2022 really surprised me

War in Ukraine? I admit I didn’t believe it until the last minute.

But a tyrant invading his neighbor is not particularly a novelty.

To me, the most disturbing, strangest, most insidious phenomenon of the past year has been the persistence and deepening of censorship in our Western societies.

Storm

Instead of braking, it seems to me that it accelerated.

Now lexicons of banned words are being prepared.

Television programs are banned for listening to “obscene” words.

Artists accused of being white are removed from museums.

Books disappear from reading lists submitted to students.

Even yours was taken from a wall in my old CEGEP and only put back up because people started asking questions.

Obviously, censorship is nothing new, but who expected such a comeback?

I’m not sure that many of today’s young people are embedded in self-censorship software who don’t realize that they can say less than you and I did in 2000 or 1990.

Look at a painting by Yvon Deschamps or RBO and see their confused reactions.

We are experiencing a perfect storm, a confluence of elements that produce maximum effect.

You have, on the one hand, right religious thinking, which divides the world into good and bad, which has an answer to everything and no room for doubt.

Cowardly administrators who justify their cowardice in the name of “respect” by the “feelings” of a few renamed “community”, on the other hand, bow to the slightest protest, no matter how outlandish your act. .

However, I immediately qualify.

Censorship is not just the job of the fearful, but of executives, replaced by vociferous youth who rise to influential positions in newsrooms, campuses, and HR departments. are on the same wavelength as the opposition.

And it is fascinating to see the extent to which Wokism, now well entrenched in power, persists in presenting itself as a legitimate struggle of the underdog, a struggle of the “dominated” against the oppressive power of capitalist society. .

fight

Equally fascinating is watching them instrumentalize the meaning of words.

They only hear the words “listening”, “conversation” and “openness” in their mouths.

But to them, “listening” means agreeing with them.

“Dialogue” means imposing their monologue.

“Opening” is one way. Have you recently heard of an auditor who acted confidently and was not afraid to admit a mistake?

I fear the fight will be a long one, as struggles against religious oppression have always been.