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From: Lisa Entwistle
T1: lisamarie2@netscape.net
Date: 10/22/99
Time: 12:45:37 AM
Remote Name: 207.172.196.53
The combination of the two ‘spheres’ of political ideology and economics are undoubtedly inexorably linked, as indicated in the previous posting. The ways in which they react to each other, however, is far more than imperceptible. They are connected in countless ways from the very basic dollar transactions we make every day to the far-reaching effects of wars we have waged in Indochina. Throughout this semester, we have learned about and discussed the many ways that our capitalism and the economics of big business go hand in hand with political decisions this country has made. A far greater form of capital, one that was discussed in the previous post, is that of language.
In every society, language is a powerful form of currency, and access to the language of the mainstream is essential within most industrialized countries. Access to language is what often creates a vicious circle within immigrants and poor workers in our own country, and our policies in third world countries in this regard are even worse. I must agree that language is a tool to keep people in place, yet argue that it is more than that. It is the ultimate representative of how our political ideology and economics are undoubtedly linked. To focus on the subject of language in our foreign policy, we must realize how powerful a currency it is. Because of the power we award the individual in our democracy, we have unions and forums in which workers can speak out. Workers within the US, assuming they are English speaking, can speak out for themselves. Workers in foreign countries cannot, often for the very basic reason that they have no outlet for making themselves heard. As we have discussed, language is also an effective way of controlling and misinforming people. Language is indeed a powerful currency, yet only those with access to it can use that power.
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