Thursday January 08, 2009
Bye Bye, indeed
It's one thing for the Quebec comedic intelligentsia to parade their brand of ''satiric humour'' in front of private club audiences, but it's quite another for them to air their racial bigotry and national chauvinism on prime-time TV at public expense (Radio-Canada Crosses Line With Race-Based Satire - front page, Jan. 7). Perhaps that's why Stephen Harper lost the support of Quebec's arts community. He was no longer willing to fund those who believe parochial regional tenets are national values worthy of universal support. From Print Edition, 08/01/09
Bye Bye, indeed
The latest edition of Radio-Canada's New Year's Eve variety show Bye Bye certainly got Quebec off to a bad 2009 start. While much of the world - energized by a new U.S. administration - is looking to the future, Radio-Canada chose to look backward to a time when racism and bigotry were acceptable. What's more offensive is that Radio-Canada has declared itself to be a ''democratic institution'' and uses this status to justify offensive ''satire.'' From Print Edition, 08/01/09
Bye Bye, indeed
The controversy surrounding the latest edition of the Bye Bye shows the extent to which airing a satire-oriented program open to many levels of interpretation can be risky business. Radio-Canada got the message loud and clear. We'll learn from the experience and factor it into our future decisions regarding similar projects. This shouldn't be interpreted as our disowning the program team that put its heart and soul into this broadcast, or as a sign we will shy away from daring concepts. From Print Edition, 08/01/09
'Collaborative divorce:' coming to a lawyer's office near you
Canadians are great literalists. Often, it seems a majority of inhabitants of our great country see themselves as belonging to a grim northern tribe, judgmental people living in an irony-free zone. From Print Edition, 08/01/09
