State Language Discrimination Comes In Many Forms

"...One of the major issues the Left has is their conflation of market forces with things like racial prejudice. In the South, the first mass transit was private sector, and it was integrated, not segregated. So the government forced them to segregate, or drove them out of business with anti competitive laws in order to run public, segregated mass transit. Then decades later, when the political winds had changed, they integrated the mass transit that they had segregated in the first place. And the statists and morons rejoiced, for the loving government had given back what they had taken away in the first place."

I can't verify the accuracy of this comment but it is an interesting one and if I were to guess, probably true.

I look at Quebec and it's pitiful language situation and one needs to understand it's the STATE that has forced language discrimination upon the people. They can argue, like they did in the South, it reflects the "will" of the people but when something is flat out discriminatory it eventually falls from under its weight of bull shit.

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One of the most heinous of excuses I've heard justifying the PQ's segregationist behavior (according to nationalists, Quebec is the most "worldly" of peoples) is that "many" jurisdictions have language laws on the books.

Whatever that means. How to begin breaking that argument?

Let's concede that there are laws, NONE (to my knowledge - and to my circle of friends who live across the globe) go the lengths Quebec goes. Compelling free citizens under the threat of coercion is NOT a justifiable action under any circumstances.

No jurisdiction is insecure (or even mad) enough to declare wars on words. NONE. Find me one.

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Time to rethink and look beyond our tiny finger nails and understand the unintended consequences of our decisions and actions.

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The other day a friend was telling me that panel on a French-language sports show were discussing Quebecois GM's in the NHL. They showed a list but the panelist who, I guess, put it together forgot to add Dale Tallon. When it was mentioned, he made a face and the face said it all "he's not really Quebecois."

The person was Michel Bergeron on a show called L'anti Chambre and his attitude is more prevalent than you think.

In their eyes, we're not all Quebecers. This is a fact. I know, I hear it all the time.

He added, "Tallon speaks French like PJ Stock (an English-speaking co-panelist).

Nice guy.

That in a nutshell is acceptable behavior here. No one says anything because no one gives a shit about what two-bit commentators in Quebec think and those of us who look at this in shock are too weak, tired and fragmented to muster up any energy to say, "hey, that's just not right."

Can you imagine this being said in the rest of Canada or the USA without some sort of reaction, an apology or even a firing?

I can't.

Quebec is leagues, - LEAGUES - behind the continent on that front.

I can but use my blog to voice opposition. What bothers me most is the silence it's met with.

A couple of years back sportswriter Bertrand Raymond went on English radio to say he was not a "bigot" for talking about language in the Montreal Canadiends organization. It suddenly wasn't about merely making an effort to speak French as it was always presented to us, the proficiency matters!

Yes, because Quebec does a great job at preserving the quality of the French language. I was told by a Revenu Quebec agent she didn't understand my "patente" as if she was eating a poutine in a truck stop. This is how they speak to tax payers.

It was pathetic to listen to Raymond's protestations as everyone tried to assuage the poor soul's heart.

Of course, they did this to keep the peace but it WAS prejudicial behavior. They can't seem to comprehend when you favor one group of people in any capacity over another it's PREJUDICED.

Quebecers feel that, "hey, we're the majority here and a minority on the continent ergo we must do what we do."

And that's when the shit hits the fan.

"It’s not enough to observe that peaceful, voluntary cooperation is possible without the state. Chartier goes the next step by positing that the state is actively inimical to such cooperation. Besides its reliance on aggression, the state uses power to favor groups over one another, making people more likely to regard each other in adversarial ways. If one group is the beneficiary of special privileges, this not only makes life difficult for others, but creates incentives for antagonistic, zero-sum thinking. Chartier’s point is that in order to have a society of peaceful, voluntary cooperation, we need to eliminate all forms of aggression—and that the leading source of that aggression is the state."

In light of the above quote, what do you think Bill 14 is?

This shit is toxic, man.