I like the cartoon of gazette portray Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry as a she-wolf of the SS or a dominatrix ready to whip the poor little Anglos of Quebec? NO.
Do I find the cartoon funny? NO.
Do I find it offensive to know that Pascale Déry is Jewish? Yes.
Do I find it tasteless to portray a Jewish cleric as a she-wolf of the SS in the middle of the Arab-Israeli conflict? Yes.
But do I think the Gazette should apologize or retract for publishing this cartoon? No way.
I AM CHARLIE (AGAIN).
Eight years after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in 2015, I am still Charlie. And that’s why I will fight for Aislin to have the right to make offensive, disturbing, contemptuous and delusional cartoons.
But on the other hand, I have the right to say that calling a minister who changed the tuition fees of English-speaking universities a fascist is absolutely ridiculous!
I have the right to say that the Montreal Gazette has a weird idea about who the most oppressed linguistic minority in Canada is.
I have the right to say that I’m tired of the Anglos who scream bloodthirsty every time the Francos advocate for French to be respected in Quebec.
For years, Aislin (Terry Mosher’s pseudonym) has caricatured the Pasionarias of the French language as predatory, armed-to-the-teeth fascists preying on poor, innocent little Anglos.
It began with Louise Beaudoin, drawn with an officer’s cap, a dog collar around her neck and a cattle prod in her hand. He then did the same with Louise Harel. It was clear that he would do it again with a minister who dared to suggest that French was under threat in Montreal.
- Listen to the column on culture and society with Jean-François Baril and Sophie Durocher QUB radio :
Now I ask you the question: Did Aislin draw Pascale Déry as a dominatrix or as a Nazi officer?
In 2017, newspaper reporter Marian Scott praised Aislin’s achievements and talent in the pages of the Gazette to mark her 50th career. “Who can imagine former PQ minister Louise Beaudoin without imagining her as an all-leather dominatrix, complete with spurs, a cattle prod and a Nazi cap? »
If the Gazette itself believes that Aislin’s drawing uses Nazi imagery, do we agree that this is a “no worse” indicator that it is a Nazi drawing?
In this text by Marian Scott from 2017, she said: “Aislin has built up the collective consciousness of English-speaking Montrealers over the last 50 years in such a way that it is difficult to imagine what we would do with this city, with this province .” this country if he hadn’t been there. »
Bad taste, bad time
For more than 50 years, Aislin and the Gazette have portrayed the legitimate defenders of French as hysterical, bloodthirsty oppressors. “The right to insult is an integral part of freedom of expression,” goes the good old maxim.
But while Jews have just experienced a pogrom the likes of which we have not seen since the Shoah, the Gazette might have been a little embarrassed to draw a Jew wearing a Nazi cap.
