Comments on: Phoque Paul McCartney

By: Raman

Raman — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:14:20 +0000

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By: Jean Naimard

Jean Naimard — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:27:26 +0000

Québec is, well, stupid, not necessarly because it is mostly inhabited by civil servants (a big minority), but all those who gravitate around the civil servants, those who are too stupid to get a job from the government. So they are left enjoying the crumbs left behind by the civil servants by selling them crap. Since the civil servants are immune to recessions, those who sell to them are also immune to recessions, and thus haven’t learned the hard way how markets operate, and are therefore woefully incompetent.

This kind of stupid people are easy fodder for the providers of garbage media (such as Radio-X or André Arthur) which, incidentally, makes a fine breeding-ground for right-wing parties.

In the 1930’s, R.B. Bennett’s conservatives were able to seize power in Canada largely thanks to the region of Québec, where nazi Adrien Arcand published his fascist trash-newspaper (with under-the-table money from Bennett). Look no further to Québec-city’s garbage-media for the current conservative minority, also acquired to nearby Beauce.

Ah. About Beauce. Québec’s paradise of entrepreneurs, it is also the region in Québec with the lowest average scholarity. So you will find there legions of stupid drones who are perfectly happy working 60 hours a week at minimum wage for a boss that, thanks to this “dedication” can go about in a $80,000 car instead of having to do with a $50,000 car.

That uneducated population will be ready suckers for right-wing demagogues, as shown by electoral results.

Sadly, this is one thing that left-wing parties haven’t understood: ignorant people are perfectly happy to be ignorant, and they certainly will not be swayed by logic, rational arguments backed by facts, because analyzing the facts is too tiresome; better let that demagogue politician “analyze” them for you…

By: littlerob

littlerob — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:10:43 +0000

Acajack–your anecdote about Pierre Foglia is proof once again that it is one thing to learn a language, and another to learn cultural references. My own cultural ignorance of Francophone North America, for example, is fairly broad, and it begins with my never having watched Passepartout as a kid. I also sense that Francos in general know much more about (the admittedly pervasive) Anglo culture than the reverse.

By: SonyAD

SonyAD — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:20:41 +0000

“are far and few between”

I think that should be “few and far between”. :D

By: Acajack

Acajack — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:29:51 +0000

“I remember hearing the French cultural critic at the Gazette on the radio talking about how Les têtes à claques (tetesaclaques.tv) was popular among Anglos. He was amazed. “For years I’ve been covering Franco culture for the Gazette and I’m always the only Anglo. At a Jean Leloup show I’m the only Anglo. I go see les Cowboy Fringant and I’m the only Anglo. It’s the first time my colleagues actually know what I’m writing about!”

Ahhh… les Têtes à claques. The proverbial exception that confirms the rule. In my lifetime, those dorks might be the first cultural (using the term loosely) icon that’s come out of French-speaking Canada that isn’t greeted with blank stares from our English-speaking compatriots. Even the wildly popular La Petite Vie wasn’t able to pull that off.

All of this talk of cultural blind spots reminded me of a “diplomatic incident” a few years back. A rather large festival in Montreal (I think it was Just for Laughs, but it might have been another – pretty sure it was the comedy fest though) had hired a bright, fairly young and fluently bilingual Anglo-Montrealer to handle its media relations.

So, one day, La Presse columnist Pierre Foglia (the most widely-read newspaper columnist in Quebec at the time – his star has faded slightly in recent years) walks up to the media desk to take in some of the festival. He says, hi I am Pierre Foglia from La Presse, blablabla I’d like to get in, etc. To which the kid (well, not really a kid, but you get my point…) responds: “Who the hell are you? If you think I’m just gonna let some chump off the street in for free who’s pretending to be a somebody”, or something to that effect.

The kid had no idea who Pierre Foglia was. Now imagine the dude handling the media at a comedy fest somewhere in the U.S. having never heard of Andy Rooney or Dave Barry…

By: littlerob

littlerob — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:14:46 +0000

Correction: Madonna was born in Bay City, Michigan, and grew up near Detroit. BTW, I like tetes a claques too, although it takes me several hearings to pick up the Joual. Un jour, je le maitriserai, j’espere…

By: littlerob

littlerob — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:29:01 +0000

AFG–the people I know who here who are Francophone/francophile/francowhatever come to it from all sorts of directions. One woman I know was born in France, has lived in this country since college, married an American, and uses French exclusively with her three kids. Another is an American of Belgian descent who teaches high school French; she makes sure that all her kids learn the language too. My college friend was actually trilingual (Japanese, English, French); her family had connections in France, and she lived there the year after she graduated. Her roommate was an American of French parentage who later moved to France and married a Frenchman. Both my parents learned French during their youth, and after they became friendly with Judge Batshaw’s daughter, they inherited her connections in both France and Québec. I am sure that there are lots of other Americans like me, especially in the large Eastern cities. And don’t forget the Haitian and North and West African communities here; lots of people in them speak French too. The Francophone USA isn’t just southwest Louisiana and northern New England.

Not too many Québécois around here. You run into more people with Québec roots in Ohio and Michigan (e.g. Madonna, who was born in Detroit, I think) than you do in Pennsylvania.

By: angryfrenchguy

angryfrenchguy — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:38:15 +0000

I remember hearing the French cultural critic at the Gazette on the radio talking about how Les têtes à claques (tetesaclaques.tv) was popular among Anglos. He was amazed. “For years I’ve been covering Franco culture for the Gazette and I’m always the only Anglo. At a Jean Leloup show I’m the only Anglo. I go see les Cowboy Fringant and I’m the only Anglo. It’s the first time my colleagues actually know what I’m writing about!”

Littlerob. Interesting about the PA French connection. PA wasn’t a French-Canadian exodus destination as far as I know. Tell us more.

And yes, I also agree Septante, Octante and Nonante make a lot more sense. no argument here.

By: Acajack

Acajack — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:56:02 +0000

Thanks Littlerob! Pretty cool that you’re from Pennsylvania!

By: littlerob

littlerob — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:25:03 +0000

Acajack–I live in Pennsylvania. Our family has had connections with la francophonie since the 1950s through the family of the late Judge Harry Batshaw of the Superior Court of Québec (see my posts on AFG’s article “Québec needs more Jews.”)It is taken for granted in our family that you study French and become functional in it, and our family is not at all unique in this respect here. I know two other such families in this area, and the young woman I went out with in college–er, at university–was from such a family as well. I would guess that there is a number of anglo Canadian families in which it is also understood that all members know French.

My French is functional all right, but not good enough to get through Loco Locass :-(

It is a damn shame that so few Anglos show up at Franco music events. I am planning to go to one in Québec in November if I have the time and can scrape up the money. The music is as good as any I have ever heard (I am playing some as I write this).