For Mario Beaulieu, president and chief cook and bottle washer of both the Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste and the Mouvement Quebec Francais, selling his radical view of language is not a particularly easy task, but to his credit he continues knocking on reluctant doors with the zeal and energy of a determined Jehovah's Witness canvasser.No doubt, he is a keener and like the religious proselytizer, accepts failure and rejection with aplomb, measuring success and victory in the tiniest of measures, plowing on despite a fading message that no longer resonates.
Now I'm not talking about his sovereigntist view which has considerable but minority support in this province, it is his unholy crusade against Anglos and Ethnics and of course all things English, that sets him apart.
Even sovereigntists find his obsessive hatred and crusade of English tiresome, membership figures in his organizations remains top secret, a sound policy considering how few people are actually involved.
While students can regularly muster 20,000 plus to rallies and demonstrations over tuition fees, Beaulieu can rarely muster more than one or two hundred demonstrators, most of them the grey-haired set, diehards from a bygone era.
That being said, we should give Beaulieu his due, like Henny-Penny his schtick is entertaining and so he is afforded oodles of air-time on Quebec's two all-news television stations which must fill too many empty hours.But even with all the free publicity, Quebecers, a skeptical sort, aren't drinking the Kool-Aid and so Mario must ratchet up the rhetoric in order to keep his message alive.
And so we are treated to entertaining blasts of fire and brimstone, wherein he direly warns Quebecers that they are on the 'Eve of Destruction.'
Like a preacher who tries to jazz up the same old, same old sermon, Mr. Beaulieu is always on the lookout for a new optic, something to re-energize the shopworn refrain that has lost its lustre.
To wit, we have seen M. Beaulieu cleverly invent a new theme, born out of the shooting on election night, where a deranged Anglo allegedly bent on killing Pauline Marois went on a shooting spree that mercifully ended when his rifle jammed, sadly not before one tragic death.
Was the shooter a nutcase, or as Mr. Beaulieu tells us, a product of the overwhelming hate and francophone-bashing in the Anglo media?
Of course the message resonates with the militant language conspiracy types and plays successfully with the old guard who collectively wallow in a bath of self-pity, coupled with an unhealthy dose of paranoia inherent to those suffering from a persecution complex.
And so when a lady assaults a bagel eater with a thrown sandwich because he is speaking in English, it is the nasty Anglos that created the milieu of hate.
When a bus driver harasses a 12 year old or harangues an immigrant over language, it is our fault.
When a drunk youth assails a couple of English-speaking Asian tourists over French, it is of course, the Asians fault and when a metro ticket agent puts up a nasty sign telling non French speakers to take a hike, it is our over-reaction that is at fault.
This nonsense is to be expected from a man who stood before reporters and complained that stores with
The proper term for Mr. Beaulieu is a 'linguicist' someone who hates on the basis of language and when the media, on the rarest occasion, call him out on his irrational hatred, he trots out his favourite defence, francophone-bashing.
Mr Beaulieu gives every story a particular tweak, just enough dishonesty to inflame his minions. In his rant against the English media, he complains that stories in the English media portrayed Quebec francophones as racist and bigots, when in reality those charges were actually made against the PQ and Pauline Marois for statements made during the election campaign.
In the latest incident he chastises anglophones for reacting angrily to a STM employee who put a sign up in his booth, reminding metro riders that in Quebec (or at least in the employee's ticket booth) service will only be offered in French.
Make no mistake about it, whether the sign reflected the law or not, the posting of the home-made notice was a political statement and as such completely violated company policy of keeping politics out of the Metro and bus system.
Mr. Beaulieu complains that many comments that were appended to the story of the metro incident in English media were violent in nature.
I never read one comment that threatened physical violence and Beaulieu has cited none. This from a man who always republishes 'offensive' quotes.
In a post on the MQF website he continues spinning the story to suit his fancy, complaining that Montreal comedian Joey Elias, on a Facebook posting, mistranslated the sign, when in fact Mr. Elias was just editorializing, saying;
"sign basically says that unless you speak French I'm not serving you" Link{fr}
What Mr. Beaulieu and others are really upset about is a planned protest at the metro station, because when English people protest over language, it is intimidation, aggression and violence, but when the French-language lobby groups demonstrate, for example, outside the Bell Centre, calling for the firing of the Canadiens unilingual coach, it is noble and laudable.
Mr. Beaulieu goes on to whine that CJAD, a Montreal radio station had no business in playing a snippet of an interview with presumed shooter Richard Bain, because he is a terrorist.
Of course the interview was broadcast on a French station at the same time, but that isn't included in the narrative.
The fact that FLQ terrorists regularly write articles published not only on vigile.net but mainstream media is of course not germane, because after all, those are francophone terrorists and so it is okay.
It is ironic that Anglophobes like Beaulieu are the ones leading the charge against perceived francophobia as well as insufferable whingers like Robert Barberi-Gervais complaining on vigile.net that Mr. Bain's action was directly attributable to hateful comments in English newspapers and blogs. This from a man writing on a website that has been branded antisemitic and anglophobic by the French media!
At any rate I can only say that the English media that Mr. Beaulieu complains about, had the good sense to pixilate or blur the face of the metro ticket agent, while Mr. Beaulieu's story and the Journal de Montreal did not.
And I wonder if Mr. Beaulieu will reprint this story that appeared on CTV;
"Students from Marymount Academy are showing their appreciation for bus drivers the day after an STM ticket taker created a language kerfuffle by posting a sign in his booth.Not likely!
During the lunch hour on Friday the high school students set up shop at the Villa Maria metro, just a block away from their school, to distribute coffee and muffins to bus drivers." Read more:
At any rate, as I said in the beginning of this post, that Beaulieu is always looking for something new to perk up interest in his moribund group.
May I humbly suggest an inspiring and rousing theme song to be played at every public gathering of the Mouvement Quebec Francais, the Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste, etc. etc.
I'm offering these new lyrics, sung to the tune of the "Eve of Destruction"
Of course they'll have to be translated it into French......
♫♫♫If you've never heard Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction", (Shudder!) give a listen;
The English world, it is exploding
Anglo culture flarin', language dominating
You otta know by now that English is a scourge
There is no other option, we need a thorough purge'
And know without some action, we're really on the verge.
♫♫♫(Refrain) .... But you tell me,
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction.
Don't you understand what I'm tryin' to say
Can't you feel the fears I'm feelin' today?
If English is not checked, there's no runnin' away
There'll be no one to save, the French world in a grave
But even if we live, we'll be nothing but a slave
Take a look around ya boy, it's bound to scare ya boy.
♫♫♫(Refrain)
Yeah, my blood's so mad feels like coagulatin'
I'm sitting here just contemplatin'
I can twist the truth, it knows no regulation.
But a handful of demonstrators won't pass no legislation
And marches alone can't bring no francization
When francophone respect is disintegratin'
This whole crazy world is just too damn frustratin'
♫♫♫(Refrain)
The world is full of hate that is so very widespread
Then take a look around to Beaconsfield or Hampstead
You may leave here for a week in outer space
But when you return, it's the same old English place
The grinding' of the Anglos, is really a disgrace
They want bury French and never leave a trace
They hate us with a passion, our language they debase
But you tell me,
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction.
♫♫♫
Happy Thanksgiving!
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