Jan Wong

[PrometheanRunGood]

I like to apologize for this woman on behalf of Chinese-Canadians. She is a product of the red guard generation taught not to think in nuisance and compassionately but in extremes and to find targets in those who don't share their POV. Again I am ashamed she is one of us and my apologies especially to our French-Canadian countrymen.

[EdwardBloom80]

@PrometheanRunGood Merci! I really like your comment! But I was wondering what would have happened if a journalist from... let's say: (Le Devoir) had written that, if this Gill guy commited this horrible crime, it's simply because he was an anglophone who grew up in an anglophone family. I think this journalist would have lost all his credibility and... his job. But, strangly, it's not the case of Miss Wong.

[EdwardBloom80]

@PrometheanRunGood I began to think that the only racist comments acceptable in Canada are the ones against french canadians... Ask to Don Cherry... Peace! :)

[amandaberesford]

Sadly, you're only making her opinion seem correct.

[quantumdude]

@amandaberesford nope as I couldnt care less if she spoke french, mandarin or fucking swahili. Shes a chinese cunt and needs to head back to beijing sucking the brains off fishheads.

[quantumdude]

Chinese cunt. Go back to fucking mainland goddamn fishhead. Another proof that multiculturalism doesnt work.

[zhousx18]

As a really chinese, we experienced different life. Jan Wong ,you don't know what'd happened in china, there are a lot of chinese immigrant from china continent, everyone have a great story.

[escott33]

wow, that was intriguing

[sinolonglive]

Just finished reading "Red China Blues". I think Jan's unique life story should be filmed.

[blader45bc]

Just finished Red China Blues, so I have read both books now. Each is fascinating in it's own way.

Thank you, Jan. I hope you will stop being hard on yourself. You are a good person. Please continue to be hard on others, though-- especially smug, complacent, holier-than -thou fellow Canadians.

[amandaberesford]

Frankly the reaction to Ms. Wong's report were far more stupid and disgusting than anything said in the article. Especially the racist depictions of her by Quebec based editorial cartoonists.

[poprip]

That kind of reasonning shows exactly the contempt Canada has for Quebec. Saying that a language regulation pushes people of recent immigrant descent to become angry to the point of killing many people is absolutely ludicrous.

What about Caporal Lortie who went on a rampage in our provincial assembly? Was it the well known canadian army's discrimination with french soldiers?

If you have a minimum of honesty you'll agree this kind of discourse leads us nowhere.

[amandaberesford]

No it does not. The histrionic reaction that happens when anything critical is said about Quebec society is the main problem here.

[amandaberesford]

Yes, and you can disagree with her assessment as many other people did. And you can do so without resorting to nasty caricatures, or claiming that someone is "stupid" etc.

[brazeau2009]

yeah specially from a woman that once dwelled in québec for a decade or two, and that don't even speak a word of french whatsoever. And that bitch has the nerves to call us RACISTS and she never mingled with the french popluation that represent 85% of the population!

[quantumdude]

@amandaberesford Those were accurate actually. She is after all a disgusting little fishhead with chopsticks that would put any beaver to shame. Pretty sure also that her cunt is so dry, it reeks of octopuss as soon as she enters a room.

[Ronglimeng]

I got the book from the library yesterday and I've been reading it practically non-stop!

[blader45bc]

I loved Beijing Confidential and am slowly reading Red China Blues. They are both remarkable books about a fascinating country.

I love her integrity, her humanity, her sense of justice, her humour.

And for a 55-year-old woman, or as a woman of any age, she is totally hot.

[poprip]

To me this woman is far from being a genius. To write that 2 crazed killers in Quebec did what they did (in a 17 years span!) because of our language protection law, is really, really stupid.

Was Bernardo influenced by something? Maybe acounting? Wasn't he an accountant?

And what about Robert Pickton? Was is the pigs that influenced him?

I mean come on, any intelligent person trying to make this kind of link is either trying to stir hatred toward quebecers or is plain stupid.

[amandaberesford]

Is it that Jan Wong is of Asian descent that's the real issue, behind the ridiculous, over the top, way out of whack reaction to what amounted to a paragraph in a long article? Why can someone like Francine Pelletier say something quite similar and not even a peep is uttered?

[poprip]

I love it when people, instead of sayin their opinion ask questions... So you're trying to say that we, in Quebec are a bunch of racists? I'm sorry, but we're not. Where did you feel that we were? In the Globe&Mail, the National Post? Those great newspapers publishing articles putting quebecers down all the time?

If Francine Pelletier said that bill 101 drives immigrants to do mass killings, she's a total moron but I doubt it very much because anyone with a brain knows it's ridiculous.

[amandaberesford]

Yes, I am saying that the reaction to Jan Wong's article was to a large degree determined by her ethnicity. Hence the racist caricatures.

[amandaberesford]

You are proving my point. This video has no relation at all to what you are posting about. Stop your self pity!

[poprip]

It has a clear relation: this woman never done her research about Marc Lepine, who did the Polytechnic massacre.

If she would have done just a tiny research she would have found that he was raised in french and that his mental illness was probably caused by his violent father. He even took his mother's last name.

So absolutely nothing to do with bill 101.

Before publishing simplistic theories any professional journalist does research. She's either lazy or blinded by her preconceived ideas.

[amandaberesford]

Wasn't Marc Lepine born with a Muslim name and adopted his mother's name after being rejected for military service? ( the military was right to reject him, obviously)

And really, we both could go through the newspaper everyday and find "offensive", questionable commentary masquerading as facts. I don't need the nanny state telling me what to read and what opinions should be censored (a la Denis Coderre).

Love the new book Jan.

[poprip]

I don't want censorship, but rather honest journalism.

Marc Lepine father was muslim, but he wasn't angry because of the army's rejection. His father was violent and was beating both of them on a regular basis.

I think that's enough reasons for having a few mental problems. But bill 101 has NOTHING to do with this, just admit it.

The point I'm trying to make is that she has not been professionnal nor honest during that episode. Period.

You prefer to worship her? Fine. But I'm no racist.

[amandaberesford]

Worship? I don't worship anyone. But I think she's a very talented writer. And who called you a racist anyway?

Jan Wong proposed a cause, like many other people writing about the causes of the Dawson College shooting did.( and let's not forget that the people who died in that shooting were the actual victims). Francine Pelletier suggested that the shootings are in effect the result of "the Conquest". To me that's a very silly argument. But what I am objecting to is the reaction to an argument.

[poprip]

Well if you don't worship her, why won't you admit she was really wrong on this one.

Would you allow your son, who looks like he's a bit marginal in the way he behaves and the way he dresses up, to have an automatic rifle?

To me, this is a clear case of parents who didn't do their job adequately. PERIOD.

Why trying to, once again, bash Quebec by attributing this tragic event to a language law. It's absurd, laughable and it promotes once again contempt for our attempts to protect our culture

[amandaberesford]

Because whether she was wrong or not doesn't matter. She was writing an opinion. For me that's the beginning and the end. I read lots of offensive, wrongheaded opinions everyday. I don't freak out and scream bloody murder. And frankly to say that the actions of people like Kimveer Gill etc is only about poor parenting and has nothing to do with the broader society is a bit naive, sorry.

[poprip]

Ahahahaha ok that's it. You really are full of yourself and there's nothing to do with you.

Having an automatic rifle at HOME, and putting up a website with photos of you with the weapon and knives is NOT normal. If your son lives with you and does such things but you never noticed (but anyways they knew about the rifle) you are absolutely stupid and irresponsible.

PERIOD.

Sure, society influence us, but that's exactly what parents are for. GUIDING.

Discussing with you was really fun...

[kiaal]

The is that she've right wright it in a newpaper and i'm from Quebec and i've found it realy insulting ! Sorry but she's talking about things that she didn't know and how can english canadian can says that we are all canadian if they treat the quebecois like that ?

Free Québec or a canadian Québec, I don't car all we want is respect of our language and of our culture.

[countroshculla]

Loved it. It was a sad story but perhaps that woman is ok now. I would love to read the book.

[harryzilber]

Jan Wong is one of Canada's most skilled journalists. Her 'Lunch With Jan Wong' series was a joy to read, and she didn't shirk at tough assignments, such as the seven part series in the Globe when she lived in a rundown one bedroom apartment while doing an undercover writeup on the working poor.

[brazeau2009]

If shes sooooo good how come she stated that quebec's language bill drive people to mass murdering! lol so stupid

[takakupo]

This makes me want to study history and all that:] Poor chinese lady...I may just go get the book.

[jambon57]

Her book, "Red China Blues" worth reading. For background on China, "The Search for Modern China" is also excellent.

[brazeau2009]

yeah shes a fucking chink `_` lol go back to china

[blader45bc]

Brazzirre, you frogs lost to the English. You're lucky we let you live, let alone speak your language.

[quantumdude]

@blader45bc come say that to my face gooklover, well hang you from a tree and burn your sorry ass while youre screaming vive le québec libre.

[melonbarmonster]

she just comes off sounding like a horrible human being. she's mostly concerned about herself even in meeting the person she ratted on instead of trying to redeem herself.

[loquatiousbadger]

@melonbarmonster

The book "Red China Blues" may change your mind on this woman. And "Beijing Confidential" has the full story. She's truly sorry.

[pleasance]

Funny how she looks like a maid, as well. Something about her rubs me the wrong way. She's so gossipy and shrill... she doesn't seem like a genuine journalist. She doesn't write too well, either.

[jambon57]

What a fucking idiotic comment. So, what do maids look like? Shrill? Do you know meaning of the word? I doubt it. There is nothing shrill about this interview. Perhaps a successful Asian women somehow threatens your bizarre view of the world.

[pleasance]

Don't cuss at me. I'm Asian myself, so my comment was not race-based. Regardless of her ethnicity, she DOESN'T write very well. I expect more from a columnist who writes for a living. I know exactly what I was saying when I called her "shrill" and I meant it. Do YOU know "shrill" means? She is not the only successful Asian woman out there. Look at Adrienne Clarkson, who is very successful and comes off as far more graceful and intelligent than this woman.

[pleasance]

She's not a beautiful woman, so I'm just calling it as it is. If she was a literary genius, her looks wouldn't mean a bit, but she isn't... she's just a gossipy woman who can string a sentence together.

You can tell a lot from the way people speak and act. I suppose I am just very intutitive and can sense better than others what someone is truly like.

[jambon57]

Let me give you some advice: people who say they're very intuitive never are. Your post reveals you for the superficial clod you really are. You have a lot of hard living and disappointment ahead of you. I wish you luck, you're going to need it.

[pleasance]

Don't tell me what I am or am not! Let me offer YOU some advice: not everyone who says they are inutitive are intuitive, but some are! You don't know what the fuck about me!

Hard-living and dissapointment? BRING IT ON! Whose life is exempt from that? I can tell you my life will be far richer than yours will ever be because at least I have a mind and can make up my own opinions about things and see things for WHAT THEY ARE.

[mrkuppy]

your right, we don't know jackshit about you but you've already told us a lifetime from your atitude. I assume janbon was "telling it like it is" as much as you were doing to Jan Wong. Maybe you are a communist, I don't know. I do know you've made dipshit comments with only further self-congratulatory statements.

Sorry. Just telling it like it is.

[pleasance]

I wasn't talking to you, bitch, so stay out. Tell it "like it is" all you want; it's not the truth. It's your opinion as a dumbass plebian who can't see the difference between real intellectuals and shams. I guess in your little brain anyone who has independent opinions is a communist. Grow a brain, fucktard.

[crosskuIIed]

go back to China Jan Wong

[aimei21]

that's a mean thing to say, she is Canadian.

[dalurae]

she's Canadian dumb racist

[joinshanghai]

how easy is to do such a terrible thing and then try to redeem yourself by saying sorry. She just wanted redemption. Hope she gets no peace.

[loquatiousbadger]

@joinshanghai

Have you read the book "Red China Blues"?She thought (at the time) that she was helping her student friend be a better person and communist and the punishement would be the same as hers for reading Western Books, ie, a stern talking to. She wasn't a cruel person, it was only later she found out what a terrible thing it was.

Saying sorry is better than NOT saying sorry!

[terriers77]

The people from China who were part of the Cultural Revolution cannot even talk about it??

and so on?

I praise Jan Wong for discussing about it.

Communism don't last forever, period.

[shijieheping123]

they don't WANT to talk about it. They just have willing amnesia and runs full speed towards consumerism.

[PurpleLava]

I love George's interviews because he actually lets his guests talk... you get to hear their stories. Thats so rare in tv nowadays. For most journalists the interview is as much about them as it is about the issue their reporting on.

[kuryamtl]

or nice "soundbytes" george also asks great questions I find.

[talkinghead22]

Brilliant as usual.

[dlncy88]

hmmm i am gonna check out that book. very interesting

[cutewithchris]

fantastic. five stars.

[kuhzeez]

amazing, thanks for this clip.