In the eyes of many on the other side of the great cultural divide I could be one of the good Anglos. Could be, but I have my doubts.
I still listen to Beau Dommage, I saw Monsieur Lazhar this year and I can tell you who won Star Academie last week.
But there are bad Anglos and they know who you are.
And obviously some of you have been behaving badly.
The big buzz this week in the Francophone chattering classes was L'actualité magazine's take on the state of English-French relations in Montreal.
It had the language hawks in full battle mode, sharpening their pencils to bring in even tougher language laws.
The major thesis of this tome and "scientific" survey was that young Anglos don't seem to want to promote the use of French; that they don't view Bill 101 as a tablet delivered by Moses.
And? The point is?
Anglos have learned French, they have sent their kids to immersion, and even accepted much of Bill 101.
They have integrated but there is a difference between integration and assimilation.
Two cultures that overlap
The authors are horrified at the Anglo knowledge of many Quebecois cultural icons.
56 percent don't know Julie Snyder, the French television star married to Quebecor boss, Pierre Karl Peladeau.
57 percent don't know Veronique Cloutier, another popular radio and TV host.
And 74 percent couldn't pick pop star Marie Mai out of a crowd.
Well. The way I see it, they should be pleased that 44 percent know Snyder, 43 percent know Cloutier and 26 percent can name Marie Mai.
The glass is half full.
It's not a requirement to watch Tout le Monde en Parle to be a good Quebecer.
And on the other hand, most Francophones don't reach out to our culture either.
Just look at the ADISQ awards or any other show. Is there a category for best English newscaster in the Gala Artis? Sometimes we are treated as guests in our own homes although we have been in this city and province for hundreds of years.
Survey was not honest
The questions in this survey were torqued and tweaked and designed to get the answers they wanted.
It all smells to me like a Parti Quebecois operation designed to stoke language fires.
Behind all of this is Jean-Francois Lisée, who wrote the article and designed the questions.
Now who is Mr. Lisée?
A devout sovereignist who works as an advisor to Pauline Marois and in previous incarnations was a special advisor to Lucien Bouchard and Jacques Parizeau.
Lisee proudly sits on the new PQ sovereignty committee; a panel of deep thinkers devoted to finding a yes after two nos.
None of this is mentioned in L'actualité. That's more than a little disingenuous. The PQ has much to gain from this; language anger and insecurity means PQ votes.
Please tell me why is it so wrong for Maclean's magazine to label Quebec as the most corrupt province, yet it is okay for its sister publication L'actualité to blast English-speaking Quebecers with its "Ici on Parle English" cover.
It's a double standard or as they say in French, deux poids, deux mesures.