Jamaican Olympic team starts training

Much interest in Montréal as a group of young people with black faces and Jamaican accents assembled at the Université de Montréal stadium for a light workout in track and field sports.

Much consternation when it turned out the athletes were students at the Hautes Études Commerciales, the Université de Montréal’s business school. Evidently inspired by the almost-forgotten black-and-white minstrel shows -- popular in Canada and Britain as well as the USA well into the 1950s -- the kids painted themselves in blackface and chanted "Ya man!" for a frosh-week stunt.

Participants were encouraged to dress in Olympic-themed costumes, with one group choosing to portray Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. Along with donning the colours of the Jamaican flag, several students also covered their face, arms and legs in black paint.

The colourful attire included at least one Rastafarian hat and a pair of green shorts patterned with monkey faces. A large stuffed animal resembling a green monkey -- "un vrai Jamaican eh" -- was paraded around as a mascot.

Much soiling of silks by the school's administration and university officials, who were predictably accused of racism the moment vids appeared on YouTube and the lamestream media. One witness, who is of Jamaican descent, said he was shocked to hear some students chanting, “Smoke more weed.” More shocking still was the fact that they were chanting in English, contrary to Québec's language laws!

Law student Anthony Morgan said he found the display deeply offensive because of "the troubling historical connotations of blackface.... It is connected to a longer tradition of minstrel shows, reducing black people to pretty much jokes. They're put on as a spectacle, to almost look grotesque."

A spokesman for the business school said Morgan must have misunderstood the point of rap and hip-hop concerts, not to mention such events as the Caribana weekend. There were no ill intentions, said Michael Lartigau, but "the students interpreted the theme poorly."

What you're reading

Hi. Ed here. We're approaching the end of August, almost 26 months since Walt began this blog. The idea was to get people talking about some of the issues which don't get discussed much in the politically correct North American lamestream media. For instance: race, immigration and religion, on which Walt holds views contrary to the prevailing orthodoxy.

We hoped that at least a few people would read Walt's thoughts, react (comments are welcome even if not all get published), and pass the URL on to others, the point being to give thinking folks something to talk about other than celebrity train wrecks and our national preoccupation, S-E-X.

It's my job to have a look at the stats every now and then, to see how many hits we're getting, what posts draw the most interest, and where our readership is coming from. Here are three of the top 10 articles.

Help Kids Canada - a scam or only half a scam? has drawn more comments than any other piece. It still gets read, even though the first article in the series appeared back in April 2010. I can only think that it's because this scam (or half a scam) is still being run on the good-hearted and charitable Canucks.

London 2012 Olympics - Schedule of Events appeared only 11 days ago and has drawn scores of hits. I guess people are actually interested in next year's games and want to check out dates and venues. Imagine their disappointment when they find out it's a satire on the recent riots.

And now... Ed reveals the title of the most-read post. The leader -- by a country mile -- is Where next? Swaziland next? Can there really be that many people who are interested in the dark continent and the fate of the world's last absolute monarchy? This really baffled me until I remembered the picture I chose to illustrate the article.

OK. Now I understand. People -- men, I assume -- are searching Google Images and they can't resist clicking on this one. But I wonder...really...what search parameters they are typing into the dialogue box. Surely not "Swaziland".

In the final analysis, who cares. Check out whatever headline or picture turns your crank. Keep reading. Keep the comments coming. And remember that you can always e-mail Walt. Thank you for your attention!

London Olympic logo Zionist propaganda?

Iran is threatening to boycott of the 2012 London Olympics because it claims the official logo for the games resembles the word "Zion," which is a biblical term for Jerusalem.

The secretary-general of Iran's National Olympic Committee, Bahram Afsharzadeh, says he sent a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge in which he condemns the logo as "racist" and calls upon other Muslim countries to join in protest.

The logo was unveiled four years ago to mass criticism, almost all of which had to do with the awkward, bulky design and not pro-Zionist conspiracy. I can't see the problem, but I read from left to right, top to bottom. Probably I'm missing something.