It’s not gaming related, but I wanted to mention this anyways.
A recent immigrant from India seemed to have made an attempt to befriend the Premiere, and in an email, used a common expression in India, that was taken as a threat here.
I wonder if McGuinty ever even saw the email? It was probably filtered out and the police were contacted before it even reached his inbox.
In fact, I wonder if McGuinty even knew about this before the media picked it up.
Working at International Services for Students at Ryerson University, I met quite a few students from India, and to hear some of them saying “I can’t believe you did that! I’m going to kill you!”, or something similar in a joking manner is common. Even some Canadians use this expression.
Most Canadian’s know that’s completely inappropriate to say something like that in Parliament – but how are recent immigrants supposed to learn this? Through ongoing ordeals with the police and legal system?
How could the Premiere have dealt with this better, particularly if the email was filtered, and nobody in his office informed him of it? He’d better respond quickly, now that it’s in the news.
Hey Rick,
Great post! I am East Indian and I must admit the phrase this woman used is common in India. It’s normally a joke and, when said in Hindi, is quite comical to hear (for those who understand Hindi.)
But this also brings up a good point about minorities and transitioning to new cultures.
Though the police response to this woman’s e-mail seems a little over the top, as a new immigrant to Canada, she should have recognized that cultural idiosyncrasies in India were not likely to be shared in her new adopted country.
She shouldn’t have assumed someone in Canada would have understood, or taken in the same way, a culturally specific phrase.
In fact, what she should have done was use common sense and maintained a professional relationship when corresponding with someone she did not know well.
The police overreacted; but she was at fault for perceiving she has a friendly relationship with someone she did not know.
I am a born and raised Canadian, but I am also East Indian. When I went to India, I didn’t assume the cultural attitudes and beliefs common to Canada were the same over there.
Minorities need to be open to adopting country-specific cultural attitudes. It will help them be more successful here and avoid getting them into situations like this.
Sending 200 emails to someone you don’t know, and referring to them as your big brother when they finally respond to you seems odd no matter the person’s ethnic background.
Reading through the Star’s coverage, her behaviour towards McGuinty gets somewhat close to that of a stalker, and there’s much more to this than just the one email – I’m in agreement with the previous comment, this woman should’ve exercised some common sense (especially given the fact she’s 40).
Common sense is only common to your own culture, Craig.
They don’t mention the subjects of the earlier emails, only that they’re rambling.
It’s possible she mis-interpreted the fact that his email is offered publicly as a sign that Canadians just send emails to their politicians whenever they have a question or issue.
Joe’s right, normally you’d exercise a certain level of caution in an unfamiliar culture. Let’s not forget though, Canadians are exceptionally culturally sensitive because we deal with other cultures regularly.
The point of my post was, she didn’t have the correct cultural guidance early on and now she’s up to her neck in the legal system over what seems to be a misunderstanding. This article on the front page of the Star presents certain issues that McGuinty and his communications staff need to address.
Update:
http://www.thestar.com/article/307019
It turns out there were in fact elements of the case that Dalton McGuinty learned about from Star’s February 26th front page article.
Rick,
I was going to blog on this very subject. When I read about this story, I was shocked. Obviously this situation was taken out of context and it boils down to cultural differences.
Everything this woman and her family are going through saddens me. She had a great admiration for the premier and the openness of the Canadian system. People can have open access to their politicians without fear for retribution.
Unfortunately things went terribly soar in this situation. If this was before September 11, I’m sure this misunderstanding would’ve played out differently. Nevertheless, post 9/11 everyone is in heightened alert in the government. However, proper judgement should have been used in this situation. This woman did not want to exercise any harm towards the premier. She had deep respect towards him and the powers that be fully ignored this glaring aspect.