I feel obligated to write this blog you know , I don't want to be labeled as an irated French Canadian complaining about everything but I have to give you guys my 2 cents about this matter. And I know that it is not intentional to think that the law on which I'm going to talk about is stupid but you have to understand the other side of the coin here.
For most of you , English is a universal truth on which all living being on the internet should master as a primary tool of communication and I completely agree with this statement. The "Star Trek" tongue , it is spoken mostly everywhere in the business and entertainment of the western world and revered as one of the most universal dialects of human kind. English is to the modern world what Latin was to the Antiquity , the most common language used by the Occident in a time of which a great power was or is in place during that period. Once Roman gouvernors than Lords of the British Crown.
You are probably wondering where I'm going with this? Well going all historical on your heads is the last thing I want to do but turns out there is about 9 millions hard-headed resisting Gaulois still left in North America mostly in the Province of Quebec.
So what does it have in common with Videogames? Well we play them... that's a pretty shallow statement but it also turns out that we have laws to legislate all of our entertainment, politic and education systems in order to prevent our beloved tongue to be lost in time like tears in rain...
****Spoiler alert ... go watch Blade Runner first if you want to see this clip......****
This is probably why I love Blade Runner so much , Freedom , emancipation of a kind, creed or people , Do we really have to suffer extinction to be remembered by mankind? I think not.
There is a lot of edgy subjects concerning our native tongue and as of late , videogames have been a major one in our societal discourse. I'm going to give you some example to show you guys where I'm coming from;
Last year Rock Band 2 was embargoed by the Quebec gouvernement because a bilingual version of the game was available elsewhere in the world namely France, the state did not permit any sells for that title. Of course it was still sold illegaly by many retailers at the time because like books , movies or anything else the only thing required was a billingual packaging (Who's going to look if the game has both languages just by looking at the box , if there are french writting on it, it must be french right?). But not that time , the law was clear and simple ; Any form of retail or rental digital entertainment was to be translated in both French and English in order to be sold in the province of Quebec or had to have a seperated version translated by the publishers in order to be legaly sold. (EA , Ubisoft , Microsoft Studios SCEA, These are the companies that applied to this law)
For a while we didn't have any problems , Fable II had a french version , Mass Effect , Bioshock pretty much all of the titles we're offered in both French and English and it was great. I had the privilege to consume my favorite hobby in the language that I wanted (English , because yes I strongly believe that if you want to play videogames you should know at least a tad bit of english and not rely on a native language to hold your hand) while other people who didn't had the opportunity or exposition to learn english we're capable of playing them in French.
(Montréal and Sherbrooke on a wider spectrum are the only places in Quebec where you are going to have a very large English speaking community)
So what's the problem Kraid? What are you complaining about then? Well there it is.
As I stated before , I saw this with my own eyes , I was working in retail at the time and as a manager at a Quebec owned Videogame store brand. I saw the tidal wave coming , because right after the new year passed the law became more and more effective and went official as of March '09.
So this is when it hit our shores; As of today, 38% of videogames sold in the Province of Quebec are bilingual or at least possess a billingual case and manual. There is 62% of games that are concidered illegal in my province only because 85% of the total population as been speaking french for the past 450 years.
Not only did the videogame industry was absolutely incapable of maintaning such an updated prefix for a very small portion of the market but we have to suffer for it due to our gouvernement incompetence. THERE IS NO LEGISLATIONS OR ORGANISATIONS dealing with this problem. There is no way for us to get these games translated because many companies like Atlus , NIS , EA (outside of Canada) , Konami , Capcom are refusing or down right closing their doors because of the law on videogames. They do not want to translate an entire game for a very small market and it's totally understandable.
The only thing that really bothers me about this whole thing is that we are paying the price; Oh Quebec is such a pain in the ass , or Quebec this , Quebec that. I'm going to be straight with you guys , probably 95% of the consumers I've talked to (French speaking of course) during my time in retail we're completely against the law and found it to be as useless as anybody else (Mind you we we're in Montreal, probably one of the most billingual cities in the world where English and French are used daily) It's a very complicated and harsh topic to get into so I'm going to stick with the basics , (If you want to hear more about the subject I would more than gladly talk about it in private or in a gathering)
Outside of Montreal , there are concentrated pockets of English speaking folks but the vast majority is occupy by us silly Quebecers.
To get back on the topic at hand ; The thing is even thought Quebec consumers are hostile towards the law myself included , we still respect it. And here's the weird dilemma on which I think I'm going to end this rant because this is becoming way too long for my taste.
We want to be served in French , play the game in English and talk about it in French.
It's not that we don't like the English language , hell I would never play a game in my native tongue because like I said a game should be played or experienced in it's native language like movies or music.
Do we translate American or English Canadian music? Of course not , same should be said for videogames but ; Our population is not enough exposed to Shakespeare's tongue because we have bounded our culture and our tongue with what we define ourselves as a people for the last four centuries.
Cette loi, comme tu l'as dit, tout le monde s'en ****. Je veux rien savoir de jouer mes jeux en français (sauf si c'est Ubisoft). On va finir par se procurer nos jeux seulement sur le net.
C'est les vieux qui gouvernent le Québec, qui pense qu'est-ce qui est bon pour la société d'aujourd'hui. Peu importe le gouvernement, on se fait toujours avoir. Mais imagine si on serait devenu indépendant en 95, yaurait pu de jeu ici ;_;.
A good read and interesting to see a Quebecois point of view on the issue. I live in BC and unfortunately what we mostly see are the legal implications of the Quebec language laws where they don't allow immigrant families to attend English schools or where small retail owners are severely penalized by the laws.
Personally I think it's wrong to "force" retention of a culture... any culture. Culture is constantly evolving. As you've said, English is the language spoken in world politics and in many professions. Even much of Europe encourages the learning of various languages including English.
Language/culture can survive and survive well amidst the learning of English. There are areas in BC where Chinese is the primary language. Their children learn English in school, but learn and use Chinese at home. People that live in the area, even if they had no previous exposure to the language and culture, begin to acquire it.
As a fellow Quebec'er, I'm also afraid of what a law like "OMG FRENCH OR GTFO" can do to us gamers... Movies in Quebec do not have to be traduced in french in order to be shown in theatres, why would I have to suffer the voice of Yves Corbeille (a known artist that dubs movies here in Quebec) while I'm playing Final Fantasy 13?! I think this problem may be partly because our political elite (and the older generation in general) do not consider video games "audiovisual art", unlike movies. I can't help but cringe at the idea of a mass of white-haired clean-cut politicians discussing video games in our parliament...
@Elsa and Yojimbo ; Thanks a lot guys it means a lot to me , I know you are avid bloggers on D-Toid have having your feedback is appreciated. :)
@Nic128 and Piellar ; Je suis complétement d'accords avec vous les gars , notre gourvernement ignore complètement le fait que nos jeux-videos sont de l'art et la séparation entre les générations rend tout ça encore plus houleux.
As of Yves Corbeille dubbing FFXIII I think I just had a imagine of empending doom in my head.....oh the horror.
@Ben Perlee ; It is totally a good thing man, Omelette du Fromage to you brother!
Instead of thinking to start a videogame centered movement about this issue (very improbable), maybe look for groups trying to change the laws for other mediums with similar problems or any groups opposed to the silly parts of the language law.
@Gortexfogg; As much as I would like to do that , the "Loi 101" the main law legislating this matter and is impenetrable and is very strict. There is no way in hell we are going to talk our gouvernement into changing weird closes like this.
This law is notorious to be irreversal even in the slighest nuances , it gets more and more severe every time our old timers think that our mother tongue is in Jeopardy. We basicly need a whole generation shift to calm down the old ghosts.
Okay, keep in mind here, I have a number of friends who reside in Quebec and all, and have French (Quebec) friends and all, but my issue is how (in general, not necessarily you, etc.) the majority of the people in the province, and ESPECIALLY the government, have WAY THE FUCK too many double standards.
I mean, I come from a Chinese background. My parents came to Canada from Hong Kong, they both learnt English so they could communicate to everyone else, and believed that if they move to another country, they should at least try to adhere to a number of the local cultural things and such. So here I am, a Chinese Canadian who is damn proud of his Chinese heritage, but hates about 95% of Asian people. Why you may ask? Because they're like the majority (once again, generalizing) of the people from Quebec. They'll only hang out with other Asians, only speak Cantonese or whatever, even in public, and generally ignore/shun/look down upon anyone else. As far as I'm concerned, I'm in Canada, which means I should FUCKING SPEAK ENGLISH! If you don't want to adhere to our laws and traditions and all, fine . . . but you GODDAMN STAY IN YOUR OWN GODDAMN SEGREGATED PART OF TOWN (like a Chinatown) and you NEVER EVER LEAVE that area, and you have NO FUCKING RIGHT TO COMPLAIN/BITCH/OR HAVE ANY SAY IN ANYTHING. Speaking your own language and all every once in a while is perfectly fine and all, but when in public, you fucking speak the language of the country and all.
Okay, so with that little rant out of the way, let's go back and relate this back to your blog and your provincial government. Wanting to keep a hold of your culture and traditions is totally cool and such, but "forcing" it upon you guys and such like ELSA said, is complete bullshit. Hey, if you're with your buds and such, and want to be served and speak French, by all means go for it! But when you have a lot of Quebecers (generalizing once again, as most video game buying ones would be against it) who keep enforcing all this FRENCH FRENCH FRENCH bullshit, it gets annoying as shit. I'm glad you live in Montreal and all, since it's a very accepting nice area that has a nice balance of "being part of the country" and keeping a hold of tradition. It just pisses me off like none other when the government tried to charge that guy who owned the gas station a few years ago who had English writing bigger than French writing.
So, I'm trying to steer back into your blog and all, but as you stated in your last comment, there SERIOUSLY needs to be a generational shift in your province's government. Having a nice balance of keeping hold of what's near and dear to you, and then being reasonable and adhering to where you're living and what the majority of others in your country, isn't the end of the world. I mean, I took French for 6 years throughout Junior and Senior High School, and I can understand and speak the language pretty well. So when I visit a French part of the country, and make my best efforts to speak the language, which I should at least TRY to do, since I'm in YOUR/THEIR culture, and am treated like a piece of garbage multiple times, since I'm "disrespecting" all of you, fuck off! Seperate (once again generalizing, not necessarily you), get the fuck out of country, but don't rely on us, ask us for anything, and make damn sure you don't try to have ANY say whatsoever in any of the federal issues.
So, I think I've ranted enough, and I think I kept this on topic (the brain is very full of rage right now), but I hope I got my point across. I have no issues with you man, and understand where you're coming from. Still, it's goddamn lame as hell.
Funktastic I completely understand you on what you're trying to vehiculated in this very long post of yours (And thank you for sharing your point of you with me)
There are however many problems and edgy stuff in which I'm going to talk briefly. I might be the worst example of a Quebecois in term of my interests and culture. I hate my culture , I find it to be selfish and close minded I mostly take my interests in English and American culture for my personnal taste. I don't listen to any French-Canadian music , I don't read french or see my movies in french unless they are made here. But then again I'm probably one of the most seperatist cunt you'll ever meet because in my mind there is nothing more precious than my land and my people (That means all the people who accept French has their language of use and English as a powerfull tool of communication)
Believe me Funk , If I had the power to turn the Province of Quebec into a perfectly binlingual state I would because like Elsa said , there is nothing in the world that proves that if two tongues are promoted and cherished that either one of them will vanquish into the night.
You have to understand also that Canada was founded under the accord that Lower-Canada and Upper-Canada we're to be merged after the conquest of Great Britain against France North-American territories and that all population residing inside that territory that was natal to it's land was to be left alone and given religious freedom , language freedom and political freedom (Mostly) in any endavors they would like apart from cessession. (We tried 4 times to do it and last thing I know there was a 0.5% margin at the final poll.) We came that close of becoming the second French speaking country in America aside with Haiti.
I do not despise our lost , we've been losing battles for the past 300 years mans we don't want to fight for nothing anymore.
And the fact that French is promoted elsewhere in Canada is totally fucking bullshit and should not be imposed in a non majorital french speaking province. But that mistakes dates back from the Trudeau era man , He tried to shut ourselves up with THE FUCKING army and the promise of an uther bullshit billingual state of which 85% didn't give a rat shit about. I'm sorry but Martial Law is not only a Tekken character , Octover 1970 read about it.
I don't want to be rude man , that the last thing I want to do and I embrace your point of view this problem should be discussed way more often than the mute that is going on in this country.
I am a breded middle-class citizen of the english empire like De Lorimier , intellectuals we're always throw over by raw muscles and simple thinking. When Louis Joseph Papineau wanted a country in 1834, he wanted a pacifict segregation and a boycott of the English Empire not a call-to-arms like it happened.
BUT I still have the fondamental right to speak my language in every Federal and Provencial institute in this country and goddamnit I will use that right to do so. I might pass for a stubborn man but 60 years ago my grand father didn't had equal opportunity in life.
There is a lot of Historical facts and events that you are missing out in your modern analysys. (And ironicly enough I'm listenning to the Stone Roses while I'm readin this post. A BRISTISH BAND! try to figure out the logic)
Personally, I think part of the whole problem is that non-bilingual people, either french or english-speaking, feel threatened by the possibility of being overwhelmed by a language they do not understand. That leads to people "taking sides" in a conflict that's mostly about feelings and that cannot be solved by mere rationality. IMO, it's a dead-end debate until everyone in Canada is bilingual, lol... it's also why I'm so uninterested in my own country's/province's politics. When it's not about flu or corruption it's silly emotional debates on language. -_-
There's 2 extremes here. One way, I like that we allow all cultures to flood in be part of a cool unique society. We have variety.
And we have the same people who flood in, who request to be able to do whatever the fuck they want, bring knives to school, have prayer rooms in school. Like Funktastic said, if you can't accept our way of life, GTFO. Also, It really pisses me off that people in Montreal aren't bilingual. I'm not perfectly bilingual, so when I go to a doctor or a pharmacy downtown, I want to be able to understand the f*** what they're saying, they can't talk french at all. LEARN IT. We learned english, DO THE SAME. We call this respect.
Yeah that's pretty much what it comes down to, respect.
Next C-blog , you will all have an essay about this topic to write about so study hard and be prepared! (I'm getting back to vydiagamz after this lol , I think I got it off my chest.)
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about me
Who are you?
I is a gamer , who lives in Quebec, Kaneda. No actually I am a green monster who dwelves in the abyss of Brinstar. I come up from time to time. I say some stupid shits than I go back down.
Currently playing:
Captain Forever
Afrika
Recently Finished:
Modern Warfare 2
Ratchet and Clank A Crack in Time
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Uncharted 2 Among Thieves
GTA IV Ballad of Gay Tony
Currently listening to :
Nothing in particular the usual suspects.
My family who I love very dearly.
I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!
Top 10 games of all time :
1- Super Metroid
2- Metal Gear Solid IV Guns of the Patriots
3- Megaman 2
4- Contra
5- Donkey Kong Country 2 Diddy's Kong quest
6- Battlefield 1942
7- Soldiers Heroes of World War 2
8- Age of Empires II The Age of Kings
9- Perfect Dark
10- Hitman Blood Money
Top 10 Movies of all time:
1- Blade Runner
2- Dr. Strangelove
3- Escape From N.Y.
4- Snatch
5- The Thing (1982)
6- Dracula (1931)
7- Ghost in the Shell
8- Alien
9- Lock , Stock and two smoking barrels
10- Once Upon a Time in the West
Top 10 albums of all time:
1- Enter the Wu-Tang (36th Chamber) (Wu-Tang Clan)
2- The Coming (Busta Rhymes)
3- Muddy Waters (Redman)
4- Return of the Product (MC Serch)
5- The Sun Rises in the East (Jeru Da Damaja)
6- Moment of Truth // Daily Operation (Gangstarr)
7- Ressurection (Common)
8- Enta Da Stage (Black Moon)
9- Mecca and the Soul Brother (Pete Rock & CL Smooth)
10- The body of the life force (Afu-Ra)
Displeased Picard is displeased.
Thrilled Riker is thrilled.
Current Consoles:
Atari 2600
NES
SNES
N64
Gamecube
Wii
Turbografx 16
Sega Master
Sega Genesis
Sega Saturn
Sega Dreamcast
Sega Game Gear
Xbox
Xbox 360
PS1
PS2
PS3
GB
GBC
GBMicro
NDS
PSP
Ipod Touch 16gb
Games I fap furiously on, in the dark at night:
Bayonetta
Perfect Dark (XBLA)
No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
Bioshock 2
Fallout New Vegas
Alan Wake
Yakuza 3
Red Dead Redemption
Super Street Fighter IV
Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Metroid : other M
Infinite Space (Anime Star Trek Squee!)
Metal Gear Solid : Rising
Metal Gear Solid : Peace Walker
Dead Rising 2
Valkyria Chronicles 2
Hitman 5
Iron Mic : The best mayne
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
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This was really cool Kraid. Good stuff brother.
Des références à Astérix? Bin certain.
Cette loi, comme tu l'as dit, tout le monde s'en ****. Je veux rien savoir de jouer mes jeux en français (sauf si c'est Ubisoft). On va finir par se procurer nos jeux seulement sur le net.
C'est les vieux qui gouvernent le Québec, qui pense qu'est-ce qui est bon pour la société d'aujourd'hui. Peu importe le gouvernement, on se fait toujours avoir. Mais imagine si on serait devenu indépendant en 95, yaurait pu de jeu ici ;_;.
Nice comme article.
A good read and interesting to see a Quebecois point of view on the issue. I live in BC and unfortunately what we mostly see are the legal implications of the Quebec language laws where they don't allow immigrant families to attend English schools or where small retail owners are severely penalized by the laws.
Personally I think it's wrong to "force" retention of a culture... any culture. Culture is constantly evolving. As you've said, English is the language spoken in world politics and in many professions. Even much of Europe encourages the learning of various languages including English.
Language/culture can survive and survive well amidst the learning of English. There are areas in BC where Chinese is the primary language. Their children learn English in school, but learn and use Chinese at home. People that live in the area, even if they had no previous exposure to the language and culture, begin to acquire it.
As a fellow Quebec'er, I'm also afraid of what a law like "OMG FRENCH OR GTFO" can do to us gamers... Movies in Quebec do not have to be traduced in french in order to be shown in theatres, why would I have to suffer the voice of Yves Corbeille (a known artist that dubs movies here in Quebec) while I'm playing Final Fantasy 13?! I think this problem may be partly because our political elite (and the older generation in general) do not consider video games "audiovisual art", unlike movies. I can't help but cringe at the idea of a mass of white-haired clean-cut politicians discussing video games in our parliament...
Shit, the fact that I understand that French, and the burning desire to reply in French is either a good thing or bad. o_0
@Piellar
We just have to vary the actors, and not have Bernard Fortin in every cast. I'm so tired to hear Chief Wiggum in every film xD.
@Elsa and Yojimbo ; Thanks a lot guys it means a lot to me , I know you are avid bloggers on D-Toid have having your feedback is appreciated. :)
@Nic128 and Piellar ; Je suis complétement d'accords avec vous les gars , notre gourvernement ignore complètement le fait que nos jeux-videos sont de l'art et la séparation entre les générations rend tout ça encore plus houleux.
As of Yves Corbeille dubbing FFXIII I think I just had a imagine of empending doom in my head.....oh the horror.
@Ben Perlee ; It is totally a good thing man, Omelette du Fromage to you brother!
Instead of thinking to start a videogame centered movement about this issue (very improbable), maybe look for groups trying to change the laws for other mediums with similar problems or any groups opposed to the silly parts of the language law.
@Gortexfogg; As much as I would like to do that , the "Loi 101" the main law legislating this matter and is impenetrable and is very strict. There is no way in hell we are going to talk our gouvernement into changing weird closes like this.
This law is notorious to be irreversal even in the slighest nuances , it gets more and more severe every time our old timers think that our mother tongue is in Jeopardy. We basicly need a whole generation shift to calm down the old ghosts.
It's a very complicated subject....
Okay, keep in mind here, I have a number of friends who reside in Quebec and all, and have French (Quebec) friends and all, but my issue is how (in general, not necessarily you, etc.) the majority of the people in the province, and ESPECIALLY the government, have WAY THE FUCK too many double standards.
I mean, I come from a Chinese background. My parents came to Canada from Hong Kong, they both learnt English so they could communicate to everyone else, and believed that if they move to another country, they should at least try to adhere to a number of the local cultural things and such. So here I am, a Chinese Canadian who is damn proud of his Chinese heritage, but hates about 95% of Asian people. Why you may ask? Because they're like the majority (once again, generalizing) of the people from Quebec. They'll only hang out with other Asians, only speak Cantonese or whatever, even in public, and generally ignore/shun/look down upon anyone else. As far as I'm concerned, I'm in Canada, which means I should FUCKING SPEAK ENGLISH! If you don't want to adhere to our laws and traditions and all, fine . . . but you GODDAMN STAY IN YOUR OWN GODDAMN SEGREGATED PART OF TOWN (like a Chinatown) and you NEVER EVER LEAVE that area, and you have NO FUCKING RIGHT TO COMPLAIN/BITCH/OR HAVE ANY SAY IN ANYTHING. Speaking your own language and all every once in a while is perfectly fine and all, but when in public, you fucking speak the language of the country and all.
Okay, so with that little rant out of the way, let's go back and relate this back to your blog and your provincial government. Wanting to keep a hold of your culture and traditions is totally cool and such, but "forcing" it upon you guys and such like ELSA said, is complete bullshit. Hey, if you're with your buds and such, and want to be served and speak French, by all means go for it! But when you have a lot of Quebecers (generalizing once again, as most video game buying ones would be against it) who keep enforcing all this FRENCH FRENCH FRENCH bullshit, it gets annoying as shit. I'm glad you live in Montreal and all, since it's a very accepting nice area that has a nice balance of "being part of the country" and keeping a hold of tradition. It just pisses me off like none other when the government tried to charge that guy who owned the gas station a few years ago who had English writing bigger than French writing.
So, I'm trying to steer back into your blog and all, but as you stated in your last comment, there SERIOUSLY needs to be a generational shift in your province's government. Having a nice balance of keeping hold of what's near and dear to you, and then being reasonable and adhering to where you're living and what the majority of others in your country, isn't the end of the world. I mean, I took French for 6 years throughout Junior and Senior High School, and I can understand and speak the language pretty well. So when I visit a French part of the country, and make my best efforts to speak the language, which I should at least TRY to do, since I'm in YOUR/THEIR culture, and am treated like a piece of garbage multiple times, since I'm "disrespecting" all of you, fuck off! Seperate (once again generalizing, not necessarily you), get the fuck out of country, but don't rely on us, ask us for anything, and make damn sure you don't try to have ANY say whatsoever in any of the federal issues.
So, I think I've ranted enough, and I think I kept this on topic (the brain is very full of rage right now), but I hope I got my point across. I have no issues with you man, and understand where you're coming from. Still, it's goddamn lame as hell.
Funktastic I completely understand you on what you're trying to vehiculated in this very long post of yours (And thank you for sharing your point of you with me)
There are however many problems and edgy stuff in which I'm going to talk briefly. I might be the worst example of a Quebecois in term of my interests and culture. I hate my culture , I find it to be selfish and close minded I mostly take my interests in English and American culture for my personnal taste. I don't listen to any French-Canadian music , I don't read french or see my movies in french unless they are made here. But then again I'm probably one of the most seperatist cunt you'll ever meet because in my mind there is nothing more precious than my land and my people (That means all the people who accept French has their language of use and English as a powerfull tool of communication)
Believe me Funk , If I had the power to turn the Province of Quebec into a perfectly binlingual state I would because like Elsa said , there is nothing in the world that proves that if two tongues are promoted and cherished that either one of them will vanquish into the night.
You have to understand also that Canada was founded under the accord that Lower-Canada and Upper-Canada we're to be merged after the conquest of Great Britain against France North-American territories and that all population residing inside that territory that was natal to it's land was to be left alone and given religious freedom , language freedom and political freedom (Mostly) in any endavors they would like apart from cessession. (We tried 4 times to do it and last thing I know there was a 0.5% margin at the final poll.) We came that close of becoming the second French speaking country in America aside with Haiti.
I do not despise our lost , we've been losing battles for the past 300 years mans we don't want to fight for nothing anymore.
And the fact that French is promoted elsewhere in Canada is totally fucking bullshit and should not be imposed in a non majorital french speaking province. But that mistakes dates back from the Trudeau era man , He tried to shut ourselves up with THE FUCKING army and the promise of an uther bullshit billingual state of which 85% didn't give a rat shit about. I'm sorry but Martial Law is not only a Tekken character , Octover 1970 read about it.
I don't want to be rude man , that the last thing I want to do and I embrace your point of view this problem should be discussed way more often than the mute that is going on in this country.
I am a breded middle-class citizen of the english empire like De Lorimier , intellectuals we're always throw over by raw muscles and simple thinking. When Louis Joseph Papineau wanted a country in 1834, he wanted a pacifict segregation and a boycott of the English Empire not a call-to-arms like it happened.
BUT I still have the fondamental right to speak my language in every Federal and Provencial institute in this country and goddamnit I will use that right to do so. I might pass for a stubborn man but 60 years ago my grand father didn't had equal opportunity in life.
There is a lot of Historical facts and events that you are missing out in your modern analysys. (And ironicly enough I'm listenning to the Stone Roses while I'm readin this post. A BRISTISH BAND! try to figure out the logic)
That sure were complex thoughts, you two. @_@
Personally, I think part of the whole problem is that non-bilingual people, either french or english-speaking, feel threatened by the possibility of being overwhelmed by a language they do not understand. That leads to people "taking sides" in a conflict that's mostly about feelings and that cannot be solved by mere rationality. IMO, it's a dead-end debate until everyone in Canada is bilingual, lol... it's also why I'm so uninterested in my own country's/province's politics. When it's not about flu or corruption it's silly emotional debates on language. -_-
I feel I'm in Sociology class. @_@
There's 2 extremes here. One way, I like that we allow all cultures to flood in be part of a cool unique society. We have variety.
And we have the same people who flood in, who request to be able to do whatever the fuck they want, bring knives to school, have prayer rooms in school. Like Funktastic said, if you can't accept our way of life, GTFO. Also, It really pisses me off that people in Montreal aren't bilingual. I'm not perfectly bilingual, so when I go to a doctor or a pharmacy downtown, I want to be able to understand the f*** what they're saying, they can't talk french at all. LEARN IT. We learned english, DO THE SAME. We call this respect.
Yeah that's pretty much what it comes down to, respect.
Next C-blog , you will all have an essay about this topic to write about so study hard and be prepared! (I'm getting back to vydiagamz after this lol , I think I got it off my chest.)
Sounds good mate! I gotcha! =D