Carolyn Parrish is a Member of the Parliament of Canada. Last year, she called Americans "bastards." On Wednesday, she called them "idiots."
Ms. Parrish offered her recent slur while commenting on a missile-defense treaty. In the words of the National Post, she believes that "participating in missile defense [with the US] would make Canada a terrorist target."
May I take this opportunity to apologize to American friends and readers? I am guessing the typical reaction is, first, "What?" and, then, "Whatever." And indeed Ms. Parrish deserves the dismissal we reserve all for kooks and cranks. The trouble is that there are millions of like minded kooks and cranks in my fair country.
Anti-Americanism is rampant. Many Canadians now make free with the most derogatory comments about their southern neighbors. They are pleased to call Americans stupid, aggressive, and vulgar. They are quick to say that Bush is a moron. (And here I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "well, he may not be Stephen Hawking but he is almost certainly smarter than you.") Want an easy laugh at a gathering of Canadians? Say something anti-American. No sooner have you spoken than the room is awash in self congratulation. American bashing is now a Canadian pastime, as passionately pursued as road hockey and Tim Horton do-nuts.
Indeed, I have not heard prejudice as unabashed as this since I spent a summer in the south of France and listened to locals let fly with anti-Semitic sentiments. (I do not mean to compare anti-Americanism to anti-Semitism, but merely the unapologetic ease with which both sentiments are, in this case, offered.) Canadians pride themselves on being open minded and cosmopolitan. But here they are stupid, aggressive, and vulgar.
This is a classic "clique effect," according to which the members of a comparison set who are judged and found wanting have two choices: to accept the judgment or to cultivate values that release them from the comparison. This is a kind of "you cant judge me, I march to a different drummer" strategy.
In some ways, this is apt. Canada is a country trembling on the verge of Second World status. Its health care system is crumbling. Its economy is underpowered. Its education system, merely ordinary. Its contribution to global culture, modest. But lets take the most immediate case in point, the Olympics. So far, Canada has a score of 9 in the medal race. The Netherlands, with a population of 16 million (Canada has 25 m.) is well ahead with 21. (Naturally, everyone is thrilled we continue to outpace Estonia which has 3 medal points.)
Really, there is no comparison. The US leads in scientific accomplishment (see Nobel lists and patents awards), athletics (see Olympic wins), education (see Ph.D.s produced), business innovation, technological innovation, and cultural innovation. Oh, Canada. Poor Canada. Your neighbor outstrips you on every dimension.
But I have never heard a Canadian admit to admiration or even acknowledgement of this difference. Instead, the strategy is to claim moral superiority. Canadians are better, they suppose, because they have better social programs, pay more taxes, and do not go to war. Why is that, I wonder? The reason that Canada does not go to war is because it lives within the protection of the US. This is the reason it has an Armed Force that would be hard pressed, if transplanted to Eastern Europe, to defend itself from an attack by Estonia.
And this brings us to the question of terrorism and Ms. Parrishs conviction that a missile defense treaty with the US would expose Canada to an attack. It is hard to know whether this is naiveté or cowardice. But it certainly smacks of ingratitude. To accept American protection and then, in the American hour of urgency, to refuse to do what little we can, is wrong.
It compounds the error made by former Prime Minister Chrétien when he refused to send Canadian troops to Iraq. Chrétien claimed that there was insufficient evidence of weapons of mass destruction. What in Gods name prompted him to think this was the point? Plainly and simply, our neighbour needed us to close ranks, show solidarity, and present a single face to the dithering world community. If friendship was not enough, surely the opportunity to repay the "protection" debt should have been. If you can’t act from honor, you might at least think about acting out of reciprocity.
Ms. Parrish calls Americans "bastards" and "idiots" because she would otherwise be obliged to accept a pressing reality: that Canada is no longer the "sleeping giant" but a continental embarrassment, the little brother who turns out to be slow at learning, bad at sports, incapable of protecting himself, inclined to incoherent outbursts, and, in spite of this, insufferably smug, self important, and ungrateful. Ms. Parrish, please, for the love of God, just shut up.
References
Curry, Bill. 2004. Liberal Insults U.S. Again. National Post. August 26, 2004.
“clique effect,” eh… that’s a new one. By the way, I enjoy your blog. It is one of the two blogs I read regularly.
Nymous, thanks for reading and for posting, some people are so pissed off with this post they are withholding public comment and sending me deeply felt emails instead. Best, Grant
So, Canada (and Ms. Parrish) are Fives on the politico-cultural Gaze-o-Meter?
Harsh? Perhaps. Didn’t I hear somewhere that you guys have been arguing about sovereignty and national identity or something? That’s gotta wear a tribe out. Referenced against earlier comments about swinging at outside “others”–chopping you off at the knees to make me feel taller–well, there’s plenty of that down here too. Take heart, Liberals are America’s “Canadians,” as Conservatives seem to be Canada’s “Americans.”
Not sure if that last bit made sense, but I do know the cod is a proud and noble fish!
My name is fouro! And I is a Newfie-by-proxy!
Fouroboros, Characteristically brilliant, I’d say. And very Newfie (the wittiest people in Canada. Thanks, Grant
What you are describing is the feminization of politics. It brings entitlements to replace marriage and responsibility, gun prohibition so it is clear the state is supreme, and promotes the posture of a school of fish in evading danger- swirl in a bunched mass and hope the main body will not be affected by predators while hoping it is some other individual who will be food.
Grant — been reading your blog for a few weeks, and this is the first time you’ve missed the mark. I’m an American living in Washington, DC, and I welcome your countrymen’s criticisms of our country.
We can leave aside the personal slurs against Mr. Bush if you like, although certainly they become relevant when one is desperately looking for an explanation for what my country has done in the past three years. We can even skip his desire to meet with Prime Minister Poutine at his first opportunity. But I’d like to know what definition of the term “intelligent” includes an unwillingness to revisit assumptions and admit fault.
Here’s the situation, in a blog-comment nutshell: Americans have an obligation to involve ourselves with politics because the people we elect affect the entire planet. But Canadians have their own obligation — your country is the one most suited to act as a mirror to our own. You are the proof that the American way of doing things is not the only way of doing things.
So when we do things that you find appalling, I think it’s quite worthwhile for you to stand up and say so. Some of us will notice. And many of us will not smack down your parliamentarians for reminding us that we’ve changed our methods, as you seem happy to do.
Jeff, thanks for your thoughful, lucid comment. My frustration is perhaps a little like your own: there are certain realities that do not ever seem to come to light. But your realities _are_ realities, however they are seen, and those of Canadians, the anti-American ones anyhow, are simply delusional, or at least illusional. I would like to think that Canada can serve as a mirror, but moral superiority so misunderstands the American necessity and Canadian irrelevance as to distort much more than it reflects. We could serve in the capacity you suggest, but we are too busy protesting our significance! But thank you, again, for your thoughts. Best, Grant
“I do not mean to compare anti-Americanism to anti-Semitism, but merely the unapologetic ease with which both sentiments are, in this case, offered.”
Well, yes, but if having a missile defense treaty with the US makes Canada a terrorist target, imagine how dangerous it is to have all those Jews around.
It’s only a natural extension of Parrish’s “logic”.
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I lived in Mississauga during the 1970s. I couldn’t imagine the citizens there supporting someone as ill spoken as Parrish. They tell me the demographics have changed there severely in the intervening years, though, that Mississauga has gained a heavily minority complexion.
Well the only problem I have with this reaction is that missile defense is ummm… idiotic?
First, nukes are expensive and rockets are unreliable. Far better to put the thing on a ship (or in a shipping container) and deliver it that way. In fact, there wasa CIA report that said that a missile attack was unlikely.
Second, the missile defense envisioned (shooting the missle down) is inherently hard. They’ve missed in a lot of their tests, and these are rigged for good odds. You probably wouldn’t have a lot of confidence in this system even if they said it worked.
Lastly, it’s too easy to counter. Add some computer-controlled randomness into the path of the missile (something that cancels out overall to avoid missing your target) and you’ve got a missile that’s impossible to hit. Add some chaff and decoys, and you’ve got something impossible to track.
I really can’t escape the conclusion that missile defense is pork for defense contractors (the best kind, since it will never be used!) or a sop to people who think the U.S. is already safe from missiles (surveys say large numbers think this.)
Canada should say things like this though, not that Bush is just an idiot. After all, it was Edward Teller’s idea. Now there’s an idiot!
Here is a copy of an e-mail I sent to Ms. Parrish
last week.
Dear Ms. Parrish,
Thank You. It is my hope that this time your latest remarks may garner more attention in the home of the bastard idiots. Allowing your neighbors to the south to get a closer look at what has of late been Canada’s number one export, moral superiority espoused in a rather churlish manner. Fortunately for you, Canada is not needed for much of anything so it does not appear you will have to sully your hands.
Your latest remarks have made me ponder the word idiot and its many applications. Offending your largest trading partner once could be construed as candor in a heated moment. Doing it a second time could be construed as (dare I say it) idiotic.
I’m truly sorry Mr. Hussein is no longer in power. The world has now been deprived of the prospect of his two late sons running the family business. Pity. Yet here is another example where Canada is not relevant. The examples of canada’s irrelevancy are too numerous to mention here.
The continued sniping by yourself and other luminaries to our north will not go unnoticed in perpetuity. Americans will let it roll off our backs, to a point. I would politely suggest you stop trying to find where that point is.
Ms. parrish perhaps you should focus your energies and sharp wit on trying to help run the mom and pop store that is Canada. On second thought I should refer to Canada as a boutiqe.I wouldn’t want to offend the people of Quebec, rumor has it they are looking for any excuse to jump ship.
Yours truly,
Bastard Idiot
I think you’re being too harsh on the Canadians. Maybe they’re taking the opportunity to say what the rest of the world is thinking? Anyone caught publicly saying such things in “the land of the free” is cut down immediately; I’ve long given up on the ideal of true freedom of speech in the USA. There are a good many people that believe Bush is an idiot (myself being one of them) and I applaud anyone that’s willing to say it somewhere that could possibly make a difference.
I believe that some nations are superior to the USA in certain ways (healthcare, foreign policy) and the more people that begin to believe that their relationship with the US is not the be all and end all, the better.
Joe: thanks, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Canada has a shameful record of anti-Semitism. In World War II, at the direction of a man called Massey, it refused harbor to Jews attempting to escape Europe. There’s a good book on the topic called None is too many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933-1948, Irving Abells, and Harold Troper, Toronto: Lester, 1997. So much for moral superiority. Grant
The Owner’s Manual: Certainly, there are Canadians who are not anti-American, but in the present climate, they are very _quietly_ anti-anti-American. It is just not done to voice admiration or even simple respect. So much for freedom of speech (see Stef’s comment and my response below.) Thanks, Grant
Michael: I sounds like you know more about this issue than I do, and if what you say is true, we must wonder why this, and not simple minded, vote getting bigotry, was not the stuff of Parrish’s argument. Thanks. Grant
“Bastard Idiot”: Thanks for writing Ms. Parrish. She does not to hear from the world. And I wish she had been with me in a taxi in Rochester in the early days of the Iraqi war. The driver quietly observed his disappointment that Canada had chosen not to participate. There was a long pause. And then he looked at me in the rear view mirror, and said, “It will not be forgotten.” Nor should it be. Thanks, Grant
Stef: I share your concern that freedom of speech is now curtailed, but isn’t this what happens in a time of war? People circle the wagons, they marshall their resolve. Freedom of speech isn’t “optional,” of course, but it does contract in time of war. Thanks very much, Grant
Stef,
interesting idiom, I don’t think I’ve run across it before. From context I’m guessing that “cut down” means “makes the New York Times best seller list.”
Americans have historically made a habit of angering the world. The Nazis hated the U.S. The communists hate the U.S. The Arabs hate the U.S. The North Koreans hate the U.S.
America has always found a way to piss off the scum of the Earth. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Canada is somewhat different. What’s left of Canada after decades of losing the best and brightest people to the United States is unbalanced and not as much anti American as childishly contrary.
Hi Gary, well said. What’s really really sad is that you could replace “Canada” with almost any country in Europe (eg Norway, where I live) and everything you said would still be 100% accurate. There is something about homogenous social democracies, small and large, that makes them all fear the heterogenous America’s cultural and economic power. It has always been like this. It has nothing to do with Bush or Iraq.
Regards,
Eric
Gary, that’s a good point, and a kind of tragic one. America has a way of drawing away all the people who share its values and could be replied to “talk down” the anti-American sentiments of their fellow countrymen/women. Thanks, Grant
Eric, Very interesting. Canada likes to think it has something in common with Scandinavian countries, and I am deeply depressed to think that this might be one of them. It must be true that global anti-Americanism increased with the fall of the Soviets. America was now the one great power. But this really is too strange when you think about it. Best, Grant
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I lived up in Ottawa for a couple years back in ’94 and I must say that the anti-USA feeling you’ve described was widespread back then. Seems to me that current events have simply magnified what was always lurking. My folks both have fairly recognizeable Bostonian accents and part of the reason they decided to move back to the states was the incessant moral superiority of our Canadian brethren. That said, I had a blast living up there and I was grateful to be in town during the resurgence of the Sens.
Greg, thanks for the ethnographic data. Parochial even in the nation’s capital! Thanks, Grant
Anyone caught publicly saying such things in “the land of the free” is cut down immediately; I’ve long given up on the ideal of true freedom of speech in the USA.
Yes, it is a pity that Michael Moore is in jail, his family penniless, after the blowback from his ill-fated movies hit.
But hey, he should have paid attention. Who could have ignored the ruthlessness shown at Al Franken’s trial? Barbra Streisand left that courtroom in tears. (Fortunately for her, she was still savvy enough to toe the line, lest she risk her own “extended vacation”.)
“Really, there is no comparison. The US leads in scientific accomplishment (see Nobel lists and patents awards), athletics (see Olympic wins), education (see Ph.D.s produced), business innovation, technological innovation, and cultural innovation. Oh, Canada. Poor Canada. Your neighbor outstrips you on every dimension.”
Well, Blue America clearly does. Red America clearly does not. I can’t name very many scientific accomplishments or business or cultural innovations coming from Kansas or Mississippi or Alabama, even though I can name a few coming from Canada. Can you?
I doubt that very many people in Canada or Europe hate the Blue America. I’d even go as far as to say that if the whole USA was Blue, USA as a nation would be universally beloved and admired. (Some good examples of this phenomenon include Hollywood and New York.)
But since all Americans are lumped into a single monolith, the blues also become targets for the hatred and hostility that really belongs to the reds.
Ilkka, thanks for the observation. I bet that red American supplies its sons and daughters who, through the exercise of their Americanness and regional value, make signals contributions to all the fields mentioned. But in any case, this colourful distinction is not well understand by Canadians and expect their prejudice would not discriminate in any case. Thanks! Grant
Jeff, I will let Stef defend himself on this one. (Clever, though!) Stef, how about it? Grant
I strongly suspect that most foreigners, when confronted with their own statement on the USA would backtrack and criticize the American government rather than Americans as a whole.
Given that, I’d say that the level of rhetoric coming from other countries is pretty much exactly what is coming from Americans with similar political beliefs (generally to the left of the Democrats). The rhetoric found in NYC against the American governmemt this weekend was not weaker than Parrish’ outburst.
As for comparisons between Canada and the United States, I’m rather happy that both countries are the way they are. The idea that there is only one society that is “right” for every person is abhorrent. Those that are more individualistic can migrate to the USA where there is higher reward for accomplishment (and punishment for failure to achieve). This allows Canada to maintain a unique character (character that I suspect Mr. McCracken does not particularly care for, I suspect…) rather than being driven to become a clone of the United States.
Tom, everyone is entitled to their opinion and their character. I just wish the Canadian position came from worthier motives. Thanks, Grant
This dispute should be settled by the modern version of “trial by ordeal”: the Hockey World Championship in a few days’ time. Doesnt the US currently hold the title? Take that Mrs Parrish.
Nice one. Grant
I’ve never concerned myself with the anti-American rants of foreigners in other lands; what really stuns me is the amount of anti-Americanism among Americans. (Please inform Canadians that even anti-Americanism is an American innovation, so they aren’t even original with that!) Perhaps Americans hating their own wealth and liberty is some symptom of a post-modern nuerosis? Who knows. One thing for sure: Americans (and the rest of the world–which sometimes incluces Canadians)–had better start appreciating all that we have, because if we don’t, one day we are going to wake up and find it all gone.
Isn’t it ironic that those who proclaim to be the most politically correct make the most derogatory comments about Americans and Jews. Just goes to show you the depth of the anti-American Left’s hypocracy and venom. If Americans are as evil as Canadians like to think, the why isn’t anti-Canadianism a national past-time in the United States? It seems to me that the one who hates is the one who harbors most the venom. The fact is, Americans have a tendency to view the world with rose-colored glasses. Americans think the world is a theme park populated with characters out of fairy books. Maybe Americans are stupid, or maybe they are just a lot more nicer and generous than Canadians and their ilk.
In Kanada, the government is god. It is husband, provider, nanny, mommy, daddy, teacher. Government in Kanada is the end all. Marxism is the religion Kanadians today worship. And like all religions, there has to be a devil to contrast with their god. Enter the United States–the GREAT SATAN (and Israel LITTLE SATAN). Kanadians and the euros they try so desperately to emmulate may laugh at Americans for being “religious fanatics,” but nothing is more fanatical than following a 200-year-old political ideology that has proved to be a total disaster. Talk about your zealots! All hail the mighty government!
If America is such an evil “empire” hell bent on trying to take over the world as the canadian elites say, then how come we haven’t sent troops over the border to take over canada? America could take canada anytime we wanted it within a matter of a few hours. Hell, VERMONT could overthrow canada in a few hours!! Unlike britain, China, Russia, france and germany, Americans have proved to be the best damn neighbors in the world. Canadians should get down on their hands and knees and thank god for having a neighbor like America. I can’t believe the amount of smug unappreciation people have these days. Imagine, the world’s largest economy opening up its borders to a small, unproductive country like canada. Talk about being generous! Evil? I think not, you parasites!
Canada was the first to ban Howard Stern from its airways. The USA has to only TALK about banning, and that is enough to indict the entire culture and society. Actually DOING it in other countries, like canada, doesn’t even get a finger pointing from the Al Franken types. It’s important to be self-critical, for which America is famous and why we have evolved so quickly, but its really too silly to pass judgments on jaywalkers while politely stepping aside for serial killers.
I’ve noticed that Americans actually like foreigners and seem to flock around them when they visit the country. They are geuninely intersted in them. They are also very open about immigration, even with all the red-tape following 9/11. If the rest of the world spits on Americans, and then Americans turn around to naively embrace them, doesn’t that indicate that it’s the rest of the world who are fascists and not Americans? And doesn’t that mean that the rest of the world actually suffers from moral supremacy and not Americans? Just a few observations.
I won’t condemn canadians making wide-sweeping generalizations about Americans by making wide-sweeping generalizations about canadians. But I will say, it is rather odd that we live in a world where it’s considered intellectual enlightenment to make the most harsh accusations against Americans when if an American made such derogatory statements about foreign people he would be thought of as a raving red neck fascist. It only proves how much the Left really does control how we view the world. It may do us all some good to finally question some of this leftist orthodoxy.
I think there needs to be some perspective here with respect to Parrish’s remarks. Let’s be blunt, she’s not exactly the sharpest pencil in the drawer among current Members of Parliament.
There is a deeper historical force going on here. Throughout its history, certainly of the past sixty years, Canada has operated in its foreign affairs only in a context of multi-lateralism. As a sovereign military power and now unchecked by the former USSR, the US now has the latitude to act unilaterally to a degree unprecedented in living memory. This ability to act unilaterally runs counter to the Canadian preference to act in concert. Let’s face it, the United States is an empire and it is feeling some of the obligations of empire, namely to stomp on some of the cockroaches in the corner. No one disagrees with the need to stomp out types like Sadam Hussein (I’ve Got a Little List, and They’ll None of Them Be Missed), it’s the unilateralism that Canadians mostly objected to. Problem is, you could end up waiting around for ever for the Me Too Brigade to decide to sign on.
Parrish is a dolt because she understands none of this, but then far too few people on both sides of the border understand the real relationship that exists between the two countries. What did not get reported in this event was the rather public smackdown the Prime Minister gave her. What every MP wants is to get into Cabinet. With her display, Parrish is showing that she understands that the best she will ever do is the backbencher she is now. Remember that every legislator has its congenital idiots, and people should no more take Parrish seriously than they should, say Strom Thurmond a few years back. Senility comes early for some.
Canada is far from being a homogeneous democracy such as those in Scandinavia. It retains an active immigration of approximately 300,000 intake per year, which is very high proportionately for a country of 33 million. Mississauga is now predominantly first generation immigrants (Parrish’s riding). They overwhelmingly tend to vote for the party in power when they arrived (been a constant pattern in Canadian politics for over a century). So they voted for her because she’s Liberal, not because she’s Carolyn Parrish.
Finally, let’s remember this: what was Parrish doing that day? She was leading a protest AGAINST proposed Canadian government policy.
Colin: brilliant! thank you!
MarianeW: you’re right, there is a strong double standard at work here. Thanks, Grant
BlackTiger: you have put your finger on another aspect of the double standard. Great. Thanks, Grant
Jiggles: “parasites” is perhaps a little over the top. But ungrateful, yes, absolutely. Thanks, Grant
Kyle: double standard stuff, here too. Thanks, Grant
N2me: this stuns me too. There is lots of self loathing in America. But maybe this is the cause and the consequence of self scrutiny and free speech. I doesn’t _seem_ necessary and too much it seems to come from “tenured radicals” but it sure is striking. Thanks, Grant
“Let’s face it, the United States is an empire”
Hmmm… sorry the USA is anything but an empire. If the USA were an empire, there would be no Canada today to speak of; it would be merely a satelite state of the USA. Russia gobbled up every nation it bordered and then some, as did Britain and France and Germany and Japan and China to some extent. The USA has never had that kind of colonial history, regardless of what Leftist orthodoxy crams down on throats on the BBC and the New York Times. Even Iraq is a sovreign nation ruled by Iraqis. Yes, it’s protected by US military might, but then again so is Canada. If America were a true empire, then we wouldn’t actually PAY countries for us to have the great privilege to protect them. When Canada starts paying for America to defend it instead of the American tax payer, then perhaps you could flipantly use the term empire.
If the US was an empire, we would have split Kanada up into several different states by now. We would have also not tolerated all those French speakers.
“Well, Blue America clearly does. Red America clearly does not.”
This is bunk. You need to get out more. Have you ever heard of the Research Triangle? It’s in North Carolina, which is a big fat blue state. I can keep going. Part of the problem is that the South historically was really really poor. And they industrialized far later than the North. It’s taken them a while to catch up due to the head start, but you might be surprised.
“I can’t name very many scientific accomplishments or business or cultural innovations coming from Kansas or Mississippi or Alabama, even though I can name a few coming from Canada. Can you?”
Where did WalMart come from? I’m pretty sure Ted Turner’s from the South. Also, most of the most important people who founded this country were from a Blue State. Also, yes, how can we forget Canada’s amazing cultural contributions of Alanis Morrissette and Avril Lavigne. Anyway, if you’ve ever heard of things like country music, jazz, rock, r&b, you might discover that these things originated primarily in the South. There’s a ton more. Perhaps you should pop open a history book now and then? You might be surprised by what the US (as well as the blue states) have contributed.
In that longer post, just take all the words that are “Blue” and replace them with “Red”.
There’s more than one kind of empire. You don’t have to be conquering and colonising in order to exert influence over other countries, which is basically what an empire does. You just have to look at the number of militey bases on other countries soil. Sure, the American public is paying for them, but they are basically there to protect American interests, which aren’t necessarily those of the domestic population. Moreover, you only have to look at the links between big business and government to see the economic dominance. I’m not saying the latter doesn’t exist in Canada, but when a country is clearly the most powerful in the world, it demands more attention.
Most Canadians I know don’t paint all Americans with a single brush. We simply have our stereotypes and prejudices like everyone else. The fact that we didn’t win many medals at the Olympics has absolutely no effect on whether I criticize or support the policies of the American government. If our medical system was the best in the world, I would still say that the Iraq war was a bad idea and a badly managed one at that. I don’t feel that most Canadians have a sense of a moral superiority over the average American. However, we are constantly witness to actions by the American government that we believe to be short sighted or rash. This probably has two sources. One is that we aren’t in a situation to exert much influence over other countries and so can’t completely appreciate the pressures on the US government. At the same time, though, the fact that we don’t have the option of unilateral action means we must explore other means of conflict resolution, some of which work very well, but may never be examined by the American government, because it doesn’t have to. In the last four years, the feeling is that we are seeing these situations arise more and more frequently, and, unfortunately, this has increased the resentment many feel towards the American public.
As far as our ability to understand the difference between democrats and republicans, most can and do. Ask an American the difference between the blue and red in Canada, and I’m pretty sure they’ll do much worse (I could be very wrong though).
Finally, Howard Stern wasn’t banned in Canada, the stations dropped him when his ratings fell and people were complaining.
On the most part, this is a great conversation.
Grant
“I can’t name very many scientific accomplishments or business or cultural innovations coming from Kansas or Mississippi or Alabama, even though I can name a few coming from Canada. Can you?”
Well, without even consulting any references, and confining myself to Mississippi, I can name:
Jimmie Rodgers (the Singing Brakeman, the father of country music)
Elvis Presley (I assume no description is needed)
William Faulkner, novelist, story writer, and film dialog writer
Ransom Wilson, flutist
Leontyne Price, one of the greatest sopranos of the twentieth century
All of the above, I believe, were born and raised in Mississippi; they didn’t just pass through. No, I’ve never lived in Mississippi, and have spent only a year and a half living in the south. And yes, I can name Canadians who have made notable contributions to science and culture; in fact, I am sponsoring a local performance by Louis Lortie in a a bit more than a month.
>
Those people are singing American style music. American music? Jazz, Rock n Roll, Country, Blues, Rap, even the cornball broadway musical originated in America, and that’s just the beginning. Many forms of music from around the world went into evolving all these forms, but that only further proves just how non-fascist and open America is to outside influences. It’s when we shut our doors to the world (as so many would like to do) we become backwards.
Dear Sweet Colin, you act as if Canadians were sitting here for millenium before the first “Americans” came to the New World. If America’s history is based on supression of aboriginal peoples, then so is Mexico’s, Brazil’s, Argentina’s, Ecuador’s, Puerto Rico’s, and yes, even sweet innocent pure Canada’s. In fact, based on U.N. statistics, Canada has the poorest aborignal group in the world today. The USA has some of the wealthiest and healthiest.
There have been more innovations coming from Iowa than the entire country of canada combined. Freedom unleashes limitless possibilites. If only the canadians would reject their leftist religious orthodoxy and free the mind, maybe they can become players in the world
indisputably, the united states is an empire — and you don’t have to be a lefty to think so (see niall ferguson). look at the projection of american power around the globe — with a 2mm man army, we have less than 1mm in the states. where are the rest? imperial garrisons. look at the dimensions of american military spending — such levels are only approached historically by empires with global military networks to maintain.
it would surprise many to know, apparently, that the romans didn’t administrate all of their empire directly either. the parthians, dacians and egyptians all were proxy states for much of their imperial affiliation. in fact, most historical empires consisted of agglomerations of proxy states under the influence of the imperial power. in 500 years time, i think there will be little question that germany, japan, korea, britain and many others (yes, canada too, i suspect) were in fact american client states by the very nature of their close alliance and dependence on protection, as well as the widespread cultural influence and adoption.
it amazes me that anyone questions the existence of american imperialism — and 95% of americans will tell you that they aren’t imperial. i think the lack of perspective on that question goes to the core of why we americans don’t understand islamist terrorism and its wider antiamerican sympathies around the world. if you view it for what i think it plainly is — an insurgency against foreign imperial government that maladministrates its subjects, directly and through proxies, in the mideast — the nature of the issue and what might be done by america to resolve it becomes quite a bit clearer, imo.
There have been more innovations coming from Iowa than the entire country of canada combined. Freedom unleashes limitless possibilites. If only the canadians would reject their leftist religious orthodoxy and free the mind, maybe they can become players in the world
instead, from most americans you likely get a bunch of american superiority and jacobin ideology regurgitated from popular mythology and government propaganda. let it not be said that we americans were not susceptible to advertising. 🙂
“Well, Blue America clearly does. Red America clearly does not. I can’t name very many scientific accomplishments or business or cultural innovations coming from Kansas or Mississippi or Alabama, even though I can name a few coming from Canada. Can you?”
You mean like rocket science? I’m sure that the NASA folks in Huntington, Alabama would disagree. Much of the US’s early space program was developed in Alabama. Much of our current aerospace research continues to happen in Alabama. Alabama as a state has committed a fair amount of seed money to foster continuing aerospace research.
So, what and were is this ‘Canada’ of which you speak?