The Frogs Need to Shut Up

Another day, another whiny, 'offended' French-Canadian.  One wonders when it is all going to stop.

The latest example of the plight of the poor, downtrodden French-speakers made news today when a federal court judge ruled in favor of serial-litigator Michel Thibodeau in his latest attempt at becoming a language rights crusader.

It seems Thibodeau and his wife were upset when, during several flights in 2009, the Air Canada crew failed to serve him in his preferred language.  My God, the horror!

The fact that Thibodeau is actually bilingual, and therefore understood perfectly the airline crew, is apparently irrelevant.

The court had no choice but to rule in Thibodeau's favor due to insane federal language laws.

The verdict?  A measly $12,000 plus court costs.  Victory!  That will save the dying french language for sure!  French lives!  French lives!

It turns out this isn't the first time Thibodeau has gone after the national air carrier.  He took Air Canada to court before, in 2002, and also won that case. 
But wait - there's more.  The easily-offended Thibodeau also launched a complaint with the City of Ottawa because that city's transit buses had the audacity to call out upcoming stops only in English.

We can only thank God that all of the serious crime in Canada has been eradicated, leaving our nation's court dockets free and clear so that Thibodeau can enjoy his hobby of hauling in front of a judge those companies who fail to kiss French ass.

My sarcasm is caused by the frustration I feel for those victims of real crimes, who have to wait their turn so that Thibodeau can fill the court's time with meaningless lawsuits.  With such an appetite for wasting taxpayer dollars because he is 'offended', he would be a shoo-in for a spot on the Human Rights Commission.  Richard Warman can't go it alone forever.

The frivolousness that is Michel Thibodeau reminds me of another French language wannabe crusader, Gilles Caron. 

Caron took the Alberta government to court because he was handed traffic ticket printed in English.  The difference as I see it is this: Caron received the ticket in a province where French is the fourth most common language, so his 'crusade' was nothing more than an obvious and sad attempt at getting his name in the paper; pushing his language on a vast majority of non-French speaking citizens of a predominantly English-speaking province; and generally to be an annoyance.

Thibodeau's agenda is similar, particularly in the social engineering aspect.  But at least he wastes the people's time and money in a part of the country that contains a higher number of people who speak French.  The difference in the two examples is Thibodeau seems to have sunk so far into his delusion that he believes he is doing something 'right'.

Michel Thibodeau, it seems, actually believes his own bullshit.  Sad.

Like those who follow a radical path of a certain religion - say, for the sake of example, Islam - Thibodeau works through existing systems, exploiting weaknesses such as the completely useless language laws, to his advantage.

So, with numerous lawsuits, court battles, and media attention, what has Michel Thibodeau gained?  Nothing more than cash settlements and a deepening of the division between the English and French of the country.

If there is to be any resolution to the historic animosity between Canada's English and French cultures, the first step must be for the divisive federal bilingualism laws to be repealed, so that whiny, nothing-better-to-do-but-make-trouble Francophones like Thibodeau and Caron stop trying to force their language and their culture on the rest of us.

The Frogs need to shut the hell up.