Toula Drimonis on Pierre Vallières
Excellent read Tuesday by Toula Drimonis on Pierre Vallières and the N-word debate. A lot of the local commentariat are protesting the CRTC ruling against Radio‑Canada, including Jean Charest, who’s making it a premise to criticize Justin Trudeau, although surely he can’t actually expect the prime minister to interfere with the CRTC. Some anglo Canadians are also calling the CRTC ruling censorship, although I’m not going to link to those – they’re easily found on Twitter.
qatzelok 12:03 on 2022-07-05 Permalink
Words like “dictator, regime and authoritarian” are used as a pretext to destroy entire nations in our day.
I wonder if these words will eventually be banned as well. (while the rich continue with the bombing of small countries – with new words)
Meezly 12:19 on 2022-07-05 Permalink
That’s a great piece by Drimonis. Thanks for sharing, Kate.
Blork 13:08 on 2022-07-05 Permalink
That’s a really good article, with some interesting updates on Vallières’ points of view that most people are likely unaware of.
qatzelok 16:50 on 2022-07-05 Permalink
Author or article writes: “Vallières was inspired by the Black Panthers”
Not quite. He actually **did some time in prison and chatted extensively** with some Black Panthers.
And when the author says that the analogy between the two peoples’ oppressions is inaccurate, she hasn’t researched enough to know that. She bases her article’s narrative on her absorbed prejudices, and then tries to claim “damage” from a vocabulary she doesn’t approve of.
Kate 17:36 on 2022-07-05 Permalink
qatzelok, were white people from France shipped over to North America and sold into slavery? Is it an “absorbed prejudice” for me to say this? Nope. It is not. It is fact.
Blork 18:05 on 2022-07-05 Permalink
Doing time with people and chatting with them extensively is not in opposition to “being inspired by” them. If anything, those things go together.
qatzelok 19:06 on 2022-07-05 Permalink
“qatzelok, were white people from France shipped over to North America and sold into slavery?”
No. The Acadians were sent the other way to ethnic-cleanse them. To determine if the analogy that Valliere makes is accurate, you have to study the life conditions of both French-Canadians and African-Americans in the mid 20th Century.
Kate 20:55 on 2022-07-05 Permalink
So white people from France were not shipped over to North America and sold into slavery.
Some white people were displaced from indigenous lands and sent elsewhere. Yes, it was harsh. But it was not slavery.
Meezly 09:34 on 2022-07-06 Permalink
“And when the author says that the analogy between the two peoples’ oppressions is inaccurate, she hasn’t researched enough to know that. She bases her article’s narrative on her absorbed prejudices, and then tries to claim “damage” from a vocabulary she doesn’t approve of.”
This actually describes you to a tee, qatzelok. You aren’t even trying to understand why that word is so awful and you’re reading the article from your own unwavering prejudices. All you need to do is read up on the etymology of the n-word for you to gain even an ounce of understanding. For you to compare that word with “dictator, regime and authoritarian” is so — … I could use harsher words, but I’ll stick with shallow and ignorant to just be civil.
qatzelok 18:46 on 2022-07-06 Permalink
Several countries in Africa have been bombed, coup-detat-ed, and worse in the last 20 years, but without ever using an offensive word. Isn’t that great, Meezly? Should we approve of these real, physical atrocities because they used a nice vocabulary?
(let’s talk about what ‘shallow’ means)
Kate 09:13 on 2022-07-07 Permalink
without ever using an offensive word
You seem to know a lot about strife in Africa, whether between religious groups or ethnic minorities. And you seem to be pretty certain this has progressed without any offensive language.
Don’t make me laugh.