Too stupid to follow up

From the 19th-century slums of New York City to the more recent conflicts in Northern Ireland, the Irish have cultivated a proud reputation for holding their ground against any and all adversity. Even football team nicknames (Notre Dame's Fighting Irish) and creaky old Vaudeville jokes (What's the fastest way to Bellevue Hospital? Stand on the corner and shout, "To hell with the Irish!") have reinforced this notion through the years, to say nothing of all the popular stereotypes we happily promote each year on St. Patrick's Day.

Now, as we look forward to that annual celebration of Irish culture, less than a month down the road, we have a fresh new issue to wrangle with. And not surprisingly, the notorious Office Québécois de la langue français (OQLF) is behind it. McKibbin's Pub, a downtown watering hole, was recently cited for Gaelic and English words on its ornamental posters and signs inside the pub. Absurd as this sounds, the OQLF decided that Irish words in an Irish pub were offensive.

The issue has apparently been amicably resolved between the two parties, with the OQLF backing off on the indoor decorative sign "offences" and concentrating more on the issues of menus and French-language service. Cynics will point out that it all worked in the pub's favour, bringing in a fair bit of pre-St. Pat's publicity, and we can all make light of it now.

But this was not a joke — it was a serious claim that was not immediately dismissed by someone in a position of authority in the OQLF. The Irish sign complaint, which should have been stamped "Too stupid to follow up," was instead passed on and treated as a legitimate citation. The result? The Irish community has been needlessly insulted and once again Quebec looks idiotic in the eyes of its neighbours.

This latest inflammatory action begs a more serious question — how far will the OQLF be allowed to go before it has attacked every ethnic group in the province except the pure laine Quebecois? Are the Chinese next? What about the Greeks?

Supporters of the OQLF and the many other French-language watchdog groups are perfectly right when they claim that they have a right to be served in French, and they do an admirable job of promoting their cause. But more importantly, we all have the right to live in a tolerant society that celebrates our diverse backgrounds — and we will never get there if institutions like the OQLF do not educate their bureaucrats to tell the difference between the rational and the absurd.