|  Morpheis | Apr 18, 2007 10:27am | Oh... how free are we!
They tell us all the time,
When one dares to say otherwise.
We are free, here, don't you see?
Oh, oui, bien sûr!
As long as we're not
too picky about it...
We are free, in Kwebek,
Free to let others define us.
Free to be Canadian, Provincial, Colonised.
Free to kneel, to bend over, to accept
To be nobody, to stay calm and have our words
Twisted into the tongue of Shakespeare, for the world to hear.
We are free, here, to know nothing, to forget,
To vote for whom may best screw us.
We are free, here, to let our history be re-written
And our destiny dictated. To be robbed, to be cheated.
But we're surely not free
To be proud.
Oh, how free are we, in Kwebek!
Free to go shopping for our future,
Free to consume, to save, to contribute.
Free to create wealth, for the Commonwealth,
To get fat, to poison ourselves, to destroy
what still remains of our environment.
To drown in debts and make pre-arrangements
In order to bury our children dying in Afghanistan
In the name of Her Majesty, and of the American Empire.
Oh, how free are we, here, to understand nothing, to ignore,
To accumulate our Air Mylz for one day taking a plane
In Trudeau airport, and be a snowbird in Florida.
But we're surely not free
To breathe in peace.
Still, we are free, in Kwebek,
Free to be fucking frogs, that always complain.
Free to beg for scraps, to speak white, and listen to Nurvana on our eyePods,
To be reduced, spit upon, oppressed, repressed, assimilated.
To get drunk, stoned, and slowly kill ourselves.
Still, we are free, here, to hear nothing, to be lobotomized,
To choose our Canadian Idol, and our Stars of Québécor.
But we're surely not free
To sing of hope.
Yes, we are free, in Kwebek,
Free to get poorer, free to serve,
Free to be a Nation, as long as we don't act like it.
Free to work, to pay, again and again,
To have one point two children
And put our elders in old folks' homes.
Yes, we are free, here, to see nothing, to blind ourselves,
To stick our noses up at the bums and the squeegees.
But we're surely not free
To build our country.
Oui, oui, we are free, in Kwebek,.
Free to remain small, to sit, to wait.
Oui, oui, we are free, here, to say nothing, to shut up.
But we're surely not free
To speak of Liberty. |
|
| 
Sponsor | |
|  |  1090597 | May 30, 2007 6:29am | "Morpheis" either can't spell or
is in the arms of Morpheus. zzzz!
Yes, we are FREE to be all of those
things, the good, the bad, the ugly.
The only thing more pitiful than
hostility - which is what sarcasm is -
is resignation, disillusionment,
self-loathing, shortsightedness,
and a lack of proper schooling.
The Pessimist will always say:
the glass is half empty.
The Optimist will always say:
the glass is half full.
The Realist will say:
I drank the whole glass.
I'm a realist. My expectations
in life go as far as my imagination
will take me. Neither too high, nor
too low.
Ad astra per asperum. |
|
| 
|  sollune | May 30, 2007 6:35am | "The only thing more pitiful than
hostility - which is what sarcasm is -
is resignation, disillusionment,
self-loathing, shortsightedness,
and a lack of proper schooling."
well that's five things, not one
"I'm a realist. My expectations
in life go as far as my imagination
will take me. Neither too high, nor
too low."
that apparently doesn't include actually saying something. |
|
| 
| | PassionatePuppy | May 31, 2007 5:21am | I think we are as free as we percieve ourselves to be free. I am a slave to much in this world, if I chose to be. Fortunately my heart and soul are free because I have chosen to permit no one to enslave them. Now would I say this as an inmate of a Nazi death camp if the 40s...I dont know!!
Read Frankls writings on how some Jews managed to survive in the concentration camps..........very very uplifting and tells us a lot of what the human spirit is capable of !!
I am not enslaved by my national identity.......... I am fortunate to be able to chose and flaunt whichever one I want......sometimes I am a proud Canadian.....then a proud Quebecer and.....then a proud Montrealer......I can even flaunt my Irish past hehehehhe ( I even try to convince my Italian friends I am a proud Italian when I am with them). It really depends on how I feel.
I think nationalism enslaves and closes peoples hearts (amognst other things) It is a tool used by the rich and powerfull to keep us enslaved to one way of thinking and one way of interacting with our fellow human beings. As humans across the planet are, we have everything in common ....our differences are trivial. Our power lies within everything that is common to us all.
There are many positives and negatives about all groupings of people!! |
|
| 
|  MCRox | Jun 2, 2007 4:11pm | I dunno about the poem because when I think about "vivre Quebec libre" (sp I know), The Party Quebecois comes to mind which was the major opposition party for a while and they had a referendum on separation which they voted down. I think all people from each province feel in some ways that they take table scraps from the federal government and that other provinces take more than them. So, I still dunno about the poem.
Weird but funny You tube links Bear.
gcl I dunno what I am but yes I am the type that drinks the whole glass but wants another. I guess the dreamer.
PassionatePuppy, I really liked what you had to say and how you said it esp about how you identify yourself and that last sentence. I disagree with nationalism being enslaving as a general principle really because we choose to be sheep or not plain and simple. And in your first and third paragraph you declare yourself not to be a sheep exceptionally well. |
|
| 
| | northaqua | Jun 2, 2007 6:32pm | We have a vast big country. We still have the freedom to explore it and to journey from one province to the next without need of passports. To cover similar distances in many parts of the world would mean the need to have passports and maybe even permission documents.
Canada represents a nation of diverse people from many parts of the world, each of us a spokesperson for our own beliefs, yet tolerant of others for the most part.
As Canadians we still have the opportunity to voice our opinion without fear of being called to the chambers of "Big Brother" for doing so.
We have the freedom of choosing what we do in life, things like: how we make a living, where we visit, whom we choose to act on our behalf in government, where our children get educated, what language we speak in teaching our children, where and in "what" we live, where we shop etc.
But more importantly we have the freedom to be individuals that can dream and plan and act upon making things better for ourselves, without fear.
I think we as Canadians are still equally as free if not more so than we would be elsewhere.
There are many things that bug me but in the long run I wouldn't change being Canadian. |
|
|
| | sollune | Sep 30, 2007 11:15am | "We have a vast big country. We still have the freedom to explore it and to journey from one province to the next without need of passports. To cover similar distances in many parts of the world would mean the need to have passports and maybe even permission documents."
how about you don't force us to own three oceans, but instead you give us the freedom to actually take care of the land?
"Canada represents a nation of diverse people from many parts of the world"
oh yeah, the outside diversity is welcome. the inside diversity, well that'll assimilate itself into the bland whole eventually. all these "First Nations" are dying anyway - make room for the new!
"We have the freedom of choosing what we do in life, things like: how we make a living, where we visit, whom we choose to act on our behalf in government, where our children get educated, what language we speak in teaching our children, where and in "what" we live, where we shop etc."
oh great for you! we don't seem to have any of that. in fact we don't even have a place in the constitution. |
|
| 
| | serendpd | Oct 9, 2007 7:58pm | In 1980 I had an arguement with my grand father about this topic. He of course believed we are free as doves (having fought in the war to make it so). I, on the other hand, believed we were as free as the leash was long - get to end and see how fast you get yanked back.
It is many years later now. I've travelled and lived in other countries and most of our provinces. It makes me sad that my opinion has not changed. In fact I have seen the leash get shorter and shorter.
That is not to say I don't love this country and it's people ... just the damn lawyers lol |
|
|
| | sollune | Oct 22, 2007 6:46pm | 9: thanks for writing... it's good to see some canadians aren't sleeping
 |
| |
| |
Canada → Discussion
BIGPOLEHERBEAR