You'll need to be able to read in French and English for this post.
This piece one comes courtesy of a sports writer for La Presse named Francois Gagnon. The piece in particular is on cyberpresse.ca.
blogues.cyberpresse.ca/gagnon/?p=70312170
Now compare this to Pierre Lebrun's article from Canadian Press.
ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070502/sports/nhl_doan_campbell
Personally, Mr. Gagnon, Denis Coderre, Luc Malo and anyone who takes this side are simply wrong.
I smell a book and multiple lawsuits by Mr. Doan. I say go for it.
Look it basically comes down to this:
1) Should government ever regulate and get involved in sports?
2) If Francophones are sleighted and they demand action they'd better make damn sure their own backyard is clean. We all know that it isn't free of the same things they are accusing Doan of.
3) The initial reason there is a story is because a Liberal MP jumped on the story before ever getting the story and facts straight. It was discovered soon after that Doan did not utter an ethnic slur.
End of story right? Nope. He did say something - far less offensive - and now the French-language media have spun into nothing more than a theoretical exercise.
In other words, the story has new life not based on what was originally alleged - because they ended up being wrong - but something entirely different.
It's absolutely insane. It's called sophistry. Even light of what he said to his team mate about "doing the math four French refs in Montreal" after a penalty this does not deserve the attention it is getting in Parliament. Was this a racist statement? Doan added that he would have said the same thing had they been refs from California. I believe him. It was a "in the heat of the battle" comment. Maybe we should tackle true racism. Why he chose California remains a mystery. I digress.
4)What part of libel don't these people get?
The line that caught my eye in Gagnon's piece is this: "Ah oui? Faire respecter les droits des francophones, ou ceux des anglophones, des Grecs, des Italiens, des Chinois et des autres communautés qui peuplent le pays et payent des taxes pour lui permettre de se développer c’est une perte de temps?"
Basically he's justifying government action. Now, aside from the fact that NO INQUIRY would go towards the Italians, Greeks or Chinese as he insinuates - this is patently misplaced argument - it's typical of Canada to depend on government to solve social issues. That Gagnon feels that an inquiry is merited is absurd. Would he call for one had a Francophone player called, say, an Italian a "wop?" or Irishman "mick?" Would Denis Coderre bother to come to their defense? I think we know the answer here.
It's time to shelve the parochial mentality that keeps this place under a self-imposed prison without bars. Then they wonder why every ten years they fall behind the rest of "les maudits ethniques" and need a social revolution purge just to get them to catch up. Their outlook is inverted to the reality of the world around them. They're not stupid or racist, just insular when they choose to be. To me, Quebec is the most interesting of all the provinces with a special way at looking at things. You need this to keep this country honest. What you don't need are people like Luc Malo.
What annoys me, and I feel compelled to speak out here, is that they have the guts to turn around and tell me - a non-Francophone - that I am political. The whole rasion d'etre of French Quebec is to be political. Since 1976 this place has been nothing but a jealous warehouse of politicization. You can't have a normal conversation with most Quebecers without it being turned into politics.
True, this happens everywhere but it's a little more evident here. It's become part of their DNA make up. It is not surprising that they project this outlook upon the rest of the country and assume the rest of the country thinks like them. It's so ingrained in the pathology of their logic that they're not conscious of it. 'Je Me Souviens' is an outdated concept in today's world.
I consider myself one of those Quebecers in the middle and this is what I perceive. I am convinced smart Quebecers do not relish what is going on. It's second-rate, muckraking and banana republic politics. I am convinced that the Bloc Quebecois do not truly reflect the will and soul of the new, confident and modern Quebecer.
When I used to be called names my French friends would give sound advice: ignore it. Not that I always heeded these wise words. That said, they would offer the same type of advice we are now trying to convey to them: ignore it. Chill out. It's a non-story and it certainly does not merit a Bloc MP (Luc Malo) hysterically talking as if we are surrounded by evil racists in this country - on our dime.
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
As I mentioned earlier, Gagnon and his ilk are simply flat out WRONG.
Hear, hear!
ReplyDeleteThis is what I wrote about this yesterday:
Monsieur Duceppe: Ridicule/Mr. Duceppe: Ridiculous
And what I wrote applies to all those who got on their high horses for this non-event.