I was ashamed of my family, knowing a lot of them were offended by this.

Let me make this clear to you:

If you're going to have a commercial featuring a patriotic song, you do so in the language it was meant to be in. If you want to know why my statements should not come across as racist or bigoted, imagine the South Korean national anthem getting sung in Russian. I know that "America the Beautiful" is not the official US national anthem but it is still one of the patriot songs (anthems) of the United States so don't bring it up. Also, imagine any other patriotic song (anthem) of any other country being sung in any other language than the official language or languages of that country.

Would that make sense to you? I ask because it wouldn't make sense to me just as having a US patriotic song sung in any other language other than English doesn't make sense. If the United States is to be a melting pot, then it must have a common language for people to understand each other. If legal immigrants wish to maintain their native languages, they can do so in private but when they are doing business with other Americans especially natural born ones, they should be expected to speak English kind of like how someone who immigrates to France should be expected to speak French or someone who immigrates to Russia should be expected to speak Russian.

That is what the complaints are about. That commercial was bullshit. The Coca-Cola advertising department is filled with dumbasses if they really thought that was a good idea not to mention that the commercial itself had nothing to do with the product which is another complaint in itself.

Also, if I worked hard for my place and I don't feel any urgency to give it up, then I'm not giving it up because, last time I checked, someone else is not suppose to have the special privilege of pushing me out just so that he/she can have an easier ride.

Some of the replies in here make me so happy I moved to Guam.

But English is NOT the "official" language of the US. The US HAS no official language.
And I don't see why anybody would care if a South Korean patriotic song was sung in Russian. It doesn't reduce the message in any way.

I'd like to preface my opinion by stating that I am not against this commercial and I believe the outrage is ridiculous.

However, I would like to offer a different perspective. As someone who studied linguistics in college, I think that the different languages within the commercial actually create a barrier for our national culture, rather than unify us. Please don't take this the wrong way. I had several classes where I was taught that cultural pluralism is important. I am not trying to say that one language is better than any others. Think about this though: American English has developed and evolved because of the plethora of cultures and languages that shaped the United States. Would it have really hurt to unite us all, not divide us, by using one language for this commercial that is meant to represent our country?

No, the complaints are about the exact attitude that you put up there. For all of your talk of how everyone should speak English, it also sends a strong message that your culture and your language is superior, and that everyone should conform to the language and cultural norms that you have.

No one is saying that immigrants shouldn't have to learn English or shouldn't be able to use English in dealing with "natural born" Americans; that isn't the point. The point is that people are violently against the idea of people even using a language or culture other than English and Western Culture to express their identity as Americans. In their minds, other people's language and culture have less value than their own. That's the problem.

What next? Are we going to say that people should all become Protestant Fundamentalist Evangelical Christians, because people must have a "common" religion/culture to be understood by Americans? (I am aware that it's not the "majority" religion, but it certainly is the most influential.) Should all people become heterosexual, because people must have a common sexual identity to be understood by Americans?

If anything, I think Koreans (apart from the hardline right-wingers) would be ecstatic, as it'd be yet another much-touted symbol of how Korean culture would be spreading around the world.

The Ancient Romans didn't make people change their language when they conquered them and turned them into Romans. I'm not saying we should aspire to be like them (well except for the public baths and vomitoriums) but it was a somewhat successful Empire.

That Coke chose to do this is not an assault on English or some multicultural conspiracy. Coke is emphasizing the diversity of the USA, that it is a melting pot of ideas as well as people. Yes, even a melting pot of language.

I don't get the anger, it simply does not make sense to me. No one is asking anyone to 'give up their place' that they 'worked hard for'. It seems to me that a lot of people are getting their knickers in a bunch over absolutely nothing. I have yet to see a response that does not conjure up visions of lily white bigots wrapped in the flag and waving bibles in the air to ward off evil unpatriotic spirits. I am not saying this is you, but the attitude in the post drips of the vitriol that permeates most tweets on the topic, it is hard not to see it.

This is the same group who oddly and quite ignorantly called the recent Miss America a terrorist. And said that a natural born american should not sing the actual national anthem because he is of Mexican descent. And don't know that Puerto Rico is part of the USA. The attitude is earth-shatteringly sad, especially since it seems to come from a lot of young people.

That people who immigrate here should learn to speak English is a no-brainer. If you want to do business here, sure. English is not official, though it is the dominant language, no one disputes that, not even Coke Corporate. A new immigrant in their 30s and 40s may have a hard time becoming proficient enough to satisfy the people who look for anything to be outraged about. Their kids however will, they will speak very well, without an accent and in time they will have kids who speak English-- who will also likely know their native language and perhaps even speak it just as well.

It is ironic that while these people will criticize the commercial over the use of languages other that English, it is obvious that they barely have a grasp of it themselves while that vomit hatred over Twitter and Coke's Facebook page. Most also apparently had no idea the song is not the national anthem.

All of the singers and people in the commercial were American, but they were not the special definition of American held in the minds of the detractors. I think that speaks volumes of the attitude displayed by those who disliked the commercial because of the 'language'. The whole 'English' angle smacks of a code, a double speak for 'brown people'. Their criticism appears to be entirely born out of misguided, racist "white pride" from under-educated yahoos who think everyone should speak English-- 'as Jesus intended'.

There are far greater and more serious things to get angry about. If these angry people could devote that energy to something useful, perhaps we can solve some serious problems in this country. But they won't, because they are too busy raging against people who look and sound different than them.

I remember reading somewhere in a experimental psychological study (that I can't for the life of me find) that people are opposed to others being given the same level of treatment (or equality of rights, equality of wealth distributed) as they are, because they see it as an attack on their own privilege, even if the elevation of others is demonstrably proven to have no effect on them whatsoever.

It's a reasonable explanation for the current hostility over gay marriage/LGTBQ rights, or racial equality (though I do understand the controversy surrounding issues like Affirmative Action in the United States).

In this case, people who speak English feel angry over public affirmations of linguistic plurality because they feel like it's an "attack" on their own privilege as native English speakers.

I agree but it seems people want division, not unity here.
A) the Romans weren't interested in unity between their people and non Romans and B) they were such huge assholes, they make the founding fathers of America look like angels who fly around and give out cookies to sad people. And nobody here is arguing for changing the languages of all the people in far lands we conquer to English. I believe, the ancient Romans would be very pissed off if in Rome, if a Roman song was sung in Gaulish, for example instead of Latin. There would be riots in the streets and lots of blood if that happened in Rome during the time of the Roman Empire.

...

Nevermind.

Funny, I was just there a few weeks ago. Are you in Tumon, Tamuning, or somewhere else.

Some of the posts in here make me so happy I want to move to Somalia.