--- In [email protected], "shempmcgurk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Coming from Quebec -- and being directly in the midst of at least > one battle for secession -- I can assure you that the differences > between blue and red states are miniscule compared to those between > the French of Quebec and the rest of Canada (including the English > and ethnics of Quebec who don't consider themselves as part of > Quebec). > > The biggest impression that has ever been made upon me was in June > of 1990 when I attended the St-Jean-Baptiste parade on Quebec's > national holiday. This was about a week after an important > constitutional amendment that was supposed to bring Quebec into > Canada's constitutional family had been rejected by several > provinces in Canada (it needed unanimous consent). The parade > turned into both a protest against this as well as a show of > nationalism. > > Well, talk about "cutting it with a knife". The nationalism and > hatred against Canada was so palpable that it was something you > could actually feel. Hundreds of thousands marched in > Montreal...and it was the first time in my life that I experienced > first-hand the power of that horrible thing called "nationalism" > or "jingoism" or whatever it is: collective consciousness for what, > to me, was an evil purpose. And it just bowled me over. > > I know it's not proper or acceptable to make the inevitable "Nazi" > comparison but I will anyway: I had an inkling of what Nuremberg was > like when all those Nazis marched (and we saw it in > Reifenshtall's "Triumph of the Will").
Interesting experience. Thanks for sharing it. I cannot say that I have had similar moments in France, but I have seen the Le Pen/Sarkozy mentality that might bring it to the surface, at least in some people. It's not secession they have in mind but the end of immigration. I guess that's a kind of secession, from the world as a whole and the human race. Fortunately, such people are in the minority here, as they seem to be in the US. A country closes its doors to new blood at its own peril. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
