The following happened a couple of years ago in Australia. I'm sure that someone will get upset about this but that's ok. If this upsets you I'd like to know why.



Otherwise please post your opinions on this! I know how I feel:


Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on
Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted
radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.

A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to
Australia and her Queen at a special meeting with Prime Minister John
Howard, he and his Ministers made it clear that extremists would face
a crackdown. Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to
Howard, hinted that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the
country if they did not accept that Australia was a secular state,
and its laws were made by parliament. "If those are not your values,
if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state,
then Australia is not for you", he said on National Television.

"I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws
governing people in Australia: one the Australian law and another
Islamic law that is false. If you can't agree with parliamentary
law, independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and
have the opportunity to go to another country, which practices it,
perhaps, then, that's a better option", Costello said.

Asked whether he meant radical clerics would be forced to leave, he
said those with dual citizenship could possibly be asked to move to
the other country. Education Minister Brendan Nelson later told
reporters that Muslims who did not want to accept local values should
"clear off. Basically people who don't want to be Australians, and
who don't want, to live by Australian values and understand them,
well then, they can basically clear off", he said.

Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by
saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques.

Quote: "IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave
It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are
offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist
attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the
majority of Australians."

"However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the
'politically correct' crowd began complaining about the possibility
that our patriotism was offending others. I am not against
immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a
better life by coming to Australia ." "However, there are a few
things that those who have recently come to our country, and
apparently some born here, need to understand." "This idea of
Australia being a multi-cultural community has served only to dilute
our sovereignty and our national identity. And as Australians, we
have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own
lifestyle."

"This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles,
trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought
freedom"

"We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese,
Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to
become part of our society .. Learn the language!"

"Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right
wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on
Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly
documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls
of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider
another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of
our culture."

"We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask
is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment
with us."

"If the Southern Cross offends you, or you don't like "A Fair Go",
then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this
planet. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change,
and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. By
all means, keep your culture, but do not force it on others.

"This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow
you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done
complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our
Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take
advantage of one other great Australian freedom,

'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'."

"If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come
here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted."


This can be verified on Snopes:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/australia.asp

 

few things stand out the most to me...

 

Unless you have a valid passport, Americans are about to lose the right to leave.

Well at least the ability to return, leaving will be a one way street.

 

There are some things I agree with. I'm a US citizen, I wasn't naturalized here. Growing up I had to teach myself how to read and write English because my parents couldn't either at the time. It saddens me when I think about how tough it was on me as a little kid having to make up a story to go along with the pictures in the books. Nowadays every product out there has english and spanish on their labels? How about the many different asians out there that don't understand english nor spanish? It just seems like we, as Americans, are having to adjust to the non-english speaking society when it should be the other way around.

My $0.02.

 

How about that? Given that the 2000 Census data show that, for languages spoken at home, 82+% speak english, and 10.7+% speak spanish. ALL of the asian languages together (chinese, tagalog, vietnamese, korean, japanese, et. al) together comprise 2.2%. No single language is more than 0.78% (chinese, in all its variants). Only 0.8% speak no english at all, which 97% claim they speak English well or very well.

Products out there are labeled based upon buyers. If you can already cover better than 99.2% of the population with 2 languages, using a third of the space on your can of soup to cater to less than 0.78% of the population doesn't make much business sense.

Don't take this as an attack. The fact that you were able to clearly learn english quite well without the help of your parents is quite an impressive accomplishment, and something to be very proud of. I wish we spent MORE money and time in this country teaching immigrants and their children the primary language of the country. It would only serve to empower them more, which is a good thing.

 

Yeah, but then you can't enter most countries without one anyhow... it's kind of sad how many Americans don't have passports or the desire to travel and see what it's like in other places.

I hadn't thought about the non spanish and non english speaking Americans having a hard time... *edited because it came out wrong

I read somewhere that being bi-lingual (or multi) is great for a person but terrible for a country...

 

anyhow, back to the topic

I myself am tired of all the "Liberals" and "Conservatives" making the rest of us in this country look insane... I feel that most of us are pretty close to the center in our beliefs and that common sense dictates that we do something constructive. It seems thought that the fringe elements on both sides are the ones that get all the attention and somehow guide the way the rest of us are perceived by the world and each other. The comments by these Australian Politicians seem pretty right on to me...

 

Wadda ya mean, it works great for Canada.

 

No offense taken.

All I'm trying to say is that this is the United States and the national language is English. In my time, to become a citizen you had to recite the Bill of Rights and the 10 Commandments. Those were in English. (I don't know if it's done differently now.) You immigrate to another country because of better opportunities and that is your choice, but out of respect to the country that is taking you in, learn to adapt. It's like going to France, (where the French upholds their language) and trying to make them understand you in English. They look down upon you. Eh, I don't know if my point makes sense.

I don't know...maybe it's because I've worked in retail and based on my experiences with non-english speaking customers and their attitudes, it just seems like a lot of them expect you to know their language and they get all huffy because you only understand English.

 

Aussie politicians FTW!!!!! I'll vote them in over here!

 

It's got my vote!

 

Actually, the United States has no official national language - thats up to the states, of which quite a few have elected to have both Spanish and English as official languages.

I agree witht he assertation that those inthe US should attempt to learn english - certainly naturalized citizens are required to demonstrate a modicum of knowledge. I do think we as a country have a responsibility to do all we can to HELP them learn english without cost to them, and we do very little of that now.

 

ill second that!

 

I'm ****in moving to Australia.

 

Australia...fk yeah! I doubt the US would ever do anything like that, but it would be nice.