Too polite a language?

8 May 2007

Egregious social breeches aside, our worst habit is forgetting to say, “Please” and “Thank you”. The Spaniards – considered the politest people in Europe – were struck by the extreme politeness of the indigenous Mexicans as they raped and pillaged their way to power here. Politeness still matters, even in this big, big, big city. Use ¡Por favor! and ¡Gracias! Even if you completely mangle your Spanish, those phrases are essential if you want service in a store or restaurant.One thing that always gets the English-speaker is the extreme politeness of the Spanish language.

(My 2004 guidebook to living in Mexico City)

Sometimes it’s too DAMN polite. In the national on-line El Diario/La Prensa Gerson Borrero quotes Rafael Olmeda of the National Hispanic Journalists association on LOU DOBBS becoming a life-time member (yup… you read that right!):

“No podemos pretender que la inmigración ilegal no es parte de esa historia. Lou Dobbs, en mi opinión, cuenta esa historia en una manera incompleta, no constructiva. Pero él tiene el derecho a no estar de acuerdo conmigo”, reafirmó por escrito Olmeda luego de una conversación de 36 minutos en la tarde del viernes.

Which, of course, translates as:

“We cannot pretend that illegal immigration is not part of the story. Lou Dobbs, in my opinion, tells this story in an incomplete, not constructive, way. But he has the right to disagree with me,” reaffirmed Olmeda in writing after a 36-minute conversation on Friday afternoon.

Those of you outside the U.S. are probably not familiar with Dobbs. He was a financial reporter for years on public television, who now has a one-hour “news” program on CNN. Dobbs includes a regular feature called “Broken Borders” — dealing with what he continues to call “illegal immigrants,” but his methods, and presentation, are far from news standards.

I pointed out once before that he’s used neo-nazi propaganda without batting an eyelash. Leslie Stahl, a real reporter, took Dobbs apart on CBS’ real news show, “60 Minutes”:

Dobbs’s reports are more than just “incomplete” and “not constructive.” They often contain inaccurate, biased, and misleading information.

Last night, CBS’s 60 Minutes caught Dobbs in one of these lies. Following “a report on illegals carrying diseases into the U.S.,” his show reported that there were 7,000 cases of leprosy in the United States in the last three years. CBS found out that there were actually 7,000 cases in the past 30 years, and “nobody knows how many of those cases involve illegal immigrants.” When host Lesley Stahl confronted him on this error, Dobbs simply replied, “If we reported it, it’s a fact.” Watch it:

Hey, it’s nice that Lou has a thousand bucks to blow on his “lifetime membership”, but some of us gabachos who really do cover Latin America and Mexican-American issues could use a little support too —