On Nationalism

I got a little tired of the nationalistic propaganda crammed down American throats, but I'm learning to recant. Consider this: Thailand's Ministry of Education vetoed a movement to make English the country's official second language. The veto was not on the basis of "Western=farang=bad," but instead to keep from conveying the impression that Thailand had once been colonized. More here.

Now, I'd be curious to see if a Sino language had similar problems, but it strikes me that a country too concerned about a twenty-first century opinion of its sovereign development in the 17th-19th century to officially adopt an already prevalent alternative language into its educational program has some big issues backing such choices.