Radio Host Loses Her Show Over English-Only Rant

[crazy canuck]

Meh. She has every right to tell people to speak English, just as they have every right to tell her to fuck off in Spanish.

And her employer has every right to terminate their relationship.

[DontSayBanana]

And her employer has every right to terminate their relationship.

Not her employer, she paid the station for her show slot. It's more a "right to refuse service to any customer" kind of situation.

[merithyn]

And her employer has every right to terminate their relationship.

Not her employer, she paid the station for her show slot. It's more a "right to refuse service to any customer" kind of situation.

Similar to not making a cake for a gay couple.

[Valmy]

So wait she didn't lose her job but lost her public access spot? Huh. Well make a podcast then if you want to keep spewing your shit to the world.

[grumbler]

So wait she didn't lose her job but lost her public access spot? Huh. Well make a podcast then if you want to keep spewing your shit to the world.

It wasn't a public-access spot.   She paid something like $500/hr to broadcast her show (the station just provided equipment and an engineer).  She paid for this by selling advertising/mentions on her show.

[viper37]

To be devil's advocate, there are situations where it shouldn't be considered racist to judge people for not speaking English if they can.  This random harassment of strangers obviously isn't it, but in a workplace environment speaking another language in front of people who do not understand it can be considered rude and exclusionary, if you can speak a language that everyone can understand.  I hate it when people talk to me in Russian at work, because I feel like replying in Russian is not appropriate when there are non-Russian speakers around, but it can also be rude to keep switching to English when they obviously want to speak to me in Russian.

i don't have a problem with this.  As long as people address me in a language I understand, whatever they do elsewhere is not my business.

Where I to live in a foreign country that I do not understand the language spoken by the majority in where I work, I would do every effort possible to learn that language; if I come across a co-worker who speaks French, I would not hesitate to exchange a few passing words in French with him/her when we're not discussing sensitive work issues.

You guys have to stop with that paranoia thing.  People aren't always talking behind your back.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Most overheard conversations are very banal, so I prefer it when an overheard conversation is in a language I don't understand.

[The Brain]

At a workplace or at a social gathering it is indeed rude to speak a language someone who is not simply a bystander doesn't understand, if you all know a language that the person does understand.

If workers don't speak the local language very well it makes sense from a health and safety perspective that they speak their own language when talking to each other when they're at work. And of course workers who are foreigners often don't speak the local language at all, which makes making them speak the local language extra stupid.

[DGuller]

You guys have to stop with that paranoia thing.  People aren't always talking behind your back.

It's not about paranoia, it's about exclusion.  The person who doesn't speak your language is being excluded from the conversation and is made to feel out of place.  Also, sometimes you may think the conversation may not involve another person, but it turns out that they do have something to add, or maybe they have something to learn.  You'd never know that if you preemptively exclude them from the conversation.

[crazy canuck]

And her employer has every right to terminate their relationship.

Not her employer, she paid the station for her show slot. It's more a "right to refuse service to any customer" kind of situation.

Thanks for the clarification 

[viper37]

You guys have to stop with that paranoia thing.  People aren't always talking behind your back.

It's not about paranoia, it's about exclusion.  The person who doesn't speak your language is being excluded from the conversation and is made to feel out of place.  Also, sometimes you may think the conversation may not involve another person, but it turns out that they do have something to add, or maybe they have something to learn.  You'd never know that if you preemptively exclude them from the conversation.

If I'm talking to my friend/colleague, you're not concerned.  If I'm in the break room talking about yesterday's goal by Sydney Crosby against Carey Price, I'll use the common language, if I know there are other hockey fans.  If it's clear that they're all baseball fans, I won't bother with the language when talking to my french speaking friend.

There's no exclusion here.  It's something I've often heard of, muslims students speaking arabic to one another while they walk in a corridor.  Some are extremely bothered by that. Wtf man?  They're talking to one another.  You don't even know them!  Why do you want to understand what they're saying??

People have a right to chat with one another in the language they like.

Official communications should be held in the language of the workplace, here, it's French, elsewhere, it will be something else.  But private chat?  Doesn't matter.