Kenan Malik's Essay 'Let Them Die'

In “Let them die” essay, Kenan Malik assert that endangered languages in the world should be left to dead. In other word, the minority languages should not be preserved, because it is not related to the achievement of “cultural diversity” (Malik, 3). Indeed, he expresses, dying languages should be removed in order to reach the “dynamic and responsive” (Malik, 6) culture. However, the claims that Malik uses in his essay does not tackle the counter argument correctly. In addition, the evidences in the essay is not clear. Although those evidences is specific and sufficient, they are too general; the evidences does not specify and support the claims that Malik makes in “Let them die”. Malik’s opinions and his encountering methods are not reasonable.

They cover a wide range of subject and topic, which help the subsidiary claim to encounter the opponent’s ideas effectively; one piece of evidence is also not based on the trustable sources. Malik takes the example of “French speakers view the world differently from English speakers” (Malik, 8) and demonstrates it within two sentences. There is no proof used in this argument. Indeed, it makes the whole essay become more unreliable, and turns the author into a bias writer. On the other hand, the author does a really “good job” on picking the solid opponent’s perspectives. Some solid counter arguments such as “Language death is symptomatic of cultural death: a way of life disappears with the death of a language” (Daniel Nettle, 3), or “Each language has its own window on the world” (Nettle, 7) indirectly tell the readers the opposite idea that against the author’s point of view. They are valid, reasonable, and reliable to dominate the essay’s main point and its evidences. Those opposing views are so strong that they even break the whole essay down. Therefore the readers are more convinced by the counter argument more than the author’s idea, although his evidences try to plant the idea on reader’s mind.
The essay “Let them die” by Kenan Malik points out that “languages on the verge of extinction” (Malik, 13) should be left “die in piece” (Malik, 13). However, based on the ineffectiveness