Paul Giamatti was on the Daily Show last night promoting his new film, the Mordecai Richler novel Barney’s Version.
*** To all of my hardcore Québec-independence readers, quick note – Richler didn’t hate French-Canadians. He is not a racist. Lionel Groulx was. Jacques Parizeau seems to be. Just sayin’
Anyways – Mr. Giamatti apparently thought Montréal was ‘French’ in the same way New Orleans is, which is to say not much. In the interview he indicated that he couldn’t understand anyone, was flabbergasted that a French city existed in North America and loved it, though he also bitched about the weather (he’s becoming one of us!)
I’m waiting for the lunatic fringe to sink their teeth into Giamatti’s comment about ‘lumberjacks and theme parks.’ May take a while, I don’t think the RRQ or the MPQ watch the Daily Show.
Richler **HATED** the french because he could not fathom why they would not become english and be rich, but insisted to force the immigrants to become french, and therefore poor.
Don’t forget that Richler was a member of an ethnic group that particularly loves money, and that has been a adamant ennemy of Québec’s sovereignty (because they know very well that the financial shenanigans they are famous for will not be tolerated in a sovereign Québec).
And, lastly, Lionel-Groulx was just as racist as Mc-Gill University with it’s very strict jewish quotas (Sir George Williams university was founded so the jews could attend an english university), or any english club, municipality (Hampstead, that is) that excluded jews.
Or, for that matter, William Lyon Mackenzie-King who famously said “a single jew is too muchâ€.
As it happens, the french never had any institutional racism against the jews.
And the jews themselves are not without reproach in this respect: I know of an english professor who was not hired by the protestant schoolboard because he was jewish, and he was not hired by jewish schools because his wife was not jewish.
So before accusing someone, just make sure you are totally without blame, or else you’ll pass for a mighty hypocrite.