Some cracks in the monolith?

It probably would have poured for the CHOI Liberté rally on the Hill today, but I brought my coat and an umbrella, so the skies cleared and we actually got a bit of sun. I left early though, so unfortunately the rain came back. By 4:30 there was a thunderstorm raging complete with hail, at least up at my place. Sorry about that guys.

The crowd was large, well-behaved, and young. My french is quite poor, despite living over a third of my life in Québec, so I felt a bit out of place. The speakers had a strong connection with the crowd, but unfortunately I didn't get a lot out of it. I contented myself to move around the crowd and take pictures. Still, even with the language barrier, I felt this event was a hammerblow to the cultural monolith that dominates the thinking in this country. Not a shattering blow by any means, but a couple of small chips came loose, some dust was shaken free, and maybe even a fine crack appeared. But it'll take quite a bit more work to knock the whole thing down.

On the way home though, the monolith struck back. CFRA, usually a sensible talk radio station was parroting the establishment's opinion that the government should have the right to spank those that don't toe the line. And from what I heard, most of the listeners agreed. The host made the bogus point that if the government doesn't shut down this station, others will get more and more 'outrageous' in a race to the lowest depths of depravity. The unspoken reasoning behind this sentiment is that the public are morons and must be protected from themselves. It's surprising how many people believe that.

UPDATE: Jaeger at Trudeaupia has a long thoughtful post about the protest that's very much worth your time.

UPDATE II: More on the monolith striking back. Here's how the CBC prevents anyone from sympathizing with the plight of CHOI:

Fillion is known for his attacks on a variety of Quebec's public figures, as well as ethnic students and the mentally ill.

Posted by Bruce Gottfred at August 10, 2004 05:40 PM | TrackBack