A few weeks ago, an acquaintance strolled up to the Hour table at the MIMI Awards and smiled the smile that no doubt haunts many, many people in their dreams. This guy is bullish, wily, professionally antagonistic, and one of the sharpest characters I’ve ever come across. Through a row of magnificent teeth, he asked the question: Why on earth are Montreal news weeklies giving so much play to the Jewish/Palestinian question?
It was a difficult question to answer, and it stayed in the brain for days after. Among the possible replies: It’s topical, and one of the few subjects that is fascinating in both a cerebral and car-crash kind of way. People will read it and they will tend to let you know exactly the way they think – one of the greatest things about writing in this space. There’s the always intriguing experience of being called anti-Semitic and anti-Arab by the two different factions.
Why the subject is enthralling didn’t really hit home until it literally hit home last week, in the form of a red-hot firebomb that burned through a Jewish elementary school here in Montreal. In one quick, hateful move, we once again got a little taste as to why the subject – that goddamed aggravating, infuriating subject – has a terrible habit of bleeding out from the Middle East and into our neighbourhood.
When some unknown tossed a Molotov cocktail through the window of United Talmud Torah School in St-Laurent, we saw a senseless act, loaded to the gills with politics and hate. We saw the hurt eyes of the surrounding community choked white with incomprehension and fury. We saw politicians surveying the damage, the burnt books, the waterlogged hallways, vowing that this should never have happened, and hopefully won’t again – knowing full well that it will, either by a copycat or through retaliation and revenge.
Shortly after the firebombing, we saw the real politicking begin, by way of a crowd flying Israeli flags, and by people using the opportunity to equate this blatant shot of anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism, thus muddying the waters once again and ensuring that reasonable discourse can never really take place on the subject when the debate is lead by ideologues.
We saw one television news network that shall remain nameless for now (cough, cough, Global, cough, cough) use the firebombing as an opportunity, of sorts, to remind us all how traditionally anti-Semitic Quebecers tend to be, and reminding us how bad we all are.
In short, we saw what happens in the Middle East, practically every day. Only the lack of blood and dead bodies differentiate us this week.
So, this is why I like writing about this stuff. There is a certain madness, a morbid absurdity to the situation that attracts, for good or ill. And it can happen anywhere. Just look at that one small, burnt-out library in St-Laurent.
And now on to something completely different Stop me if you’ve heard this one: A big, boisterous, booze-fuelled party that spills onto the streets. Things are kicked, cars are flipped over. The police, knowing there is a precedent to this kind of foolishness, promise to step up and keep order. They don’t, of course, and for a little while, chaos reigns.
No, this isn’t a recap of the infamous Stanley Cup Riot of 1993, though you’d be forgiven for thinking so. It was for Steve-O, the only man in the world who can make scrotum-stapling funny. After he and his cohorts, all remnants of the Jackass crew, did their show at the Medley, a kerfuffle broke out. And like in 1993, when there was a scad of evidence that all hell would break loose, the police were unprepared. And this even though Steve-O’s show prompted a similar post-show piss-up in Quebec City streets. It took police two hours to bust it up, and one cop was taken to task for laying a full-speed tackle of some poor bastard who made the mistake of throwing – wait for it – a recycling box into the street. Unbelievable. Frustrated, anyone?
Speaking of Jackasses One of the Gazette’s resident demons has walked the plank. Late last week, Gazette editor-in-chief Peter Stockland canned managing editor Jack Romanelli. Lowly Gazette staffers, long tired of Jack’s, uhh, unique managerial style, were reportedly slugging each other with glee at the news. No one, but no one, liked Jack much. He was known to be vindictive and bitchy, and is well known for going after columnist Sue Montgomery with an almost cartoonish amount of vengeance last year.
So long Jack.
10 comments
I just wanted to say a little something about Steve-O because i did not get to write anything about him the first time around. I think that Steve-O and Johnny Knoxx are the stupidest people on the planet. Although I do admit watching Jackass and even laughing at it, the bottom line is that they are the cause of hundreds of thousands of teenage boys who think that they are funny if they hit some one else in the nads with a ball. Dude it’s not funny, it never has been and it never will be so grow up!
Usually acts of vandalism are committed by people attending the school just as rapes are usually committed by someone you know. I’m not sure but when something breaks in my house I usually suspect my wife, kids or myself before declaring war with my neighbors. I wish the Premier and PM could have issued a few words when my car was set ablaze.
“Shortly after the firebombing, we saw the real politicking begin, by way of a crowd flying Israeli flags, and by people using the opportunity to equate this blatant shot of anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism, thus muddying the waters once again and ensuring that reasonable discourse can never really take place on the subject when the debate is lead by ideologues.”
It was the hate-monger arsonist(s) him/her/themselves who equated this act of anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism in their note. In effect, they decided to hold 5-12 year old Jewish children in Montreal responsible for the policies of the Israeli government.
Another Riot in Montreal breaks out! What a Surprise? Not? I can’t believe that nobody saw this coming except for me. The last two riots in Montreal that I can remember was the Montreal Canadians riot in 1993 when they won the Stanley cup which will be the last time they will ever win a Stanley Cup in a long time and the other was the Guns N’ Roses/Metallica/Faith No More Riot in 1992. The worst part of this riot was seeing a innocent bystander getting tackled and arrested by a police officer for no reason on the six o’clock news. This proves that police brutality still exists in this city and something has to be done to stop it from happening again.
I hope that Steve-O never comes back to Montreal and disappears from Hollywood for good.
“A few weeks ago, an acquaintance strolled up…smiled the smile that no doubt haunts many, many people in their dreams. This guy is bullish, wily, professionally antagonistic, and one of the sharpest characters I’ve ever come across.”–Martin Patriquin, talking about the glorious bastard that is me.
Ok, so maybe he’s not exactly talking about me but I really couldn’t pass up that kind of opening. Anyways…
What you all should pay close attention to in this article is the excerpt that follows: “Why on earth are Montreal news weeklies giving so much play to the Jewish/Palestinian question?”
First off and strictly speaking, NOT ALL Montreal news weeklies give so much play to the Jewish/Palestinian question. Besides THE SUBURBAN and a few others who have dubious vested interests in the matter. I WON’T say what that is but I’m sure you’re all smart enough to read between the lines–heck, pick up a copy and you’ll see what I mean. Let’s face it, you don’t see THE MIRROR beating this dead horse the way THE HOUR does but again they both have different philosophies guiding them. Anyways, a discussion for another time…
According to Patriquin, it was a difficult question to answer but really it isn’t. He can claim that the subject is enthralling and topical but really it isn’t that. I can’t and won’t say why the other Montreal news weeklies give so much play to the Jewish/Palestinian question but I do have a theory as to why THE HOUR is so fixated on it: it’s easy and it’s safe and gives the illusion that THE HOUR is broader and more mainstream in its it reporting that it’s distinguished competition. It’s my theory so please HOUR censors keep in mind that the article itself left you wide open for this type of retort.
Is the Jewish/Palestinian question important? Yes…but outrage is sooooo easily incited by playing the many facets of this card that I’d call it the safety net approach to catching reactionary readers.
Flame me at will if you see fit.
No matter what happens elsewhere, you’re always supposed to be safe at home – right? It’s what your mother tells yo fro the moment you understand that gibberish called ‘language’, it’s spawned the term ‘home safe’ – your home is where you can escape the stress and strife you have to deal with in the ‘real world’, and where the horror and pain that happens in ‘other’ places doesn’t affect you quite in the same why.
This is why the firebombing hit me so hard – it’s HARD to deal with this kind of hatred, and HARDER to deal with in in your OWN BACKYARD. We as Canadians, and Quebecers, do not expect this kind of situation. Montreal is where the streets are generally safe and the people are usually friendly and neighbourly. Sure, there is crime, but compared to elsewhere… – our city is a pipedream for people who live in most major cities.
Quebec has a history of pro- and anti-semitism. Quebec was the first part of the British ‘Empire’ to allow Jews to have full civil rights. It was also a hotbed of Nazi sympathisers and anti-Jewish sentiment and propaganda during WWII. On the other hand, over the last fifteen to twenty years, Quebec has been a centre of peaceful endeavours – where rallies are common but hatred is rejected.
And now, caught in the middle, we have a group of innocent children who are callously forced to grow up a little, as their parents must explain to them why some people – strangers – hate them and would blow up their library, their school – maybe even their own homes and selves.
Perhaps the idiots who rioted after the Steve-O show should think about them before they go on a destructive rampage again – destruction only causes harm, and when it’s in your own country, city, neighbourhood, the pain is tremendous.
I am thankful that the leaders of our community and country are stepping forward and rejectig this hatred. Here’s hoping they can DO something about it…
The firebombing of UTT in Ville St.Laurent is just another horrible display of bullying the Jewish community here in Montreal and other cities in Canada. It is amazing that Jewish students at Concordia, York, and Carleton to name a few institutions, are regularly harrassed, heckled, victimized, and terrorized by bands of Arab troublemakers, who think nothing of employing violent, physical and mental abuse towards their fellow students. Sadly most of these incidents go unreported, and are allowed to occur unchallenged by any type of law enforcement. A very sad state of affairs in our “free society”. I would like to see the reaction of the public if it were Jewish students acting in this despicable manner towards Arab students. Why don’t people wake up and smell the coffee?
Why would a club owner or city administrator allow the Steve-O show to take place if he had prior knowledge from the Quebec City show of what might happen after the show? The odds were pretty good there would be some rowdy spectators at the Montreal show who would try to imitate Steve-O and his crew. And yet, he allowed the show go on. I’m starting to wonder who the jackass really was.
I was horrified and terrified when I heard about the firebombing here in Montreal. Why would people go for innocent children over political beliefs, as if children had anything to do with it. Things have changed drastically in the past five years, and it is terrifying. I think we all woke up when September 11 happened. Sure, it didn’t happen in our country, but it was certainly close enough to get me worried. Ever since then most of us haven’t felt 100% safe, even in our own backyards. There are people who will give up at nothing to get their opinions heard, and won’t think twice before using violence to strike fear in people.
About Steve-0, I think it is his right to put on a show here in Montreal, and there would have been no reason to cancel the show because of riots that happened in previous cities. The fact that the Montreal police were not prepared for the riots that followed the show is upsetting. The term, “Protect and Serve” does not mean just waiting before things get out of hand and then doing something about it later. It also meanse preventing things before they start, especially when it’s something you can predict a mile away.
It has finally been reported that 3 million dollars has been earmarked for security guards and equipment. This is welcome news and show ease the concerns of many parents.
There are many possibilities. The windows could have bars on them or replaced with a tough material such as plexiglass. Even a dodge ball that gets away could easily break an ordinary window. Break and enters would be less likely with strong windows especially considering the fact that the computers and camera equipment found in most schools would lure many thieves.
A good fire detection and sprinkler system is an absolute requirement. A rodent could accidentally chew some wire causing a short circuit and ensuing fire!
A high quality camera system with no blind spots running 24 hours a day 7 days a week would make would be criminals think twice before they decide to act.
And lastly rare hard to replace books should be kept in a vault outside of school hours.
School children and their parents need to feel safe. We should not scrimp on their safety!