May 12, 2003

(Updated) Hyperventilating Press Forces County to Nix Klingon's Inclusion On List

Note: This post has been updated. Any and all updates appear at the end of the original post.

After a rash of mouth-breathing commentators latched onto -- and distorted the facts of -- Multnomah County's recent decision to include Klingon amongst the languages its mental health services would be prepared to handle, the county has caved to the pressure and reversed itself:

The office that treats county mental health patients had included Klingon on a list of 55 languages that could be spoken by incoming patients.
But the inclusion of the Star Trek language drew a spate of tongue-in-cheek headlines.
And now the county has rescinded its call, stressing that it hasn't spent a penny of public money on Klingon interpretation.
"Certainly, the idea that Klingon is on a list of languages that our safety net services might have to translate sounds absurd and about as far out as you can get," Multnomah County chair Diane Linn said in a press release. "It was a mistake, and a result of an overzealous attempt to ensure that our safety net systems can respond to all customers and clients."

Of course, no matter how surreal the original decision may have been, what was truly "absurd and about as far out as you can get" was the foaming response of various outlets for news and commentary, who attempted to spin the decision as, say, "taxpayers footing bill for Klingon interpreter."

Which was never the case with this story. The county was simply going to make sure they were prepared with the name of someone who could speak Klingon in the event someone in need of county health services wasn't speaking anything but that fictional language.

Yes, this is an utterly bizarre thing to contemplate. But it's not like there was going to be a full-time Klingon interpreter sitting around on-call waiting to be utilized -- which is precisely the scenario in which the nation's punditry wanted everyone to believe.

I don't mean to sound so serious about it all. But this is a fairly illustrative example of how the insular echo-chamber of the rabid press can turn what is a strange but ultimately insubstantial story into a PR disaster of nearly-epic proportions, all in the name of trying to tar and feather a government decision as being a waste of taxpayer money.

One wonders if Linn realizes that she just walked right into a rather unfortunate precedent, in terms of letting the world of the nation's pundits dictate the terms of legitimate local governmental conversation.

May 12, 2003

Update

Of course, it only gets still more confusing, as this item attempts to deconstruct the evolution of the original story. In the end, what the author means to do is explain that "Government Hires Klingon Interpreter" -- in other words, the misconstruction of what really occurred -- became the accepted consensus version, and therefore something of an urban legend.

Unfortunately, this very deconstruction is now being misconstrued by other commentators, who are making it seem as if they entire thing was just a joke.

While the county employees who made the determination to add Klingon to the list of languages for which to be prepared obviously were light-hearted about it, it remains indisputable that they did indeed make such a determination. That much is very decidedly not an urban legend.

And anyway, if it were all just a joke, Multnomah County Chair Diane Linn would not have a decision to reverse.

May 13, 2003

Update

See the comments for this entry for the text of yesterday's press release from County Chair Diane Linn.

Posted at 08:30 PM | PermalinkComments (3) | TrackBacks (1)
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Comments (3)

  1. The One True b!X on 12 May 2003

    As a sidenote, I have to say two things: (1) The form available on Linn's website for contacting her office fails to function; and (2) the County has the worst voicemail system I have ever had the displeasure of encountering.

  2. myrln on 13 May 2003

    Weird but True in nypost 5/12 quotes one Franna Hathaway of HumSvcs dept. as saying, "There are some cases where we've had mental-health patients where this was all they would speak."

  3. The One True b!X on 13 May 2003

    What follows is the text of yesterday's press release from the office of Multnomah County Chair Diane Linn:

    May 12, 2003
    ...
    Klingon Interpreter Services Removed From List
    Recent media attention on Multnomah County RFPQ (Request for Programmatic Qualifications) RO37745 for translator and interpreter services requires clarification.
    There is no cost to the county and no contractors are selected or paid through this RFPQ. "Not a penny of public money has been or will be spent on Klingon translation. I have issued an addendum to the RFPQ that officially removes it from the list of languages for county translation services effective immediately," states Multnomah County Chair Diane Linn.
    "Certainly, the idea that Klingon is on a list of languages that our safety net services might have to translate sounds absurd and about as far out as you can get. It was a mistake and a result of an overzealous attempt to ensure that our safety net systems can respond to all customers and clients," states Diane Linn, Multnomah County Chair.
    The county deals with a wide range of clients with severe mental health issues including manic depression, schizophrenia, multiple personalities, and delusions. It is our legal responsibility to respond with all resources and means necessary to communicate with clients.
    The intent of the RFPQ is to standardize rates and the rules of service delivery for language services across the county. Additionally, the target of the RFPQ process is to develop a more comprehensive, cost effective approach to providing required and valuable translation services to clients in need. The end result is a list of qualified providers available to all county agencies, including languages spoken by a small number of potential clients.
    Over 50 languages are included in the RFPQ. The county?s responsibility is to provide the best possible care to the people who seek our help, particularly in the midst of a mental health or health crisis, whatever the language they speak.
    "While this may sound like a quirky, peripheral issue, I would like people to take a moment to think about the kinds of things we are confronted with when we must help those who are mentally ill. The problems faced by those with mental illness are no joke, especially when they pose a threat to themselves or others. And what I hope people understand is that thanks to state budget cuts, we have little ability to help the severely mentally ill in any language. That is why we are working so hard to pass Measure 26-48," added Linn.

Trackbacks (1)

  1. But What About Elvish? on 15 May 2003

    The headline (Hyperventilating Press Forces County to Nix Klingon's Inclusion On List) pretty much sums up b!X's post mortem on the whole matter of Multnomah County's initial inclusion of Klingon on the list of languages supported by county services. ...