04-12-2006, 07:20 AM
I'm sorry, Pete, but Canada has worked out phenomenally well, and if you think there's a "stench," we seem to be living with it just fine, which seems to undermine the metaphor somewhat. It's not perfect, but, as Occhi reminds us over and over again, nothing and nobody is. Fact remains, it has worked, it is working, and it will probably continue to work.
There are, and have always been, people from Quebec who want to separate. The movement is at a moderate level right now, and we'll see where it goes. However, even those who are adamant separatists are living just fine under the existing system, and aside from an insignificant handful of crazies, we live peacefully and happily together. If Quebec (or any other part of Canada) ever seriously decides to separate, then my prediction is that it will be bloodless. Too many "separatists" want associations that reflect our peaceful (at least in the last century or so) history, rather than a clean break.
The great unwashed mob has kept its head down for quite some time. If you think ethnically motivated mob violence is right around the corner unless we stick to one language, well, I'd give you better odds as a prophet than most. But I think you're wrong.
Tolerance can be learned. It isn't inherent, and it's never perfect. But establishing one language as supreme doesn't seem to me to be a step in the right direction, at least until we can extend it to the whole world.
-Jester
There are, and have always been, people from Quebec who want to separate. The movement is at a moderate level right now, and we'll see where it goes. However, even those who are adamant separatists are living just fine under the existing system, and aside from an insignificant handful of crazies, we live peacefully and happily together. If Quebec (or any other part of Canada) ever seriously decides to separate, then my prediction is that it will be bloodless. Too many "separatists" want associations that reflect our peaceful (at least in the last century or so) history, rather than a clean break.
The great unwashed mob has kept its head down for quite some time. If you think ethnically motivated mob violence is right around the corner unless we stick to one language, well, I'd give you better odds as a prophet than most. But I think you're wrong.
Tolerance can be learned. It isn't inherent, and it's never perfect. But establishing one language as supreme doesn't seem to me to be a step in the right direction, at least until we can extend it to the whole world.
-Jester