You cannot coerce respect

You can never coerce respect

Since moving to Québec I’ve generally always spoken French first in public situations in equal parts fully insincere obsequiousness and respect for living amongst a predominantly francophone population.

So if you tell me that not speaking French in public is “unacceptable” well you're welcome to go French seal yourself.

You cannot coerce respect. Coercion produces at best servility if not outright hostility and resistance. The prospect of a Pauline Marois majority PQ government has me thinking “I will never speak French again” which would be a shame, because I've gotten pretty good at it and enjoy being able to have some small foot in two cultures.

Here is the thing about politeness, respect, tolerance of others etc. If its not genuine, it's poison. It's just dissimulation, make believe, and for the Anglo and allophones to feel coerced or compelled to use French will drive a lot of them away, and make those that remain actively resistant to French and French culture, instead of grateful to be living in a vibrant and creative “milieu” where being exposed to different cultures and traditions is just “un affaire de tous les jours” (maybe that's an anglicism, I'll go report to the office de la langue francaise)

I'm not sure I know of any example of a language or culture being enriched by imposing legal sanctions on the use of other languages. It frankly just seems evil, like outlawing a religion or sexual orientation, and also incredibly perverse. I'm highly bilingual. My written French may suck, but I can speak and work in French and English. Is it really going to foster a francophone paradise to make me feel unwelcome?

And I'm a 6 foot 2 white male. The shit going around on YouTube makes me sick to my stomach.

The worst part about this video is that the guy is clearly drunk, and genuinely seems aggrieved that the guys were speaking English. But it’s like if you believe yourself to be some kind of culturally victimized minority, you're going to imagine sleights everywhere.

Again, my reflex is to try and be respectful towards everyone. I'd much rather start in French and then discover I was talking to a fellow anglophone than start in English with a francophone and try and bully them into continuing in English. But 99.9 times out of 100, prior to Pauline Marois’ nasty electioneering, even if I started in English with a francophone I mistook for an Anglo, and then switched to French, we'd usually fumble along with me speaking French and the francophone speaking English out of MUTUAL respect and the desire for harmony, goodwill, and understanding.

So if any PQ supporters get this far please understand this - while I do understand and respect the desire for sovereignty, though I will never personally support it, Pauline Marois’ tactics amount to a declaration of war on tolerance and respect. She is consciously stirring up evil emotions, for short term opportunistic political gains, and once you let those genies out of those bottles, you just don't know where it will lead.

So a vote for Pauline Marois is a vote for intolerance, xenophobia, and all those things most of the reasonable separatists I know proclaim up and down that they don't believe in at all. But you're going to tell me, and my kids where we can and can't speak English? On these streets and in these institutions and businesses that I've been supporting with the wages I've earned building this province for my entire working life?

And then tell me it's a matter of respect?