sean thibault: January 2007

Fwd: effigy

> this is the effigy burnt in india due to racism of celebrity big
> brother.
>

if you know the decemberists, please contact me. and i do NOT mean personally: i just want to talk about them. ha.

this letter actually appeared in the post apparently. there are so many layers of humour in it. i don't even know where to begin....

--

National Post

National

A11

English

Re: Glorifying The Gun, Warren Kinsella, Jan 18.

Yo yo, how phat is it to have a 40 or 50 somethin white Liberal partay dude 'scribing bout gansta rap and gunz? Are you serious? That is way ridonculous, bro. Who cares what fancy pants professors and authors say. Dude, I don't care about inter gangsta wars and how they had bad-assed childhoods in the hoods, and about who dissed who when and whose making dollars from singing and whining about it on crazy gansta labels.

I'd rather hear from the po-lice, yah, that's right, our boys in blue, about how they are stopping this gansta mega dumbness and keeping our city safe.

Word!

Laura Rosen Cohen, Toronto.

there is no more compelling a reason for israeli-palestinian peace to NOT be an issue for canadian politics. to become a player, you gotta play - we haven't done so since PEARSON.

next, maybe, we can do a study on how people feel about natives... in, say, winnipeg.

59% of Quebecers say they're racist: poll Last Updated: Monday, January 15, 2007 | 6:38 PM ET CBC News

Fifty-nine per cent of Quebecers admit to being racist to some degree, according to a Léger Marketing survey published Monday in Le Journal de Montréal.

In comparison, only 47 per cent of those outside Quebec say they are racist to some degree.

Among Quebecers, most (43 per cent) said they were only mildly racist, while 15 per cent said they were moderately racist and only one per cent responded that they were very racist.

The findings stunned Jean Dorion of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste.

"I do not perceive the Quebec society as being racist," he told Le Journal de Montréal.

The findings come from three surveys in late December and early January. The first two surveys were conducted over the internet, with 2,228 Quebecers taking part, while the third survey interviewed 3,092 people across Canada. Continue Article

The survey looked at Quebecers' views of a variety of cultural groups.

It found 36 per cent of Quebecers have a bad opinion of Jewish people, while 27 per cent have a poor opinion of blacks. Fifty per cent have a bad opinion of Muslims.

Jean-Marc Léger, president of Leger Marketing, said Quebecers are influenced by the images of Muslims seen after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

"The Arab community carries the weight of Sept. 11 and religious extremists," Léger told Le Journal de Montréal. "People were thinking of them when they answered the survey."

Bashir Hussein, who represents Quebec in the Council of Muslim Communities of Canada, said people are also shaped by the media coverage of violence in the Middle East.

"Whatever people read in the newspapers, they form their opinion from," he told CBC News. Survey methods questioned

Jack Jedwab, a Montrealer who has done extensive statistical and demographic work, questions how the survey was structured, especially the sections asking Quebecers if they consider themselves racist.

Quebecers were asked if they consider themselves very racist, moderately racist, slightly racist or not racist at all.

Jedwab said in three out of four answers, respondents end up labelling themselves racist.

If Jedwab were writing the question, he would have made the ratio two questions out of four, asking people if they are very racist, somewhat racist, not racist or not at all racist.

Jedwab, executive director of the Montreal-based Association of Canadian Studies, said it's dangerous to have a survey that shows such a high level of racism.

"It will lead people to say, 'Let's face it, everyone's racist,'" he told CBC News Online. "They'll think it's to be expected. That will minimize the resolve to combat this problem of racism that needs to be addressed."

The Quebec portion of the survey is considered to have a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The one done outside Quebec had a margin of error of 1.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

In Jimmy Carter's book, Palestine: Peace, not Apartheid, both sides of the conflict take serious issue with his characterization of the facts. Senior leaders of the Carter Center have left, Jewish groups have rebuffed his offer to engage in dialogue (while some have, may have not). But the most "offensive" claims, are potentially the ones most important to eliminate in order for peace and coexistence. Jewish control of government? "It would be almost politically suicidal for members of Congress to espouse a balanced position between Israel and Palestine, to suggest that Israel comply with international law or to speak in defense of justice or human rights for Palestinians." Jewish Control of the media? "What is even more difficult to comprehend is why the editorial pages of the major newspapers and magazines in the United States exercise similar self-restraint, quite contrary to private assessments expressed quite forcefully by their correspondents in the Holy Land." Jewish fears over relations with African Americans? "The book describes the abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied Palestinian territories," Carter writes, adding "In many ways, this is more oppressive than what blacks lived under in South Africa during apartheid." And what is the reaction of the Jewish community? outright rejection. it is time for Israel to do its own peace work - the reliance and waiting around for America is only causing more pain and suffering for all the residents between the Jordan river and the Med. sea. Hamas leader Meshal's recent statements are encouraging signs. Considering that 30 months ago, it was unimaginable that hamas would ever come around - must be the tantalizing taste of power. maybe we'll see peace after all?