One of the beautiful lines from this beautiful essay, an open letter to Anglophone media.
You write about our anger, and yes, we are angry. We are angry at our government, at our police and at you. But none of you are succeeding in conveying what it feels like when you walk down the streets of Montreal right now, which is, for me at least, an overwhelming sense of joy and togetherness....
I come home from these protests euphoric. The first night I returned, I sat down on my couch and I burst into tears, as the act of resisting, loudly, with my neighbours, so joyfully, had released so much tension that I had been carrying around with me, fearing our government, fearing arrest, fearing for the future. I felt lighter....
This is what Quebec looks like right now. Every night is teargas and riot cops, but it is also joy, laughter, kindness, togetherness, and beautiful music. Our hearts are bursting. We are so proud of each other; of the spirit of Quebec and its people; of our ability to resist, and our ability to collaborate.
[UPDATE 27 May, 8:00 am CDT*: philosophical comment below the fold]
Brian Leiter directs us to this post by Jacob T Levy, who describes differential economic incentives for emigration from Québec for anglophone and francophones. I left this comment:
If it's the case, as Iain's cited expert claims, that out-migration isn't that important an overall factor -- which would mean the studies on physicians Victor cites are not replicated across professions with enough force to affect the overall scene -- then to have a model that captures the phenomena we would want to have a mixed population of agents.
That is, in addition to the agents posited by Jacob who are (solely, or even mainly) sensitive to purely monetary motivations, we would want to mix in some ratio of agents with positive internal motivations to staying in Québec: family ties, loyalty to the idea of Québec as a social democratic polity, and something like Aristotelian philia, a commitment to or allegiance to or love of those fellow citizens with whom you share your life.
Something of that philia shines through here, though admittedly in very intense form [JP: link goes to the essay cited above].
* Yes, I'm blogging at 8 am on a Sunday morning. What's wrong with that?, he asked, disingenuously, and with a hint of sadness about what his life has become.
[UPDATE 2, 27 May, 10 am CDT: Jacob Levy has responded that his analysis of financial incentives is intended to operate only at the margins of an other-wise multi-motivational agent. I acknowledge overlooking that in my reply:
Thank you, Jacob, I admit to missing the assumption that financial motivations operate only at the margins of an otherwise multi-motivational base in which affective considerations play a big role. You didn't say that in the main post, but then again, you can't start at ground zero in every post, and it's my unfamiliarity with your way of thinking that led me to miss that assumption. My bad.
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