Struggle

Come Sept 16, it will be the third anniversary of the so-called Jan Wong controversy, an issue which revolved around the largely unseen and silent but painful struggle of minority people living in a minority-dominated part of Canada. The 'controversy' concerned a longstanding issue that has been quite well hidden from view but nevertheless still very real and alive in Western societies even today. Western societies pride themselves on their 'forward-thinking', 'forward-looking' and 'liberated-thinking' stand on life in our so-called modern global village (a concept espoused by them) and are always quick to denounce anyone who are said to be reluctant or slow to embrace global standards. They are ever so ready to flaunt their veneer of total artificiality and false perfection and are always demanding and insisting on their right to teach and lead the rest of the world. But below this thin veneer of clear-as-day falsehoods and shameful artificialness is a thick almost impenetrable layer of undiluted hypocrisy that from time to time gets exposed and is available for all those who have seeing eyes to see. As was witnessed in the socalled 'Jan Wong controversy'. On Sept 13 2006, at Dawson College near Montreal, Canada, a young man shot dead one person and injured 19 others. He died later after shooting himself and a suicide note was found on his body. This shooting occurrence was the third such incident after an earlier one at Concordia University that took the lives of 4 people and another one at the Ecole Polytechnic that claimed fourteen lives. All the three deadly incidents took place in the Quebec province of Canada ( a nation known to be most eager or extremely quick to lecture others) where the residents are mostly of French descent. People of French descent in Canada, especially in Quebec are picky about their ancestry, culture, identity, language, values and purity. So much for Western 'ideals'. And in Quebec, the only approved lingua franca is French. In other words, this is the only official language. English is still spoken and used but only within isolated tightknit communities. This kind of situation would not be accepted or tolerated in other countries, for example in S.E.Asia, yet Canada could allow it to exist. It is double standards to be sure. European languages are hard to master even the spoken form & French is certainly one tough customer (linguistically). It has even been claimed in the past, perhaps unfairly, that French was a bastardised form of Latin. Still, like English, a very highly complex language. And one that could prove exceedingly hard to master for many people. This situation has given much stress and deep difficuties to people in Quebec who are of non-French origin and those who are from native American communities and also those from immigrant backgrounds. All the young men involved in the three fatal shootings were people of minority origin and this was largely the factor behind the report written by Jan Wong three years ago which resulted in an uproar and also which included threats and insults to Jan. So much for freedom, liberated thought, freedom of expression, tolerance, liberty and other similar crap.

Jan through an article on 16 Sept 2006 in a Canadian newspaper put forward the suggestion that the three incidents were the result of the pain caused by their being forced to endure lingustic struggle in French Cananda. This of course was her personal opinion and she definitely had a right to it. But the French community, especially important personalities like newspaper editors, journalists (!), ex-Prime Minister(s), renowned authors, councillors, university scholars, Members of Parliament, society celebrities, important personalities all of whom were of white descent and many bigwigs immediately responded with unmitigated fury and unjustified malice. Cartoons mocking Jan were printed and distributed, threats were made against her life, false and nonsensical accusations against her were churned out one after another and ultimatums and demands issued to her. Many people passed degoratory remarks about her and waved their fingers. There was a campaign to demonise her, mainly because she was of oriental origin, she being a minority within a minority in the wonderful country of Canada, but Jan stuck to her guns. Politicians of French origin tried to lean on her and the newspaper which carried her article and people constantly whispered 'Bill 101' to her. Bill 101, passed in August 1977 was a racist-based law that legalised the unfair treatment on ordinary Canadians and affirmed the unequal status quo in Quebec. (Sounds so very familiar to S. E. Asian minorities). This episode reminded of a person who was new to Canada, especially to Montreal, and who had to deal with a Canadian businessman. Upon picking up the telephone and speaking in a mixture of English and French, the person was taken aback when the person at the other end proceeded to correct her French words rather than conversing about a proposed contract. Is this the way of the Western world ? No wonder we have the disasters in Iraq, Afghanistan and, very possibly soon, in Iran (and elsewhere). The so-called Jan Wong controversy is yet one more reminder of a very long list of reminders of how hypocritical Western societies could be when push comes to shove. When all is dandy and peaceful, the smiles could stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But when something hard or unpleasant comes up, the smiles just very easily turned into snarls. Canada just like the US, Australia and the UK, France, Germany, Greece and others is always full of such unsavoury stories. Yet she and these countries still want to continue to press their fake credentials and nurture their artificial veneers. Such behaviour is really totally immoral. For those who are gullible enough to believe their false propaganda, this Sept 16 is a chance to ponder and take stock. Perhaps there is more than a hint of truth why people like to say the road to Hell is a very wide and beautiful boulevard. It is so wide and beautiful you like countless others could not want to be not there. Take heed. If you do have a thinking brain, you might NOT want to be there. Yet it is the very road unreservedly approved by Canada, US and others. It is the chosen road of the fake, the malicious and the artificial. And the immoral. Be warned. Be truly warned.