual, the PC enforcers attempting to take away that freedom are also attempting to position themselves as the victims. Roberto Santiago, executive director of Philly's Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations, whimpers that he has received "hate" emails as a result of his crusade against Geno's Steaks.
"This is dividing the nation," Santiago had the chutzpah to complain.
Hello, Santiago: it's Joey Vento who doesn't want the nation divided by pernicious balkanizing moonbats like you.
Hat tip: William
Posted by Van Helsing at June 13, 2006 10:14 AM
Comments
Why is this even an issue? If someone tries to order in Spanish and the clerk only knows English, then the customer would have a pretty tough time ordering.
Can you imagine the insanity of having a menu printed in 100 different languages and having every employee to able to speak those languages?
Posted by: General Jack D. Ripper at June 13, 2006 11:47 AM
I can. It's called the European Union.
Posted by: Archonix at June 13, 2006 4:26 PM
Then why put up a sign, if they cant speak English, good chance they can't read English.. Which means they can't read the sign, making the sign pointless... What a wast of time and effort..
Posted by: Crazy at June 14, 2006 8:09 AM
I'm not sure why Mr. Vento has such a marked preference for immigrants who come from England as opposed to those who come from elsewhere in the world, but it strikes me as suspicious and decidedly subversive.
I could understand not allowing customers to settle their tab in Mexican pesos, but refusing payment in American greenbacks based on the language someone speaks goes against all the tenets of free-market imperialism that made this country great. It's this kind of thinking that dooms places like Sicily, land of origin of Mr. Vento's grandparents, to a peasant economy in the first place.
Posted by: The Right Reverend Rabbi Judah at June 14, 2006 10:02 AM
If I moved to France I would learn to speak French. Why is this even an issue. All of the other immigrants that have moved to the U.S. have worked hard to assimilate, why is it different with so many Mexicans?
Posted by: myriah at June 15, 2006 10:58 AM
