After all, in both languages we were dealing in large measure not with English and French, but with Scots and Irish, Bretons and Normans....There could be no more eloquent illustration of the colonial mind-set than a bunch of Celts and Vikings in a distant northern territory insulting each other as les anglais and the French as if they were the descendants of the people who had subjected and ruined them.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Canadian politics reflects colonial tensions when Anglophone and Francophone groups insult each other despite shared European roots.
- In plain terms
- Canadians fight as if enemies, though their ancestors had common origins.
- What can you take from it?
- Recognize historical continuity in modern conflict.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does history affect modern political divisions?
- Why do groups ignore shared origins in conflict?
Another view
Colonial dynamics still shape identity despite shared ancestry.
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