Where do people dig this stuff up?
It has been a while since I've received something of this nature in my inbox. In fact not since I received this piece of bovine scatology has something this bad shown up. As a public service, here's my dissection and comments. For the record, the email has an alleged quote from controversial radio host Bruce Allen of CKNW.
The quote attributed to Mr. Allen is as follows:
I am sorry, but after hearing they want to sing the National Anthem in Hindi - enough is enough.
Nowhere or at no other time in our Nation's history, did they sing it in Italian, Japanese, Polish,
Irish (Celtic), German, Portuguese, Greek, or any other language because of immigration.
It was written in English, adapted into French, and should be sung word for word
the way it was written.
Now my perusing of the web would seem to indicate that, though Allen has said some right wing claptrap in the past, specifically his infamous September 13, 2007 broadcast, I can find no mention outside of the right wing nutosphere regarding this quote. This leads me to believe that Bruce Allen didn't actually say it. So strike one for the email.
Strike two comes from the fact that whoever wrote the email claims the national anthem of Canada was written in English and then translated into French. In fact the opposite is true. This is a fact that I'm sure Mr. Allen, who is also a music talent agent, is probably aware of. The third strike comes from where the email claims that because of this alleged statement, they want Allan fired from his position on the 2010 organizing committee. Again, the only press on that matter is in relation to Allen's September 2007 comments, which say nothing about the national anthem.
The email goes on:
The news broadcasts even gave the Hindi version translation which was not even close to our
National Anthem.
Now it's convenient that the author didn't bother to mention what news broadcasts he is talking about, since I suspect there wasn't one. Now given that the official English version of our national anthem is not a word for word translation of the original French version, being close but not exact, to claim that an alleged translation into another language isn't close enough is a bit of a stretch. This is assuming, of course, that such a translation was played on a "news broadcast". Given the bluster of the letter writer, I would suspect that he would actually complain about O Canada being sung in some language other than English, and that includes French.
Of course what follows is the usual "screw you" line that often populates these right wing rants: I am not sorry if this offends anyone, this is MY COUNTRY - IF IT IS YOUR COUNTRY, SPEAK UP -- please pass this along . The writer seems to think that the WASP version of Canada that existed in the 1860's is the only one that should be allowed to exists. This is the sign of someone who society has left behind and is desperately trying to get back on top of the dung heap.
The email then goes into the "lazy immigrant" myth with:
I am not against immigration -- just come through like everyone else. Get a sponsor; have a
place to lay your head; have a job; pay your taxes, live by the rules AND LEARN THE LANGUAGE
as all other immigrants have in the past -- and LONG LIVE CANADA!'
Given that the vast majority of recent immigrants have a job, pay taxes, live by the rules I'm not sure who the author is actually railing against, other than the fact that people who aren't white anglo-saxon protestants seem to scare him. He also seems to be pushing the American ideal of the melting pot as opposed to the Canadian tradition of the mosaic. Je me demande si l'auteur souhaite véritablement apprendre la langue et est devenu bilingue? Ou le sien apprend-il la déclaration de langue seulement moyens apprennent l'anglais? In any event, the jingoism displayed in this statement are more fitting of an American and generally don't reflect the sentiments of most of the Canadians I know.
Moving along, we now get the usual clap-trap of how so-called political correctness is destroying the country and that we should all get behind Bruce Allen and the words he probably didn't say:
It's time we all get behind Bruce Allen, and scrap this Political Correctness crap. His comments were anything but racist, but there are far too many overly sensitive 'New Canadians' that are trying to change everything we hold dear.
Unfortunately what Mr. Allen actually said in September 2007 was easily construed as racist. What this email has can also be construed as racist, however - as is common with people with racist views, comes from someone so misinformed about Canadian culture and history that they can't even get how the national anthem was written correctly. This is really the standard, I'm not a racist but... statement that pretty much guarantees what the next thing the person is going to say is racist statement, slightly reworded.
Of course these emails are nothing with out the plea to prevent any change to the country, after all things were better back in 1867 when only white British immigrants were allowed in the country and women couldn't vote:
ARE WE PART OF THE PROBLEM ??? Think about this: If you don't want to forward this for fear
of offending someone, will we still be the Country of Choice and still be CANADA if we continue
to make the changes forced on us by the people from other countries who have come to live in
CANADA because it is the Country of Choice??????
Um... I hate to break it to the author but Canada is a "Country of Choice" because it is willing to tolerate changes to it's society to allow all members to participate and contribute. Over time the blending of the different cultures is what has created our unique Canadian culture. What the author wants is to quash the culture recent immigrants bring with them and force upon them American culture.
Think about it!
I did, and I think the author needs a laxative since he seems to be full of feces.
Of course, the Pièce de résistance:
IMMIGRANTS, NOT CANADIAN'S, MUST ADAPT.
The final cry of the racist which appears in all these emails regardless of the claptrap that precedes it. Now as any evolutionary biologist can tell you, any species that fails to adapt to a change in environment will find itself on the way out. The same can be said for societies and individuals in those societies and this is the cry of a segment of our society that is unwilling to adapt to a change in our social environment. Fortunately, like the dinosaurs, this segment of society will eventually die out when the winds of change pass them by. The irony being that people who generally spout the belief espoused in this email also don't believe in evolution. Ahh well what can one do against such ignorance other than shine the glaring light of education on it.
Of course there's a plea to pass this on:
It is Time for CANADA to speak up. If you agree ? Pass this along; if you don't agree ? Delete it and reap the ill wind because of your complacency!
Since I know what complacency does to a democracy I've made this post. The author of the letter is actually counting on the complacency of Canadians to allow his drivel to propagate. I'm for one, not going to let it go unchallenged as I have tried to do in this post.