LOL! sorry for laughing but idiotic statements make me laugh.
ack-ack
"on principle" can mean many non-idiotic things...
I am personally not learning spanish because a great number of people who have directly influenced my life in a negative way were immigrants (both legal and illegal) who came to the place where I lived, refused to learn the native language in use in their new home after over a decade of residence, and then insisted that I learn spanish to accomodate them.
I owe them nothing and I refuse to be placed under an obligation by someone who comes to me and intentionally causes difficulties by refusing to make any attempt to adapt to their new situation and location or integrate into the society they moved into. I didn't go to their hometown and insist that everyone there speak MY language, and I will not allow them to obligate me to comply to their imported culture. If I wanted to speak Spanish or become a Mexican, I would move to Mexico and speak/act just like the people there.
Imagine your response if I moved next door to your house, and insisted that every street sign in your neighborhood be converted into dual-language signs, English and Russian. Not only that, I would insist that tax dollars be used for the conversion, claim that my rights are being violated if the conversion does not take place, and accuse everyone who opposes my demands of being racist. Of course, taking a page from your book, anyone who fails to comply "on principle" is an idiot. And then I go to your place of business, and if you do not speak Russian to me, how would you feel if I organized a boycott of your business and repeatedly sued you for discrimination even if state law does not support my claim, costing you thousands in legal fees?
I am sure you would be irritated enough to never want to speak Russian. That is what has happened to me, my family, and many other people I know where I grew up. The systematic harassment of native English speakers in Southern California by immigrants who refuse to learn English is so pervasive that the California state government has spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars converting everything in the state to dual languages. That was money straight out of my pocket back when I was paying Calif income tax.
To hell with them. Immigrants who refuse to learn the language of the land they moved to have already cost me enough time/money, and I don't owe them more of my time/money from learning Spanish. Does that mean I'm not learing Spanish "on principle", and I'm an idiot for not spending more time and money accomodating people who have already cost me time/money?