May freedom fall at the feet of the fool. I'm not sure I know what that means but I sure like the alliteration.
It is absurd to contemplate that an organization like the QPC would exist in an apparent free society. I reject its existence on all levels. If it isn't going to play with just intentions than we must ignore it. A society that claims to be free but tolerates the Quebec Free Press is not a free society. Dare I further say it is a society that does not deserve liberty. Indeed, all the QPC does is pander to the parts of Quebec intellectualism that continues to stumble about, slave to its own peculiar stagnant ideas.
It was quite a leap of perplexing logic for the QPC to decide to single out National Post columnist Barbara Kay for an opinion she expressed. Follow the links to get what the fuss is about.
www.barbarakay.ca/archive
www.barbarakay.ca/archive
www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html
In regards to the third link - nice piece of suave sophistry. In other words, they get to staunchly defend high journalistic standards - nice job if you can get it. Who gets to set the parameters? I wonder what they think about the anti-democratic harassment antics of L'Office de la Langue Francaise?' What about the poor, second-rate journalism displayed in the Shane Doan affair?
Barbara Kay broke no journalistic laws or ethics. She stated an opinion. Imagine if te QPC had power? Think of it.
One man's protection of culture is justified racism to another. Tellingly, outfits like the QPC help to instill a form of frenzied intellectual genocide with citizens. In this place we practice Quebocracy - Quebec's interpretation of freedom and democracy.
It all wreaks of totalitarianism to me. It is, to those who truly care and are honest with history, quite clear that Quebec is not a place where true democratic ideals are born.
In fact, the above article screams despotism and the scary reality is that its author hasn't a clue. The bottom line is that Duceppe, Coderre and Boisclair exhibited horrible and classless judgment in attending the rally. Whether Barbara Kay was correct in her judgment is irrelevant to the extent that an attempt was made to muzzle her freedom to express an opinion.
For a society that claims "to remember" history it is very good at ignoring the less flattering parts. There have been ugly moments in the history of this province and it makes us feel uncomfortable when others call us out on it. Our initial reaction is to always attack and denounce rather than engage - sure signs of an immature society and one that fears the market of free ideas.
Let's return to Kay vs. the QPC. Here's the their decision on the matter:
"The Council noted throughout the chronicle of Mrs. Kay a lack of rigour in the presentation of the context surrounding the walk for peace of August 2006, which tends to encourage the reader to lend intentions to public personalities without providing concrete facts to support these intentions. On several occasions in the chronicle, the journalist deformed facts, to present only a part of the situation, aiming only at supporting her point of view that the leaders of independent Quebec would withdraw the Hezbollah of the list of the terrorist movements and that this new country would become a harbour for them. The Council points out that, if the chroniclers can denounce with strength the ideas and the actions which they reject and carry judgments with complete freedom, nothing however authorizes them to deteriorate facts to justify interpretation that they draw. Deontology of the Council Press clearly established that the media and the professionals of information must avoid cultivating or to maintain the prejudices. They must imperatively avoid using, at the place of the people or the groups, the representations or the terms which tend to raise the contempt, to run up against the dignity of a person or a category of people because of a discriminatory reason. The Council estimated that the remarks of the journalist were equivalent to an undue provocation, in addition to establishing generalizations suitable to perpetuate the prejudices rather than to dissipate them."
Er, yeah. Whatever.
Gibberish notwithstanding, I decided to check out the Quebec Press Council and read a few of their pieces. One of the first ones I stumbled across jumped out at me:
www.canadiancrc.com/articles
Incredible. Aside from the distasteful reasoning employed in the piece, I must profess that the QPC is well within its rights to express itself. I wish they would return the favour. In the case of Homolka, I'm all for forgiveness, compassion and second chances - when warranted. I don't think Homolka fits this at all. It's got nothing to do with damn language or about being from one province or another. It's about a heinous crime by which the offender WAS NOT repentant. I must ask, where are we Quebecers getting our news? Should outfits like the QPC be our voice, juror and conscience?
In case they've forgotten, here's what Homolka and Bernardo committed:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bernardo
www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers
All told, I must side with Barbara Kay. It's a stance for freedom. We complain that the media doesn't report the real stories and we whine about how columnists rarely offer independent thought. Yet, we want to censor opinions when we disagree with it? The question of whether there are limits on free speech is fair. To debate this, however, a free, open society must lay its cards on the table. Quebec is simply not ready to partake in such a debate.
The QPC, for those interested, has William Tetley and Josee Legault on their side - not exactly pillars of liberty despite what they recite to themselves in the mirror in the morning. Not surprisingly, they have never been cited by the QPC for their own intellectual indiscretions. In the end, the QPC -and I am judging it on the the Kay issue - stands for empty, haughty intellectual hubris and they do not - hallelujah - speak for me.
If they don't like, well, let the sons of bitches come after this blog. Let freedom reign.
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