Mr. Lokman Slim was a talented Lebanese publisher, political commentator, and film maker. He was assassinated in Beirut because his opinions bothered those who did not share them.
Bambi paid tribute to him, and through him to all the critical thinkers of our world (sadly many have been also eliminated in tiny yet courageous Lebanon).
If she may, she will dedicate a song to his memory called “un berger vient de tomber” [or a “Shepherd has just fallen under arms“] by Mr. Enrico Macias. This beautiful song was originally written for President Sadat on the second day after his assassination in 1981(lyrics by Mr. Jacques Demarny and music by Mr. Macias):
That was the tragic story of Mr. Slim… and before him many other intellectuals.
Now, what happened to Mr. Dany Turcotte from Radio-Canada (the French CBC)?
His story is well described below by Mr. Mathieu Bock-Côté. His article was published three days ago in the Journal de Montréal. Bambi will quickly translate it to you below.
Who knows? Perhaps like Bambi, you can also see the similarity between the stories of those killed in the Middle East and those cancelled (or silenced) in Canada? In both cases, the underlying issue is the same, even if the degree is (luckily for us) different: It is all about the intolerance (of another opinion we do not necessarily agree with). Yes, a lack of critical thinking fuels intolerance. Of course, there is sometimes malice on top of all this absurdity.
Anyhow, here are the words of Mr. Bock-Côté about this story. It is nice to see his support of Mr. Turcotte at the very end (https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2021/02/20/dany-turcotte-victime-des-pros-de-lindignation):
“Dany Turcotte victim of the pros of indignation
Dany Turcotte has just left his position at Tout le monde en parle. Rumor had it that he was uncomfortable with the new live format.
But we can understand that he is paying the price for his joke on the last show that he made with Mamadi Camara [Bambi does not know the person in question or his story. She just read his own message online, telling Mr. Turcotte that he did not mind the joke. Imagine he is the person concerned here, but yet the CBC did not have the courage to stand up to the mob]. The lynching pack of outrage professionals, specializing in media caning and public humiliation, pounced on him. On Twitter, he was singled out for public revenge.
It wasn’t his first joke, though. Not even his first awkward joke, if you want to.
But apparently, in our egalitarian world, some social “groups” are outside the scope of humor. Whoever does not respect the prohibition commits a sacrilege. The awful culture of lynching, which turns a clumsy joke into a culprit, has had its skin. He was to serve as an example.
Some say he should have resisted the pack. They might not know how grueling it can be to have an army of aggressive and malicious little canines on your back. The latter never miss an opportunity to spit in your face. Not everyone knows how to resist a permanent public defamation campaign.
Whether you are left, right, centre, sovereignist, autonomist or federalist, we should be worried.
TLMEP [name of the French show “Tout le monde en parle”]
Please allow me to come back to a recent event.
At the beginning of December, during my time at TLMEP, I had a small heated exchange directly with Dany Turcotte. It received some attention. There was nothing personal about it. And I would be remiss if I did not say that I am sorry for his plight. There was a benevolent, quintessentially Québecois humor about him that fitted in well with the show [indeed, Bambi has always appreciated his humour, like all his guests including our own Mr. Trudeau. Indeed, Bambi posted about this specific beautiful show where even our PM seemed to have had fun and… in this show, he was fun to watch].
I sincerely hope that we will see him again on our airwaves soon, in a project where he can show all his talent” [Bambi too!].
