I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw on the news that the LPGA had issued an “English Only” policy. I knew immediately that it deserved a post after hearing a few people in the hotel dining room say it “sounds like a good idea.” Fortunately, I believe these people were outnumbered by those who disagreed but I couldn’t believe this was actually happening.
The new rule apparently targets the large number of lady Korean golfers who are making enormous strides in the sport. I was in disbelief especially after the Olympics which is such a world unifying event and the entire program is based on athletic merit which it should be. I had assumed that professional sports in the USA would also adhere to this same principle but I guess one can always be surprised. I know the male sports look only at ability such as the MLB and NBA and it’s too bad that the snotty LPGA can’t figure this out as well.
I am relieved however that by doing a quick search in Google there is a lot of backlash and golf.com has an article that says “LPGA’s English-only policy is unsportsmanlike and un-American.
http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1836266,00.html?cid=feed-tours_news-20080826-1836266
After seeing that article, the steam stopped coming out of my ears and really deflated what would have been a much longer rant since I can see that people with common sense are attacking this policy.
However, it still seems that in America there is the concept that people who do not speak English are ‘lesser’ or dumb. This was certainly the case when immigrants first arrived in America in the 1800s’ but one would think that we have become much more intelligent by now.
A good example of the hypocrisy is to use the French in Paris who give Americans the short shrift when they are unable to speak French which would probably make the snobs in the LPGA very upset. Yet they are doing the same thing to these Korean ladies in the LPGA only now it is not French but the English speaking women who are being uppity.
One could also make the case that they simply are afraid of being beat by the Koreans and thus institute a retarded rule like someone in Kindergarten.
But again, there does seem to be some serious backlash which is already on the web so I don’t think I need to make this post very long as the opinion is already out there in mass posts.
The only other news article I do need to comment on however which I couldn’t believe was actually shown on CNN is the story of a hillbilly in Texas who claims he saw an image of Jesus on a moth. Will these ridiculous news stories ever end? One would think Jesus has more important things to do than create his image on a moth, a burrito or somebody’s Dunkin Doughnut. Or perhaps it is a conspiracy by CNN to dumb down their viewership. Nothing like waking up in the morning to one of CNN’s playboy bunny reporters reporting on images of Jesus in some hilljack’s happy meal.
