Vigile.net and Me

Perhaps I should have informed readers that I decided not to pursue a pointless conversation with Robert Barberis-Gervais who seems to have entirely too much time on his hands, his latest missive hit to my comment box in the wee morning hours.

Since I decided not to engage, he took his complaints to the friendly confines of vigile.net.
It seems that commenter BlueWhiteRed got a bit of the royal treatment as well and all I can say is welcome to the club.

I've always tried to publish countering points of view but at a certain point it becomes abusive and ridiculous.

Well-thought out remarks are always welcome, in English or French, regardless of opinion, but I resent having a patently absurd, third-hand unverified story about four Jewish gentlemen refusing to be served by a francophone offered up on my blog (without any corroboration at all,) in a clumsy attempt to show that Quebec Jews are contemptuous of francophones.

Mr. Barberis-Gervais may not like this blog and its readers, but if I was to make outrageous claims without sourcing, I would come under a heap of well-deserved criticism demanding proof, by readers who regardless of political view, have a well-defined sense of skepticism.

Lets see, two can play this game.  Let me make up a story.....

A Muslim-Quebecker sends his CV to a semi-government agency and is refused an interview 19 times. He re-submits the CV under a French name and tweaks it to hide his Semitic roots. Low and behold he is welcomed with open arms.
Ergo I conclude, Quebec francophones are racists.

You see anyone can make up a story to suit his own purpose and demonstrate whatever it is that he wishes to demonstrate.

These type of illustrative stories are inherently dangerous and  unfair. They pander to the emotions and are used to incite hatred. They may or may not be true, but even if they are, if they aren't representative, then the citation thereof is hateful and a very real form of racism.

Do you agree that my story indicates that all Francophones are racist? If you are Barberis-Gervais, surely you must.
Is my phony story any less illustrative than his? I don't think so.
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....Oh, by the way, my story isn't made up. Here's the CITATION

For every story of Jews treating francophones contemptuously, I can cite fifty stories that go in the other direction, all of them fully documented.
Drummondville native hockey coach sued for abusing Jewish player 
Some people in Ste. Agathe are so racist
Town uneasy about Jews' resort purchase
etc. etc.
Does my story or the above references prove that francophones are racist antisemites?
Absolutely not.
In fact, with about 30% of Canadian Jews living in Quebec, B'nai Brith reported that 29% of the antisemitic incidents, were recorded in the province. Nothing to be proud of, but no worse or better than elsewhere.

Mr. Barberis-Gervais uses the same devices as Mario Beaulieu, Pierre Curzi and all the other language nationalists who skew realty, use selective facts, misinterpret data and ignore the truth to paint a false and misleading picture of realty.
His uses the following 'Four Jews and the lovely Isabelle' story to intimate that Jews are contemptuous of francophones.

ASHAMED OF RACIST JEWS

"My son has a girlfriend, Isabelle, who worked in a restaurant near Décarie boulevard  in Côte-des-Neiges, where, as pointed out by Yves Michaud, 100% of Jews voted NO in the referendum of 1995: the so-called ethnic vote.......

The restaurant owner was a nice bilingual Jew who hired the francophone girl who spoke fairly good English, but with a Quebecois accent. In addition, she was a lovely young woman, with a warm and beautiful demeanour.

The regular customers were English speaking Jews, upstart Anglophones with a Mercedes in the parking lot. Isabelle spoke to them in English which was normally used in the restaurant. Regular customers didn't have any problem with her, actually quite the opposite. But these Jews  systematically refused to be served by a francophone Quebecker. They sent her packing to the kitchen. Isabelle complained to her boss who told her: "I hired you, you're competent, so don't  worry about it."
But the contempt from these customers was such that Isabelle resigned. LINK  

What a load of crap.....but fantasy or real, the story is not representative of Jewish or Anglo attitudes, just as the racist hockey coach is not representative of francophone attitudes. To pretend that they are is to distort Quebec reality, which unfortunately, is no problem for Mr. Barberis-Gervais and his ilk.

Mr Barberis-Gervais tells us that he is not antisemitic, but surely he must see that the effect of his commentaries is to fan the flames of intolerance and hatred. That much he must understand, after all, he is a PHD.

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Vigile.net has re-printed and archived a couple of stories from this blog (without permission) and I haven't gotten into it with the editor because Vigile.net is not that important to me.

People who read writers like Mr. Barberis-Gervaise are who they are. Nothing I have to say will change their opinion. That isn't an insult but it's a question of preaching to the choir.

I do object however with the immoral journalistic license that Mr. Frappier took with my original work, by inserting an offensive picture into the middle of my piece, that was not part of my original post.

CLICK to see story on vigile.net

The distasteful picture of saluting Nazis was added by Mr. Frappier into the body of my work, an egregious abuse of journalistic ethics. You can see my original post HERE sans the offending photo.

It is this type of manipulation that is so offensive and speaks to the integrity of the website.

As for Mr Barberis-Gervaise I read his article and was disappointed not by his insults, (that is his right to do) but rather falsely stating that I have stated that Bill 101 is the product of a racist state.

"Pour vous donner une idée de ce blog, sachez qu’on y affirme que la loi 101 est l’expression d’un Etat raciste." LINK

After writing hundreds of blog pieces, Mr, Barberis-Gervaise should have learned the art of linking his statement to corroborating source material.
I defy him to show where on the blog I ever equated Bill 101 as the product of a racist state.

This is the same problem he has with his "Four Jews and lovely Isabelle" story.
Integrity...

Late Friday, the Liberals tried to have a motion placed in parliament condemning the excesses over on vigile.crap net but of course the PQ wouldn't play ball.

But the point has been made.