Jan Wong, a Toronto journalist, seems to agree with much of my basic thesis on the Dawson college shootings.
What many outsiders don’t realize is how alienating the decades-long linguistic struggle has been in the once-cosmopolitan city. It hasn’t just taken a toll on long-time anglophones, it’s affected immigrants, too. To be sure, the shootings in all three cases were carried out by mentally disturbed individuals. But what is also true is that in all three cases, the perpetrator was not pure laine, the argot for a “pureâ€? francophone. Elsewhere, to talk of racial “purityâ€? is repugnant. Not in Quebec.
Not surprisingly, her remarks have drawn outrage from many, including the Premier of Quebec and the Prime Minister of Canada.
Jan Wong’s argument [is] prejudiced, absurd, irresponsible and without foundation.
I’ve great respect for the PM. I think he’s a pretty good guy. But, he’s trolling for votes in Quebec, and, sensibly, has no desire to open old linguistic wounds. He’s desperate to avoid being painted as “right-wing” by a media that’s very hostile to him. Finally, he didn’t spend the time growing up in Quebec that a good number of my family did. He’s seen primarily the best of Quebec; I’ve seen the best (which is great indeed) and the worst.
I know few here have great interest in this topic, but I wanted to follow it up. I think the challenge of building stable, happy societies from diverse cultural elements will remain one of the great challenges of the 21st century for the West.
I hope we succeed. I don’t think Quebec is a great model to follow on this, though it’s great in many other respects.
-wolfe
It seems to be human nature to try to divide and exclude. It’s a struggle to overcome that notion; but the “melting pot” notion is just as absurd and repugnant. The US succeeds, though she struggles constantly, with the challenge of combining many ethnicities peacefully while preserving individuality.
Of course, I grew up in a curious little pocket of the northern plains that has a long tradition of a pioneering “live and let live” philosophy. If you can pull your own weight, you’re OK.
~Z~
Sydney has also gone through the tired, catchphrase ‘melting pot’. Historically, different ethnicities have moved to particular suburbs and tended not to assimiliate (hate that word, reminds me of The Borg, but don’t know another) with other cultures. I think there may be both less of that today (due to globalisation) and more of it (due to the paranoia generated by the “war on TERROR“. If that is possible.
My personal belief is that income segregates more than ethnicity does, though, I guess you could make the argument that due to racial prejudice, certain ethnicities do not get the opportunity for upward social mobility. But I believe that if someone has enthusiasm and works hard, then they will succeed regardless of any other factor. Maybe that is being naive, but I can live with that.
Anecdotally, I grew up in a cul-de-sac or dead end street. The neighbourhood gang, with who I used to ‘roughhouse’ was like a mini united nations with children from:
The Czech Republic
Yugoslavia (when it was still called that)
Macedonia
The UK
France
South Korea
India
Lebanon
Zimbabwe
Italy
It’s a wonder I’m not versed in more than one language. Nationality or ethnicity or heritage or whatever just does not matter, and hopefully the internet will help adults to remember that. Fingers crossed.
I agree that income segregates more than ethnicity - great point. The argument regarding racial prejudice unfairly influencing income … that’s a tough one. I won’t weigh in, because as a WASP in the land of opportunity, I’m not qualified.
~Z~
Thanks Z, my argument may or may not hold water.
If we looked at the demographic backgrounds of felons who do once-off felonies such as serial shooting sprees, we can easily put that down to a psychotic episode. We may find in a large number of cases, such an episode has been bought on by substance abuse altering perception of reality.
But what does that really mean? What was their perception really like? We can easily guess that they felt persecuted and took revenge. But if that is the case, how were they being persecuted in reality (if at all), eg. were they marginalised in society and if so is that because they didnt have opportunities that they saw other people had, and if that is case, why not?
Where they excluded based on their 1. lack of education relevant to social-economic disadvantage? 2. ethnicity due to racial prejudice or 3. because they had a mental disorder and others therefore avoided and or rejected them?
It would be very interesting to look at not just the ethnicity of the shooters but their family economic backgrounds, I believe. If we found there was a random mix of middle, lower, higher income familial background shooters, then their envy and jealousy cannot simply be about class factors.
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