O'Neachtain expresses the heart of the matter with honesty when he says the entire language business is "more about identity than communication.” Indeed. I also seem to remember a certain prominent French leader walking out of a meeting because the language used there was not French. Identity, identity, identity.
Funny thought: I hear a lot of EU-lovers talking about how "Oh! The EU will be great because we will all consider ourselves 'Europeans' and no longer hold on to primitive ideas about individual national identity." Come on, is this really the case in eality? The implications of language alone seems to argue against it. Language is deeply tied to identity. Remember your history lessons too, how often the languages of conquered countries were prohibited by the conquerors in an attempt to crush the identity and soul of those conquered countries. (Usually this attempt fails miserably.)
Which of course calls into question their real ability to create a new European citizen who will never resort to arms to settle differences as the states of Europe have done for centuries. The European elites pray for this salvation from the supposedly bloody peasants who made their social betters go to war time and time again.
Still, this fetish for preserving tiny languages in their proto-realm doesn't mean that multiple languages reflects a commitment to freedom (erm, Soviet Union anyone?).
Europe under the blessings of the European Union will still become an empire. A polyglot empire to be sure, but still an empire. Hey, two out of three ain't bad.
