Quote:
Originally Posted by JHikka
He was being racist. Full stop.
Nathan Ni covered and articulated this better than I could, so i'll just copy paste here the relevant sections:
The CH is not yours to define
By Nathan Ni Feb 10, 2021, 10:00am EST
"First, it is deeply offensive to the Montreal Canadiens.
...
Yet, in their heart of hearts, Monsieur Tremblay and his ilk must acknowledge an uncomfortable truth, one that lies in the very name of the franchise that they claim to adore. The Canadiens have never existed solely to represent Francophone Québec, and they have never ever represented souverainistes. That would be the team that used to be down the highway. The one in blue and white covered with fleurs-de-lys.
But because the Nordiques no longer exist, Monsieur Tremblay must bend the Canadiens to his whims. To do this, he conjures the image of a Canadiens that perhaps never existed in reality.
That brings us to the second offence: Monsieur Tremblay’s utter contempt for his audience.
While the reference to the captain may seem natural, the second position called out seems awkward. Why the goaltender of all positions? Why not the top centre or the best winger?
The answer is rather simple: a clumsy allusion to the mid-90s. Monsieur Tremblay makes it even more blatant by his inclusion of Guy Carbonneau by name when listing French Canadian greats over the team’s history. Indeed, it was a halcyon time when the composition of the Montreal Canadiens was more amenable to a nationalist agenda. Once upon a time, the Canadiens were “French.”
Nevermind the fact that the team of the 90s was built upon the foundational work of Bob Gainey, Larry Robinson, Chris Chelios, and Mats Näslund.
Never mind that the heroes of the ‘93 run included Kirk Muller, Brian Bellows, Paul DiPietro, and John LeClair.
Never mind that after Carbonneau’s departure, the next captain was Kirk Muller.
...
Certainly, there is a temptation to focus on Monsieur Tremblay’s racism to the exclusion of the rest of the article. It was right there, front and centre, and it is so laughably offensive that one can’t help but notice it. To a Chinese person, “Fang Wong” is the equivalent of “Vodka Drunkenski”. The two phonemes cannot even coexist in one name, as “Fang” is taken from Hanyu Pinyin, used exclusively for Mandarin, while “Wong” is taken from Jyutping, used exclusively for Yue (Cantonese).
But Monsieur Tremblay’s racism against the Chinese is merely the canary in the coal mine for his article. See, for him, it is not possible for “Fang Wong” to be part of the Montreal Canadiens. Monsieur Tremblay’s Canadiens, that supposed exclusionary bastion of Francophone culture, cannot co-exist with a team that employs, as he put it, “20 Fang Wongs.”
Unfortunately for Monsieur Tremblay, his Montreal Canadiens are not the Montreal Canadiens.
The Montreal Canadiens include the Richards, the Béliveaus, the Plantes that forged the team into what it is today, but also contains the Reardons, Durnans, and Lachs. It is a team shaped by Roys and Carbonneaus, Näslunds and Koivus, Subbans and Sourays, Plekanecs and Markovs.
It is a team that currently belongs to two kids from British Columbia.
It is a team whose future is held by a “Kotkaniemi,” a “鈴木,” and a “Рома́нов.”
Perhaps one day, the torch will be passed to a “方”, or a “黃”, to a “卢”, “韩”, or “倪”.
They will line up next to Danaults and Drouins, Côtés and Fortins, Roys and Gagnons.
They will all hear the opening strains of O Canada as “terre des nos aïeux,” they will be greeted by the fans screaming both “les Canadiens sont là” and “go Habs go,” they will endure the dulcet tones of Nickelback and Mitsou over the PA in equal measure.
They will be Canadiens — with an e, not an a.
And they will all be sons (or daughters) of Montreal."
https://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2021/...rus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
A Quebec team at the Worlds simply wouldn't be any more competitive than the likes of Slovakia or Belarus, and their quality is declining rapidly. Their NHL cohort is declining and aging out rapidly and is not being replaced by high-end talent. Once Fleury retires Quebec's NHL goalies are Jonathan Bernier and Louis Domingue, as one example. Bergeron, Letang, and Vlasic will all soon retire and their cohort is not sustainably being replaced at the NHL level. This idea of a Quebec National Team being strong and competitive at an international level made sense in 2003, but in 2021 they simply don't stack up any more. |
I'll never understand the narrative that the Canadiens are a french Canadian thing.
Ignoring the anglo montrealers, there's a ton of fans in Canada and the US that speak rench.
On hfboards the habs english speaking sub is one of the largest most vocal and annoying fanbases(up there with the leafs).
In Newfoundland there's always been a 3 way split with bruins/habs/leafs.
Being a habs fan didn't make you a frenchy.
The narrative that more liberal people gravitate towards the habs is a new thing. And I'd guess a lot more of that has to do with Toronto based media being so obnoxious versus a desire to identity with non white players like Price, Suzuki, Suban.
I'm a strong believer that actual racism is a petty behavior and it is a 1 percent component of a much bigger issue.
50 percent is the simple fact that groups will work together to compete against the other.
30-40 percent is when people start getting on with group identities as being an important part of governance/life.
It's why I avoid the idea of giving any validity to any group identity be it gay, autistic, native, immigrant, catholic, french etc.
A big part of my soul wishes Canada could go full on with french nationalist, force the NHL to giving us our own division, with all players being drafted from Canadians towns and cities.
Make French our official language, tax american media and sponsor the living hell out of our content.
But sweet dam do I see that kind of thing hitting the rails.
A great example of this is found with russia and quebec.
They've both gone out of their way to define themselves by ommitting the most obvious aspects of their culture (french Canadian) (european slavs).
Both groups actively created notions that they are different from a broader more encompassing identity. One group defines itself as Eurasian to move away from the obvious reality, which is russia is agan falling radically behind the rest of eastern Europe. While the french's idea of trying to keep Quebec a container for all french and only french a total disaster.
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