How to warn without getting tired

Do you know the famous slogan of May 1968: “Prohibition is forbidden”?

It comes from a time of openness, freedom, even liberation.

But in April 2023, in an era of closure, political correctness, banned words, and the thought police, a new slogan must be invented: “Caution to be warned.”

The situation has become so ridiculous that I don’t know whether to laugh or cry anymore.

I warn you!

This Wednesday, April 12, on Radio-Canada, Penelope McQuade hosts Janet Bertrand and Danny Laferriere. But if you go to the national broadcaster’s website to listen to the segment in replay, a warning warns you: “We would like to advise you that the following segment contains wording that may offend some people”.

But what is this word dangerous, harmful, annoying, disastrous, harmful, infamous, harmful, harmful, prejudicial, terrible, serious, bad, toxic, treacherous, virulent (yes, I went to write all the synonyms of the word dangerous) ?

This is the sixth word in the title of Danny Laferriere’s great success: How To Love A Negro Without Getting Tired.

Yes, ladies, you got it right. Darling of the Quebec literary world, one of our greatest writers, a member of the French Academy, known for several literary prizes, even if he pronounces the title of his own book, the august house of the radio.
Canada deems it appropriate to warn Canadian taxpayers: “We would like to advise you that the following section contains wording that may be offensive to some”.

But who, to quote the title of his own book, which Laferriere himself wrote by the sweat of his brow, is the normally made individual, who rolls into a little ball?

Confusion! Anyone in that box who sees the absurdity of the strictly Orwellian and Kafkaesque situation?

What is the next step?

Neither Normand Brathwaite nor his biographer Isabelle Massey could pronounce the title of the composer’s biography. How to work like a nigger without getting tired ? This book was published in 2012…it’s amazing how things have changed in just 11 years!

The world is upside down

The most ridiculous thing about the Radio-Canadian warning is that Danny LaFerriere takes pains to say in an interview that if he had been white and his book had been called, he would still be a factory worker. How to fall in love with a white guy without getting tired of it.

Laferrière also takes care to note: “I am one of the only writers entitled to use the word black. Don’t abuse it. Even when I used the word black or nigger, it was in a universal sense.

I agree with you, Mr Laferrière, that it should not be misused.

But when a government agency “warns” that we might be “offended” by an author quoting the title of his own book, I consider that…abuse.