Montreal City Weblog

Kate 21:48 on 2019-07-12 Permalink Reply  

• Chris 07:37 on 2019-07-13 Permalink

  Seems these days people have a depressingly low tolerance for different viewpoints. Be pro- or anti-abortion as you wish, but to even be against public airing of a view you disagree with… quite shameful in my view. (I am pro-abortion.)

• Kate 07:58 on 2019-07-13 Permalink

  Showing a movie like this is not a neutral decision on the part of Vincenzo Guzzo. Women know that access to abortion was hard-won and that there are still powerful forces poised to push public opinion in the direction of rolling it back. Anything that militates on that side is bound to be felt as a move in a dangerous game, not just a “different viewpoint.”

• Orr 08:01 on 2019-07-13 Permalink

  Yes I have a low tolerance for a group that thinks forced-birth is how society treats women in the 21st century. And so should everyone else with an ounce of human decency.

• Uatu 09:44 on 2019-07-13 Permalink

  Is it that slow of a movie season that they can give up cinema space for some laughable, ham handed message movie you’d see in an evangelist’s living room? Well good luck trying to feel moved while hearing Spiderman fight Mysterio in the next room…

• Chris 10:02 on 2019-07-13 Permalink

  Kate, Vincenzo Guzzo has said he is pro-abortion. One can be both pro-abortion and pro-free spreech. Yes, many want to push public opinion against abortion, as is their right. By airing their agruments, you can better argue back.

  You may already know this, but since you mentioned specically that *women* “know that access to abortion was hard-won”, I’ll just mention that, in the USA anyway, pro/anti abortion views are basically the same between men and women: https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/. Religiosity is much more correlated.

  Orr, tolerance for views you despise is required for peaceful coexistance. Should theatres not show films about, I dunno, BBQing because it is morally outrageous to vegans?

• GC 10:07 on 2019-07-13 Permalink

  I’m 100% pro-choice, but I don’t see the need to protest a film that I can–and will–choose not to watch.

• Michael Black 11:16 on 2019-07-13 Permalink

  Was the protest because Guzzo showed the film, or more just to make sure the film wasn’t shown without a reaction? There’s a difference.

  If people are worried, Guzzo has its name on some of the expansion at Selwyn House School. It’s not uncommon to see a Guzzo labelled vehicle near there in the afternoon. I assume someine getting their child, but maybe more deliberate?

  An all male private school would seem to be a better vector for pro-abortion than showing a movie somewhere.

  Michael

• Kate 11:27 on 2019-07-13 Permalink

  Chris, it’s naive now in this era of online hate and polarized discussions to assume “by airing arguments you can argue back” because nobody is listening. I used to think the same way but I can see now it’s hopeless. You cannot reason with someone who doesn’t base their opinions on reason – you, as a holder of strong anti-religious views, must know that.

  GC, I agree. I posted this because it’s news, not because I’m implying full support of the idea of protest. I can understand why some people felt motivated to protest but I tend to think that kind of thing ends up bringing such a movie a bigger audience than it would get otherwise.

  Michael, I believe Guzzo was interviewed saying he shared the anti-abortion bias, but I can’t find a link now. If I find one, I’ll add it to the post.

• GC 21:43 on 2019-07-13 Permalink

  Kate, just expressing my opinion. I also support their right to peaceful protest, if they feel it’s a worthwhile use of their own time. And, yeah, there is the whole Streisand Effect. I did not even know this film existed until the protested against. Not that it matters, in my case, but for those who might support its position…

• Chris 09:30 on 2019-07-14 Permalink

  Michael, the protest was against the *showing* of the movie.

  Kate, what’s your alternative proposal then? Who gets to decide what topics we can show movies about?

  Kate, on CBC radio i heard Guzzo say he is pro-abortion.

• Kate 11:21 on 2019-07-14 Permalink

  Chris, the non-trolled answer to your question is, of course, the Régie du cinéma.

  This movie is fiction. It apparently supports a point of view, but although it’s not a polemic, enough people are calling it propaganda that I suspect that’s what it is. The Régie du cinéma isn’t there to weed out propaganda, that’s for observers and critics to point out – which they have done.

• Kate 13:23 on 2019-07-14 Permalink

  Incidentally, Mr. Guzzo’s twitter feed makes it clear he’s a true blue Tory. And we know the current Conservative party chief is anti-abortion although he has promised not to reopen the debate formally if elected.

• Chris 19:35 on 2019-07-14 Permalink

  After 10 years of Harper, it seems likely the Cons again won’t change the abortion status quo. Meanwhile, for all their scaremongerings, what have the libs done? Did they finally introduce legislation to formalize our right to abortion? No. Did they increase funding or add new clinics? No. They just play cynical partisan scare games.

  Of course the movie is propaganda. There are left wing propaganda movies too, say, anything from Michael Moore. That’s free speech. You don’t have to watch. You can argue against it. But you ought to tolerete the right of others to express views you strongly disagree with, not protest to take away their free speech.

• Kate 22:26 on 2019-07-14 Permalink

  Chris, I don’t think anyone protesting at the cinema expected to get the film taken off the program. They were there to basically say “I don’t like this!” and that is their right too, if you’re going to fuss over free speech.

• Chris 07:04 on 2019-07-15 Permalink

  Protesting to say ‘I don’t like this’ is fine, it’s protesting to say ‘you shouldn’t show this’ that irks me.