Let's get things started.
I just watched the 'Celeb' ad released by the McCain. Interesting stuff! Not sure what to make of it. It almost anoints Barack Obama as the incumbent President. I wasn't sure whether its point about taxes and oil was effective enough to offset making Obama seem so Presidential.
Some interesting things to note. Some commentators are alleging that the use of two blond celebrities is a subliminal racist suggestion, to make people scared of Obama. Not sure whether the people who would be so affected would vote for Obama any way. So, if that was the intention, which I doubt, seems like a pointless exercise.
Also, it seems strange that the media has focused on the ads style and not its content. The effective tax rate under Obama's proposal would be substantially lower for the vast majority of Americans (you can check out the details here). Also, while Obama has opposed offshore oil drilling, there are literally millions of acres of approved areas for exploration with known oil reserves which the oil companies have not explored (after lobbying heavily for them to be released) - so why this rush for even more unexplored places?
On an entirely different topic, Mark Erard, in his article captioned "How English Is Evolving Into a Language We May Not Even Understand", makes the point that most speakers of English are now non native speakers, and points to how the language is often used very differently by many of them. He states: "... [English is] mingling with so many more local languages than Latin ever did, that it's on a path toward a global tongue — what's coming to be known as Panglish. Soon, when Americans travel abroad, one of the languages they'll have to learn may be their own."
The underlying thesis is that 15% or less of English speakers worldwide are native speakers of the language. So, are Hinglish, Benglish, Chinglish, Singlish the new forms of English that will define the standard of the language in future?
Thoughts?
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