At home, his speech was heavily criticized across
provinces and territories. Not surprisingly, he promised us more and more public
debt… over decades, he wanted to reassure us.
As usual, he also meddles in provincial affairs and seems
to care more about special interest groups than about the average Canadian.
As Ms. Denise Bombardier said, our Governor General may have perhaps wished to go back to space while reading this speech ?
Bearing this in mind, Bambi listened to the whole UN
speech of our PM yesterday before going to sleep. Well, she was happily surprised
and even impressed. His speech was much better than the usual. He even dared to
criticize Iran, Russia, and China, without naming them. Bravo Mr. Trudeau for
standing up for justice around the world!
He did not even use buzz words like “systemic racism”.
He just said racism among other problems of our world in crisis.
He even mentioned the Lebanese people in his example of a country’s sufferings.
Of course, he talked about climate change, and that’s fine. What resonated the most in Bambi’s mind is the above message. It sounded clear, courageous, and in line with those classical liberal values that Bambi has been missing much over the past years. Those conservative values too of standing up for what Canadians believe in. These are the values that unite us and make us so well respected in the world. Can we have more of these words and acts, Mr. Trudeau? Can we have our OWN wisdom back, not just repetitions of global buzz words empty of meaning? And while there, can we have our country back please?
What is cancel culture? It refers to (group) shaming, often online. It consists of withdrawing support for public figures or companies or artistic groups for doing or saying something considered offensive. This practice may go as far as destroying someone’s reputation or provoking the end of his/her career.
Keeping this definition in mind, before sharing the story behind this post, Bambi admits that sometimes she seems like a lost deer, likely living on her own planet. Well, perhaps this explains why she has not heard about this talented Lebanese humourist before, even if the latter became one of the revolt’s famous public figures.
This 32-year-old humourist is called “Ammounz” (her real name is Ms. Amani Danhach). She is SO funny. Her specialty is to make fun of ALL the Lebanese politicians. She has videos on each one of them separately or jointly. She records herself in her car or in her living room and posts her videos online. Her language is natural and direct. She even composes and sings songs, without any financial reward. It seems like a pure pleasure for her whilst earning a living in another field of work in Dubai where she has been living for a few years.
As mentioned earlier, she jokes about all the Lebanese political leaders. Yes, all of them, men and women, older and younger, including Mr. Nasrallah (Chief of the Hezbollah) and his ally Mr. Aoun, President of Lebanon.
Well, what a shame that the funny Ammounz was recently the victim of a nasty cancel culture attempt, not in Lebanon… but rather in Dubai, her host country. Can you imagine? Someone had the guts (and heart) to email her employer to complain about her disrespect of Lebanon’s President. The person who did this nasty complaint also contacted the Government of the Arab Emirates. Can you imagine?!
Here is the text of the email sent out of Lebanon all the way to Dubai:
Well, the silly person who wrote the above text emailed the former employer of Ammounz by mistake, if Bambi understood the story well. Luckily, this did not affect her employment status.
Instead of accepting humour, like any other politician, a supporter of Lebanon’s President (or was it a fan of his ally?) had the nerve to try to harm a fellow Lebanese citizen IN ANOTHER COUNTRY to silence a dissenting voice. The idea was so kind that it simply aimed to prevent her from earning a living and perhaps supporting a family. Do you see how absurd and nasty cancel culture can be.
Mind you, this post is just one example of cancel culture. In reality, neither the topic nor the country is what matters here. The person(s) who resort to cancel culture or the victim(s) of such practices are not the mere issue here. Today, it is about this President and this humourist. Tomorrow, it will be about other individuals. When cancel culture happens in Canada (like we have been observing recently), it is about other forms of political correctness or ideologies. What remains the same, across all stories like this one, is that cancel culture (or silencing) is an act of aggression (or intimidation) because someone is being intolerant of other opinions.
Well, this being said, Bambi got more curious about Ammounz, especially after she heard on a Lebanese-American radio all the phone calls of support. Indeed, calls and words of support came from ALL around the world, including Lebanon, Paris, the USA, Dubai, and Canada (this station has listeners in 140 counties). People of all age groups called (even a kid called from Beirut). Very clearly, this humourist/singer is well-liked.
Googling Ammounz made Bambi spend a few minutes laughing to her funny jokes. In one of her recent online videos, she criticized how the President (and many other politicians) knew about the ammonium nitrate at the port. She did her funny video despite all the grief.
It is sad and unfair to the whole Lebanese population to silence one of their artists. By doing so, we prevent an entire traumatized country from venting in times of hyperinflation, of sorrow, and of fear from the unknown (health, political, and security crises). People need humour in order to keep their sanity when everything else seems to have been stolen from them (dreams, savings, lives, houses… country!).
Talking about lost lives, yesterday an injured citizendied after 50 days. She joined the other 200 victims of the Beirut blast, including two young kids, one Canadian and the other Australian. May all those injured (6000+) survive and heal…
Obituary taken from the Twitter account of Ms. Roula Douglas.
May Ms. Marine Elias rest in peace.
To conclude this post on a lighter
note now, here is a picture of this talented Ammnouz:
Taken from l’Orient Le Jour
Well, she seems to be so talented that she is not only a businesswoman and a (non-professional) singer/humourist. She is also a biker who wins competitions in the desert of the United Arab Emirates. Look at the picture Bambi discovered (she is on the left side with the tattoos on her arm and blue eyeglasses).
Clearly, in Bambi’s mind, this Ammounz seems to be much stronger than her bully (usually a coward), even if he could have thrown her out of her job and host country. Had she been living in Lebanon, she would have been maybe jobless in the financial crisis. What would have they accused her of then? Likely of being a spy for Israel (a classical one!). If you do not believe Bambi, see the older post below. This is what happened to Ms. Kinda El Khatib, another courageous Lebanese activist. Bambi keeps thinking about her, wondering what happened to her (likely still in jail ☹):
To try to describe the situation, imagine that Sackville Town Council decides to provide such grants to Goya’s pizza and Aida’s Café BUT NOT TO Patterson’ Family Restaurant or Mel’s. Can you imagine the absurdity?
Would that make any sense to you? Would that be fair? Wouldn’t
that be racist because it is ONLY based on race, instead of merit (or financial
needs, if it was a charity donation)?
Mind you, Bambi is asking the above whilst being a regular
customer of all our fantastic restaurants in Sackville. She is saying so and
she may be sharing genes and a mother tongue with the owners of one of the
restaurants mentioned above. More significantly, she shares with them their
cherished friendship.
Even if she would be happy for her friends to get a grant simply because they happen to be so-called BIPOC (the funny acronym justifying the grant), she would surely tell them what she thinks about this dangerous clientelism. They would compare it to Lebanon most likely and she would tease them about their both funny and insulting grant. They would be laughing together because so-called BIPOC have a sense of humour (she bets it is more pronounced than “woke” city councillors from Burlington ?).
OK, seriously now, this is a dangerous policy, that is sadly similar
to what Mr. Trudeau did to us here in Canada with his loan program for “Black
Entrepreneurs” (see earlier posts further below).
Of course, Mr. Trudeau and the municipal politicians, are most
likely well-meaning… deep inside. They just do not take the time to think
before addressing a problem as serious as racism. Their programs and policies defeat
their noble purposes. They are dangerous to a society (and not the wisest for
the economy).
It is Bambi’s hope that Mr. Trudeau et al. as well municipal
decision-makers (abroad and at home) will realize that programs like that are a
slippery slope… unless they secretly aspire to eventually become the Lebanon of
North America. Highly NOT recommended!
Yesterday, we read in the Canadian and Lebanese media that Lebanon’s President told reporters that his country is “going to hell” without a government (answer to a reporter).
The question that begs itself is the following: Where is Lebanon right now? Isn’t it in hell already?!
As one Lebanese citizen framed it (thanks Fadia for sharing the video) while talking from his partly destroyed living room: “We are already there, Mr. President. Hell is made of fire. We have been there. It is made of suffering. We have been there since Beirut blast and prior to it with the financial crisis“. He added that he is seeing people sleeping on their balconies because they cannot afford to repair a broken air conditioner. He said if the tire of someone’s car is damaged, he or she cannot afford to fix it.
Well, today, it seems that an explosion just took place in a village 50 km south of Beirut.
Can you imagine the fear triggered by the above?!
How many injured? How many victims? They say none. Hopefully!! If the information is accurate…
Assuming no one died, when will the next blast occur? And this time, how many casualties would it cause? Bambi is usually an optimistic person in life… but with Lebanon these days, it is hard to see the light of hope, she admits it. She is sure, it is there and a change is a MUST.
Yes, love will prevail again. Peace of mind too… and eventually prosperity.
Until then, can someone tell Bambi why is Hezbollah storing its weapons in a building in the middle of a village?!
When will movements like this one stop terrorizing civilians?
When will militias (in Lebanon, in the region, and around the world) stop playing with weapons and… with people’s lives?
To come back to the Lebanese politicians, how can they keep fighting among themselves for the pieces of the melting cake of power when their own country is diving into hell like that?! When will they wake up?! When the fire will reach them too? Or when Lebanon will vanish from the map?
It is nice to see colleagues across the country supporting Dr. Ngola. Bambi is happy for him to feel moved by the letter, as he described. She wishes him the best in his practice in Québec, even if she would not trust him to treat her own parents (had they been living where he is now practising). She may perhaps become his patient herself but, sorry, she would not recommend him to her parents, given his “irresponsible behaviour”, to use the words of our Premier.
Having said that, why are physicians from other
jurisdictions interfering with our own province by demanding a public inquiry? Health
is a provincial matter in our country. So, give us a break and let our province
manage the pandemic as it has been doing relatively well since last March. New Brunswickers
must have been generally satisfied, like Bambi, to give their current government
their confidence for a second mandate with a majority.
As for the outburst of angry online comments Dr. Ngola
has received, although unfortunate, it is part of normal human behaviour in the
context of a pandemic when we are afraid or frustrated (ie., a lockdown that had
to be extended, 40 people infected, and eventually 2 deaths). Did anyone ask
the citizens of Campbellton how they feel?
A few people may have sadly exaggerated ☹. This is unacceptable. However, is it
fair to insinuate or call the people of Campbellton (or Restigouche or NB, by
extension) racist?
Indeed, as reported above, according to the Mayor of Campbellton,
some of the people who may have commented online do not even live in Campbellton.
Similarly, many of the journalists rushing to judge New Brunswickers as being racist have never visited our province. Same for those 1500 physicians demanding a public inquiry as well.
Of note, the latest article above published in the National
Post AND in several other media (in the same exact format) is filed by Mr. Sidhartha Banerjee and is “produced
with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News
Fellowship”:
As per the link above, this is a one-year fellowship
program, worth $1 million, that “will hire eight journalists to cover
pressing issues in local communities across Canada… “Focusing on bringing more
coverage to Canada’s regions, fellows will report on pressing issues in local
communities, including the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on communities and tackling
racial injustice”.
So, “tackling racial injustice” is a “pressing
local issue” then? Bambi would have thought that truly LOCAL pressing subjects
would be stemming from the top priorities of so-called local communities. Instead,
they are once again being imposed on us to prove ideologies like “racial
injustice” or “systemic racism” or whatever label we are supposed to
swallow like “anti-blackness” or “too much whiteness”.
Why are we politicizing this story to that extent?
First, we insisted on apologies from our Premier who
did not do anything wrong. Luckily, he did not fall into the trap of unnecessary
apologies. Indeed, this politician seems to be pragmatic and fact focused (even
if he is far from being perfect. No one is in life and surely not in politics).
Second, we are now increasing the pressure by
demanding a public inquiry of how the case was handled.
Third, we seem to be changing the story or the
narrative in the media? Or was there more to this story than what we know, as citizens?
In either case, why don’t we keep it to what it should
have remained in the first place: a LOCAL story. After all, it is the case of a
surely competent physician in Campbellton who unfortunately behaved unwisely in
the middle of a pandemic.
Canadians are losing their mind, it seems to Bambi these days.
Why is she saying so? Well, they are literally obsessed with what they call “diversity & inclusion” and with “systemic racism“.
This obsession does not seem to be really about making sure that our society is welcoming to all. It seems to be increasingly more about imposing a rigid imported ideology on our brains and in our lives, controlling the boards of our companies, our choices of investment, the operations in schools we send our kids too, etc.
When will all this stop? This has become a dangerous game.
Bambi recently read articles in the media about how bad medicine in Canada is because of racism :). Other articles are about systemic racism on university campuses, in the judicial system, and literally even on the streets of “white Ottawa” . Who calls the capital of a country like that? Only the real racists would think of such a label.
If we are that BAD as a country, why is our federal government keen on supporting the distressed Lebanese people since the Beirut explosion of August 4, 2020:
Why would we be bringing traumatized potential immigrants to a horrible country filled with structural racism and not diverse enough to be welcoming to them? Shouldn’t we pause immigration to fix our DEEP societal issues?
The ultimate cult-like Diversity & Inclusion fashion Bambi has seen is a pledge called the “Canadian Investor Statement on Diversity & Inclusion“:
This statement starts with the following words: “We, the undersigned institutional investors, acknowledge the existence of systemic racism and its impacts on Black and Indigenous communities and People of Colour in Canada and globally.
We furthermore acknowledge the existence of inequities and discrimination with respect to factors including, but not limited to gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, culture and socio-economic status.”
How can we take this group seriously when they apply their diagnosis of systemic racism to both Canada and globally.
You want systemic racism, go to some Arab or Muslim countries of the Middle East or… go to China and see how it treats its Muslim minority.
You want discrimination against women, go to some countries of the Middle East.
You want killing of gays, go to Iran or to other Islamic countries, perhaps to Saudi Arabia?
You want religious stupidity similar to what you are imposing on us in Canada now (with this dangerous racial or identity politics), go to Lebanon. Trust Bambi, sectarianism is a VERY dangerous game. It has lead to a 15-year civil war in 1975.
Please give Bambi a break from ideology.
We are far from being perfect, for sure. There are racist people anywhere and everywhere (it is part of human nature). It is surely not to the extent of justifying our collective stupidity and the resulting proposed solutions.
Indeed, we need to be mindful. The solution may be much worse than the problem. As an analogy, we can think of some extreme/unrealistic solutions proposed by some in their “fight” against climate change.
Talking about climate change, funny how this new obsession with systemic racism seems to have replaced the obsession with the changing climate. In both concepts of climate change and systemic racism, there is an element of truth. In both, it is hard to measure. In both, we see ideologies more than science. In both, we have heard stories of people silenced for not having blindly endorsed or questioned the methods (e.g., BLM, etc.). What a shame because both problems of racism and climate deserve our utmost serious attention!
According to ideologists, Bambi would be a person of so-called colour (BIPOC to use a fashionable acronym). However, in Bambi’s mind she is just a deer. Not any deer. A Canadian deer who thinks that it is time to question this collective insanity and remember to focus on what unites us, as a country, instead of what divides us.
Indeed, we are all Canadians, ideally united through a shared love for our country. Canada should come first and remain ABOVE any specific community we may belong to. PLEASE LET’S NOT LEBANONIZE OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY.
Bambi sometimes wonders if the best thing about a serious issue, like our concern to be the most welcoming possible, is simply to leave things as they are without forcing any unneeded (and absurd) change.
Just let us live… and please relax and live yourself too. Life is not just beautiful but also short.
Bambi may be wrong but, in her non-expert citizen opinion, if we push the concept (now it is an ideology or almost an orthodoxy) of “Diversity & Inclusion” too much, we risk excluding those who do not think like us, even those from so-called diverse groups mentioned above. Is this what we really want for our society? To impose diversity in a very reduced manner (e.g., skin colour) AND at all costs, even to the point of sacrificing the diversity of opinions and voices in a society?
As mentioned in the article above, Israel and two Arab
countries, UAE and Bahrein, signed “historic diplomatic pacts”.
Even if the media is usually mostly biased against Mr.
Trump, always making fun of him (there is material, one must say…), President
Trump did something good for humanity today: PEACE.
Some may say ok but the timing is meant to help making
him good before elections. Well, bravo for his administration for being smart
enough to arrange the timing of the announcement now, to work to his advantage.
Some write: Well, the UAE already had ties with Israel
but secretly. Well, this relationship is now out of the closet. It takes much
courage to do so in the Middle East… A HUGE taboo has been broken today (as
everyone usually hates Israel).
Those deals will change the course of history at so
many levels. Bambi can think of research collaborations that could benefit
generations of trainees across sectors. We can think of business deals that
would generate prosperity to all the countries involved. On the security front,
it may help coordination among them, for sure. It will perhaps impress Iran
enough to stop its destructive influence in the region. Who knows, one day,
Iran may be invited to make peace with the United States. Hopefully, all this
will translate on the ground with better days for all the innocent populations
in Iran itself, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf countries, Irak, Lebanon, Syria,
Palestine, and in Israel.
Bambi is writing all this, without forgetting the injustice triggered by the creation of the State of Israel, to the poor Palestinians… and, by extension, to all of us in the Arab world. especially the neighbouring Lebanon in which the original conflict has spilled over. This being said, we are in a new era now, time for peace. Time to move forward in life.
The reality is that the Palestinians also have corruption like Lebanese politicians. They also have an Islamist party that is being instrumentalized by Iran (just like in Lebanon). The leader of this party, called Hamas, went to Beirut recently to meet with Mr. Nasrallah (Hezbollah). He also met with folks in the Palestinian camps.
Whether Israel or Palestine (or Hezbollah or Iran),
all these entities have often given Bambi the impression of validating their own
existence with the hate of the other entity. They cannot exist without hating
the other, in other terms. Well, today, we can perhaps allow ourselves to dream
peace, even if it will not be comprehensive and as just as we would have liked
it to be at one point in time (land for peace… now it is peace for prosperity).
Can we just call it peace for the sake of peace? As
human beings, we have the right to live in a peaceful country. We have the
right to be able to say: Enough of wars, enough of hate, no?
It is Bambi’s hope that Palestine will stop boycotting
the Trump administration and will consider direct negotiations of peace with
Israel. The latter must show respect to the Palestinians by stopping any new
colonization and surely annexation (the latter seems to be the case now,
bravo).
Who knows? One day, we may see the two states of
Israel and Palestine living in peace next to each other. Bambi would love (have
loved?) to see Jerusalem as the capital of both states. Not from a religious
perspective. She does not care about that, despite the faith in her heart. It
is more from a citizen’s rights perspective. Period.
One day, Bambi’s nephews and nieces will hopefully live
long enough to see a sovereign and prosperous Lebanon living in peace with all
its neighbours, namely both Syria and Israel, while being in peace with both
Iran and all the Arab countries. Of course, also having enriching diplomatic
relations with all the European countries, the USA, and with all the countries
of the world (including China). In Lebanon, they call this concept, “positive
neutrality”. Only the latter can guarantee safety to tiny yet beautiful
Lebanon.
To conclude this post, it takes much courage to extend
your hand to your former enemy. Bravo for doing it for the sake of the children
of “Abraham” (as per the name of the peace deals)… and the children who
are not related to Abraham.
As we say in Arabic and in Hebrew: Mabrouk & Mazal
Tov.
