It makes no difference who you are, spewing hate based on language, race, creed or lifestyle is not acceptable!
I definitely bemoan the fact that we have a new minister of our province to contend with. Her narrow mindset concerning language issues is a concern, but to bitch out people who are Québécois and French Québécois to boot makes you no better than her.
I have faced many discriminations growing up. Being a woman for one, being of mixed heritage for two, lacking a language from one of my heritages for three, and being a French speaking person for four or being an English speaking person for five… I can go on with other discriminations but these are the ones I’d like to address.
I am proud of the diversity and background I come from. I think it helps make me more understanding of the fears I see behind the hatred. Because let’s face it, the hatred for French frogs, native drunks, slutty women, “whitewashed” natives/half-breeds are all based on the fear of the differences between us.
Have you noticed growing up, especially in your teens, how badly you wanted to belong. You look around any high school and you see groups of kids who are trying to belong and if you don’t, you are just some poor loser/weirdo. It’s sad to see the majority of people unable to outgrow this need.
I say majority because after all the political hoopla, all I see are people hating each other based on the language or even heritage. Why do we ALL have to assimilate into ONLY one group?!
The beauty of this planet is its diversity. Yet you don’t see in the animal kingdom a silver fox being shunned by its regular red foxes based on its fur color, now do you? We are the only animals on this planet that fight each other based on the differences. We are the only ones trying to push out those who are different out of a patch of land based on the fact that they are different.
In essence we are all the same: HUMAN BEINGS. Sounds like a contradiction or an oxymoron of sorts but yes, we are all basically the same with a wonderful diversity mixed in. We are not monsters! We are not mindless Borgs (sorry had to put it in there, the word assimilation so reminds me of that, STNG fan here!).
So it makes no difference if you are francophone, Anglophone, or –blank: insert difference here-, remember that we each have something wonderful to offer to one another: diversity. It’s what makes us a strong nation.