Since October 7th, the date of the pogrom in Israel, I can’t stop thinking about Guy Nantel and his vox pops.
Yes! Everyone and their brother-in-law has their opinion on the Hamas-Israel conflict.
That being said, I would be curious to know how many of these analysts know the basics of what’s going on there.
ISRAEL-HAMAS 101
The brilliant comedian Guy Nantel has shown us over the years how poor certain Homo quebecensus’ knowledge of geography, history and politics was.
There are people who don’t know which country is south of Canada! They don’t even know how to place Quebec on a map of Canada!
Now imagine if they were asked to place Gaza on a map of Israel or Israel on a world map.
If asked to name the Arab countries that share a border with Israel.
I would dream that Guy Nantel would ask those who claim that Israel has instituted an “apartheid” regime the definition of the word “apartheid”. I’m expecting a lot of “Um…it’s crowded, yeah, so…”
If “voxpopés” didn’t know who wrote Lafontaine’s Fables, they certainly wouldn’t be able to answer questions like “What is the religion of the Jewish state?” or “What area is Gaza City in?”
For his latest vox-pop, Nantel tracked down Ostrogoths who didn’t know how to tell the time on a clock. Yes, yes, they didn’t know what time it was when the little hand reached four!
If Guy Nantel, accompanied by bodyguards, intervened between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters, imagine what pearls he could collect…
He was able to find us specimens wearing the black and white Palestinian headscarf, but didn’t know who Yasser Arafat was.
Images of Montreal went around the world last week. A lady wearing a Palestinian scarf and a Palestinian flag (but who is not Palestinian herself) chants a slogan at the corner of Metcalfe and Sherbrooke. Except that it shouts “From the nation to the sea” and then “From the mountains to the sea” instead of the actual slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” And she has no idea what this river is anyway. (This is the Jordan and the sea is the Mediterranean).
You can have a clear opinion about Israel.
But the least we could do is find out more instead of spreading stupid slogans we don’t understand.
THELMA AND SUSAN
Speaking of talking nonsense, American actress Susan Sarandon apologized for saying at a pro-Palestinian rally that “American Jews who learn about fear now have an idea of what it’s like.” “Be a Muslim in this country.”
In her apology, she said: “My clumsy wording implied that Jews had not experienced persecution until recently, although that is false.”
I have a question for this actress who calls herself a feminist: Why didn’t she say a word of solidarity with the Israeli women who were gang raped on October 7?