Luke W. Mont: writings about estranged brother Hot

Luke W. Mont on:

MULTI-CULTURAL OVERLOAD:

AN ORIGINAL MONT CONCEPT

re-printed with permission from "The Legal Size Paper"

L.W. Mont is a regular columnist for the "Legal Size Paper", a conservative newsletter available mostly on the east side of North East.

“When too much of any new substance is introduced into a container without adequate time for assimilation, the original is permanently altered or even damaged. Just as this is true in chemistry, so will be the way of our American culture"

- quote from vinyl-restoration-guru Dr. Anhav DuFwinque

While authoring articles that involve your lost brother, who also happens to be a “political prophet”, it's amazing how much you learn about yourself. Dredging up the old memories through forgotten phonograph records and articles taught me as much about myself as it did about my half-brother "Hot".

While Hot remained steadfast in his beliefs, my beliefs seemed to go all over the map during the seventies & eighties. Sometimes I almost feel as though owe an apology to Hot for the convoluted roads I've traveled during my life.

What now remains is the stark clarity of Hot's writings; he truly spoke to us clearly about our own future. He spoke not as some wild prophet who “saw” the future, but more as a mathematician who put the equation together correctly well before all of the factors were even acknowledged by the general public & media. All of the information was already there, we just didn't have the foresight to pull it together as he did.

Mont's views on the current immigration problems (especially post-9-11) were absolutely on the money. His suggestion of a all-inclusive national test for citizenship suddenly doesn't sound as far fetched as it did when it was written in the seventies. His tolerant, inclusive, and “no-spin” statement that he wished to see inscribed on a building on Ellis Island seems almost tame today:

"To all foreign peoples yearning to come to America: bring us all of your wonderful & unique art, music , knowledge, poetry, prose, science, culinary treats & insight. But please allow all (or almost all) of us to really appreciate & share this treasure by integrating it into our existing culture.. instead of insisting on holding on to the "old country" ways and isolating yourself away in sub-cultures. It's worked great for several hundred years; let's continue this truly "American" tradition".

What a wonderful approach this would be to immigration today! To actually join into the existing culture instead of isolating yourself away in, for example, “Spanish-speaking “ only neighborhoods. What a novel concept! Scanning through the AM radio band in most major cities will make you wonder what country you're in, and further expands the non-English speaking “neighborhoods” to become entire cities!

As a person who has moved about the country many times, I've watched the rapid proliferation of “ethnically/culturally exclusive” neighborhoods...to the point of essentially scaring or inconveniencing everyone of other origins away! While living in metro Los Angeles in the eighties, I was smack dab in the center of a primarily Hispanic neighborhood. But never was there a problem with communication. These hard working Mexican immigrants seemed to have a reasonably firm grasp of the English language, and respected our laws; in other words, they were a welcome addition to the country; in other words, they were just like all of the immigrants of decades past!

Somewhere between then and now, that has changed. Political correctness prohibits many from speaking out against the new “fill-in-the-blank” ethnic neighborhoods that refuse to integrate into our larger culture. Now, people fear they will be labeled “racist” or worse. As the “gated golf community” types scurry ever further into the suburbs away from all of this change, they hypocritically deride anyone who speaks out against these “separate subcultures” and the damage they do to our unity. Just throw some money at your favorite charity...that act somehow makes these "country-club dwellers" think that they're open minded and above the fray.

But, essentially, they're just running away from integrating any change to their own comfortable world, and in reality, they are absolutely unwilling to accept any new ideas into the world they've created. And, this is America, so more power to them...but just be honest about it! In my view, they are almost as far off the mark as the immigrants who refuse to integrate. These suburbanite's weak-kneed method of dealing with integration by running off to the suburbs & exurbs surely propagates the problem.

Mont addressed this issue of fragmentation over and over again. His statements comparing the bi-lingual state of Canada with what is happening here in the states were brilliant:

“If new ideas , language & customs cannot be adequately assimilated into the mainstream culture, splinter groups will arise to serve the needs of small sub-cultures. The historical precedence of this is redundant enough not even to deserve re-dressing here. Our neighbor to the north, Canada, has always been a nation divided against itself.. In the case of Canada, it's simply because of the vast distances between population centers, and the different European nations that settled areas of it. There is clearly a "French part" and an "English part" & never the twain shall meet. The country will be constantly wracked by secession attempts. America never has had this "original divide as Canada"; but we are creating an artificial & much more devastating one by not requiring one primary language to be spoken, taught & required at the schools & public offices of all of the states in the nation.”

Mont's terminology “translational loss of language nuances” is a brilliant concept. Certainly most readers have seen how ridiculous direct translations from one language to another appear. Just look at any product assembly instructions that are directly translated from Korean or Japanese. Downright hilarious sometimes! The nuances that communicate subtlety are all but lost. The beauty of native tongue is trashed into bland, non-expressive speech. Mont writes:

“We cannot now or ever afford to become a multi-lingual country. Of course, all races, creeds, religions are welcome here , but a working basic language skill in English is imperative. Why? Read on! Too many ideas of great importance have been lost through "translational loss of language nuances". The multiple translations of one of our cultures most revered writings is a prime example: The Bible, The Torah, and to some degree, The Koran…call it what you may, a lot of it stems from the same place. So why so many contradicting interpretations? Because of the "language nuance" differences of course! The Tower of Babel story from all of the above sacred manuscripts needs no reiteration here. Our culture is headed for this same demise.”

Mont then goes on to suggest that a “standard” be imposed for citizenship. To impose any new laws fundamentally went against Mont's thinking, and for him to even consider this type of action exposes his genuine concern and feelings of desperation.:

“Because of my passion for not restricting new cultural input into America , which is tempered by my concern for language breakdown and the inherent communication problems which will follow, I propose a fair new citizenship test that all of us already born here will have to pass just the same as migrating aliens"

I can find no examples in history of multiple language nations surviving & prospering for extended periods, as Mont also points out. There are, however, many examples of failed empires that had no one predominant language . Will we just let history repeat itself again; will we just roll over and soon become another “also ran” nation? If Mont's warnings are accurate, our demotion to "third world nation" will surely be in full effect before the newborns of today reach voting age.

Mont offers solutions. But his solutions are sometimes a bitter pill to swallow. His steadfast belief that government has created much of the problem is a well-founded view. Mont writings consistently mention the downfall started by Lyndon Johnson's “Great Society” of governmental dependence.

Although Mont in the seventies loudly defended and applauded Johnson's civil rights actions taken during his presidential tenure in the sixties, he strongly suggests many times that much of the mechanism of eventual downfall was also put into place by Johnson and his cronies. In the next article, I'll explore some of the extreme statements and radical interpretations of "The Dream: The Creation of Hot Mont". It's truly a confusing and misinterpreted document to say the least.