A "Human Rights"? Lawyer Declares That The Emerson Avenger Possesses Reason!
As I was protesting again today in front of the Quebec Human Rights Commission a man exited from the building carrying a large sample-case type of briefcase. He read my picket sign slogans that were directly facing him which said -
LA COMMISSION DES DROITS DE LA PERSONNE DU QUÉBEC TOLÈRE L'INTOLÉRANCE ANTI-RELIGIEUSE
and
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONDONES RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE AND BIGOTRY
He looked me straight in the eye and said,
"Vous avez raison."
A totally literal word-for-word translation of that French phrase would be "You have reason."
That's just the kind of thing a Unitarian, even an unjustly excommunicated Unitarian who is seriously debating just how closely he even wants to associate himself with what Ralph Waldo Emerson called "corpse-cold Unitarianism". . . would want to hear.
In short he was saying, "You're right."
I asked "Est-ce que vous etes un avocat?" ("Are you a lawyer?") as his large sample case clearly suggested that he was a lawyer, and he answered that he was indeed a lawyer. He then suggested that I should sue the Quebec Human Rights Commission ("Vous devez les poursuivre.") and added, "Ils font absolument rien." ("They do absolutely nothing.") which certainly does correspond with my own bitter experience of the QHRC which, in at least one significant way, was actually worse than if they had done "absolutely nothing". . . This lawyer, who I can reasonably assume is a human rights lawyer who has some experience in dealing with the QHRC, went on to say how lodging a human rights complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission was just a useless waste of time as he continued on his way. I would have to concur.
It is of course very gratifying to receive outspoken validation and moral support of my protest against the failure of the Quebec Human Rights Commission to responsibly address human rights violations involving religious discrimination and harassment from a lawyer who presumably has some direct personal experience with the QHRC. I have also been getting plenty of validation and moral support from the general public, including some people who have their own bad experiences with the Quebec Human Rights Commission. I have been getting a fair number of thumbs up from the public including two thumbs up twice over from a 60 something gentleman who looked me in the eyes, smiled and displayed two thumbs up on entering the building and again on leaving the building. Some of the office workers didn't take me all that seriously at first, and a few even mocked me vis a vis that nasty four letter word "cult", but after explaining what my protest is all about I have gained their respect and interest and some are asking me serious questions about the issue.
The Solar Temple cult is in the news these days because a former leader of the Solar Temple was just acquitted of encouraging the mass suicides of 1994 and 1995. A young office worker asked me if the 'C' word on my picket signs referred to the Solar Temple cult. I explained how Rev. Ray Drennan and other Montreal U*Us had labeled Creation Day as a "cult" to my face. I then told him that in fact the former President of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, Frank Greene, had made a "joke" that snidely insinuated a link between Creation Day and the Solar Temple cult in the fall of 1994 not long after the first mass suicides had been reported in the news. A young woman chimed in and said, "Shouldn't you be in front of your church?" and I responded by saying, "Don't worry I am. . ."
LA COMMISSION DES DROITS DE LA PERSONNE DU QUÉBEC TOLÈRE L'INTOLÉRANCE ANTI-RELIGIEUSE
and
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION CONDONES RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE AND BIGOTRY
He looked me straight in the eye and said,
"Vous avez raison."
A totally literal word-for-word translation of that French phrase would be "You have reason."
That's just the kind of thing a Unitarian, even an unjustly excommunicated Unitarian who is seriously debating just how closely he even wants to associate himself with what Ralph Waldo Emerson called "corpse-cold Unitarianism". . . would want to hear.
In short he was saying, "You're right."
I asked "Est-ce que vous etes un avocat?" ("Are you a lawyer?") as his large sample case clearly suggested that he was a lawyer, and he answered that he was indeed a lawyer. He then suggested that I should sue the Quebec Human Rights Commission ("Vous devez les poursuivre.") and added, "Ils font absolument rien." ("They do absolutely nothing.") which certainly does correspond with my own bitter experience of the QHRC which, in at least one significant way, was actually worse than if they had done "absolutely nothing". . . This lawyer, who I can reasonably assume is a human rights lawyer who has some experience in dealing with the QHRC, went on to say how lodging a human rights complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission was just a useless waste of time as he continued on his way. I would have to concur.
It is of course very gratifying to receive outspoken validation and moral support of my protest against the failure of the Quebec Human Rights Commission to responsibly address human rights violations involving religious discrimination and harassment from a lawyer who presumably has some direct personal experience with the QHRC. I have also been getting plenty of validation and moral support from the general public, including some people who have their own bad experiences with the Quebec Human Rights Commission. I have been getting a fair number of thumbs up from the public including two thumbs up twice over from a 60 something gentleman who looked me in the eyes, smiled and displayed two thumbs up on entering the building and again on leaving the building. Some of the office workers didn't take me all that seriously at first, and a few even mocked me vis a vis that nasty four letter word "cult", but after explaining what my protest is all about I have gained their respect and interest and some are asking me serious questions about the issue.
The Solar Temple cult is in the news these days because a former leader of the Solar Temple was just acquitted of encouraging the mass suicides of 1994 and 1995. A young office worker asked me if the 'C' word on my picket signs referred to the Solar Temple cult. I explained how Rev. Ray Drennan and other Montreal U*Us had labeled Creation Day as a "cult" to my face. I then told him that in fact the former President of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, Frank Greene, had made a "joke" that snidely insinuated a link between Creation Day and the Solar Temple cult in the fall of 1994 not long after the first mass suicides had been reported in the news. A young woman chimed in and said, "Shouldn't you be in front of your church?" and I responded by saying, "Don't worry I am. . ."
Comments
But there are many details you refuse to go into, even with people who have offered to help you.
Some questions, like "What exactly did Drennan say?" or "What is the context of and 'silliness and fantasy' and 'professional help'?" are met not with simple direct answers, but with accusations of Denial Ignorace and Minimization. Often you simply ignore questions.
These people on the street don't know your history of disruptively inserting your agenda into online forums. Of rudely making people 'chow down on their own words' just because they were Unitarian and proud of it.
These people don't know how hard you were trying to push your beliefs into Unitarian Universalism.
I'd be surprised if you even told them that Rev. Drennan denied saying at least some of the things you claim he said.
So again, it doesn't surprise me that you get token support from the uninformed, but no one stands up for you.