We Will Not Be Quiet!

"Do you know the difference between an Anglo-Quebecer and an English-Canadian? The first one is a second-class citizen and the second one is a second-class american."

Very insightful! How clever! Troller 'par excellence!' (sarcasm.)

I allowed this comment through yesterday to illustrate that morons exist on both sides of the debate.

Those sanctimonious comments from frustrated nationalists warning us that this blog and the associated 'raging' anglo commenters are somehow contributing to the cause of sovereignty, actually makes me laugh and is deliciously satisfying.

No, I don't think we'll shut down because it is inconvenient or uncomfortable for thin-skinned nationalists and sorry if I don't believe that I am somehow turning reasonably opinioned francophones into raving militants.

Now during the recent 'troll wars,' I tracked down a lot of traffic to a link put up by a commenter on  Louis  Prefontaines's web site. While I can't say for sure, I assume many of the nasty comments came from there. I'm not defending the nasty English comments, they are all banned.
 
So in honour of all you Prefontaine fans who visit this site and who share a common fantasy where Quebec is independent, prosperous and unilingualy French, a Quebec where the Anglos have fled and the immigrants have shed their burqas, saris and turbans in favour of Montreal Canadiens Quebec Nordiques toques, a Shangri-la where everyone listens to Loco Locass and reads Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, I offer this commentary on a recent post as an homage to the sour grapes that is the hallmark of these frustrated souls..

"Arcade Fire is a stateless group who lives in our French-speaking city but chose to never become truly integrated. This is not a Quebec band, much less a cultural ambassador."  LINK

Yup, Mr. Prefontaine goes off on a rant against this wildly successful band because, according to him, they are not Quebecois and should never be considered as such.

He complains that the English (plus one assimilated Haitian) rockers are nothing more than interlopers and chastises the band for maintaining their Anglo roots while complaining bitterly that they don't sing in French.

All of a sudden Mr. Prefontaine pretends that Montreal is exclusively a 'French-speaking city," yet in blog post after blog post, he complains that Montreal is too English and is becoming more and more anglicized each day.

So which is it?

There's an English societal component to Montreal that is undeniable, only fantasists like Mr. Prefontaine pretend that it isn't there. Arcade Fire is very well assimilated, only not where Mr. Prefontaine wants them to be. Tough luck.

Arcade Fire is part of ENGLISH MONTREAL. Pretending that Quebec and Montreal in particular, are exclusively French and that there exists but one culture, is delusional. 

So if Mr. Prefontaine maintains that Arcade Fire is not Quebecois because they are English, so be it.
His fear that the group will somehow be considered as Quebecois, is unwarranted.
He needn't lose any sleep!

Just about every single major newspaper (including those in France) refers to Arcade Fire as Montrealers, not Quebecois.
To these reviewers, Quebec doesn't even exist.

• "Top marks from a cavalcade of critical tomes who saw the Montreal septet’s sequel to their breakthrough debut long-player of 2004,"  -BBC Review
• "Montreal indie rockers." -Rolling stone Review
• "Arcade Fire, a Montreal art-rock band." -NY Times
• "... the Montreal septet has now proven its staying power."- Chicago Tribune
• "Arcade Fire a été formé à Montréal" Le Figaro
• "le groupe canadien Arcade Fire" - Le Monde   

For a raging nationalist it must be frustrating to see this upstart Anglo group from Montreal enjoy more success than any other Quebec francophone band could ever imagine. The immutable fact is that no group that sings in French can make it big internationally. That is why that almost all international groups aspiring to fame, have taken to singing in English.

For French language militants, it's a frustrating fact of life, but wishing won't make it go away and raging against this realty is just tilting at windmills.