On Nationality
Feb. 10th, 2003 12:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hkellickQuery: Why is it OK for Americans to bash America but not Canadians?
Obvious Answer: Because they don't live here.
Query: Is that reason good enough?
It's fascinating, the long and odd history that Canada and the United States has. We are possibly the most bitter rivals close friends can be.
It's funny, because, when it comes down to it... it seems that Canada is desperately waving it's hands going "LOOK! We're Not America! Look! We have our own culture! We have our own politics! Our own viewpoints!" And.. that's true.. Canada is NOT America... but it's pretty damned close.
We aren't too different, Canada and the United States.
What's REALLY the difference between The Kids in the Hall and The Royal Canadian Air Farce?
Or...Barenaked Ladies and Sugar Ray?
Not much.
If a Canadian makes it into the Top 40, it's a BIG DEAL! (That Shania Twain, she's a Canadian) not just in Canada, but in the US either.
It's not such a big deal if the singer/band is NOT Canadian, though.
Quick, what nation did U2 come from? ABBA? AC/DC?
Do you know?
Oh, but I bet you know that Bryan Adams is Canadian.
So why the bitter rivalry?
Part of it is blatant misunderstanding.
For example, and I ask all my Canadian friends out there (Especially you,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rhayden).. have you ever LISTENED to the words to "Blame Canada"? or did you just hear the words "Blame Canada" and go "Oh god, more American shit."
It's funny, because I HAVE listened to the words. They're not really anti-Canadian, they're more anti-people who need to blame scapegoats for their own problems.
Part of it is a certain small-mindedness, on both side of the border. Sort of an "I'm better than you" attitude. But that's prevalent everywhere. When last I checked, we didn't have this sort of bitter rivalry with Britain or Australia or any of our other close allies. So I'm not sure that's REALLY it.
I'm not sure that the United States is any better than Canada, in any way. Our government is one of the best (which I suggest as true due to the number of rights we have compared to other countries), but theirs is good as well.
Are Canadian people better than American people? As a group? I doubt it. Person by person... depends.
Our culture... I don't know.. where does American Culture end and Canadian or British or Australian or whatever culture begin?
How do you define that?
The problem is... our world is getting smaller. Thanks to the Internet, we can talk to people all over the world.
Some think that this is a good reason to get to know each other, to find that we are not so different, to become more open-minded.
The fact of the matter is what the internet is REALLY GOOD for is for allowing people with similair interests to get to know each other, whether it's Star Trek, Cats or Anti-Americanism/Anti-Canadiasm.
In actuality, I think we're no more open-minded now than we were before. The internet is just another forum for hate to breed, whether in the petty machinations of a community like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
canadakicksass (which is at least as concerned with mocking Americans as discussing how Canada kicks ass ) or in more private conversations.
Though, between you all and me, I know plenty of otherwise intelligent Canadians mocking America, but few otherwise intelligent Americans mocking Canada. That's not to say there aren't any, just that I don't know of any. We're too busy being disgusted with other things (such as our own government) to really care what's going on in Canada and, hence, to mock it.
Anyways... this is a little rambly (aren't all my entries?) but hopefully I made my point.
Obvious Answer: Because they don't live here.
Query: Is that reason good enough?
It's fascinating, the long and odd history that Canada and the United States has. We are possibly the most bitter rivals close friends can be.
It's funny, because, when it comes down to it... it seems that Canada is desperately waving it's hands going "LOOK! We're Not America! Look! We have our own culture! We have our own politics! Our own viewpoints!" And.. that's true.. Canada is NOT America... but it's pretty damned close.
We aren't too different, Canada and the United States.
What's REALLY the difference between The Kids in the Hall and The Royal Canadian Air Farce?
Or...Barenaked Ladies and Sugar Ray?
Not much.
If a Canadian makes it into the Top 40, it's a BIG DEAL! (That Shania Twain, she's a Canadian) not just in Canada, but in the US either.
It's not such a big deal if the singer/band is NOT Canadian, though.
Quick, what nation did U2 come from? ABBA? AC/DC?
Do you know?
Oh, but I bet you know that Bryan Adams is Canadian.
So why the bitter rivalry?
Part of it is blatant misunderstanding.
For example, and I ask all my Canadian friends out there (Especially you,
rhayden).. have you ever LISTENED to the words to "Blame Canada"? or did you just hear the words "Blame Canada" and go "Oh god, more American shit."It's funny, because I HAVE listened to the words. They're not really anti-Canadian, they're more anti-people who need to blame scapegoats for their own problems.
Part of it is a certain small-mindedness, on both side of the border. Sort of an "I'm better than you" attitude. But that's prevalent everywhere. When last I checked, we didn't have this sort of bitter rivalry with Britain or Australia or any of our other close allies. So I'm not sure that's REALLY it.
I'm not sure that the United States is any better than Canada, in any way. Our government is one of the best (which I suggest as true due to the number of rights we have compared to other countries), but theirs is good as well.
Are Canadian people better than American people? As a group? I doubt it. Person by person... depends.
Our culture... I don't know.. where does American Culture end and Canadian or British or Australian or whatever culture begin?
How do you define that?
The problem is... our world is getting smaller. Thanks to the Internet, we can talk to people all over the world.
Some think that this is a good reason to get to know each other, to find that we are not so different, to become more open-minded.
The fact of the matter is what the internet is REALLY GOOD for is for allowing people with similair interests to get to know each other, whether it's Star Trek, Cats or Anti-Americanism/Anti-Canadiasm.
In actuality, I think we're no more open-minded now than we were before. The internet is just another forum for hate to breed, whether in the petty machinations of a community like
canadakicksass (which is at least as concerned with mocking Americans as discussing how Canada kicks ass ) or in more private conversations.Though, between you all and me, I know plenty of otherwise intelligent Canadians mocking America, but few otherwise intelligent Americans mocking Canada. That's not to say there aren't any, just that I don't know of any. We're too busy being disgusted with other things (such as our own government) to really care what's going on in Canada and, hence, to mock it.
Anyways... this is a little rambly (aren't all my entries?) but hopefully I made my point.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-02-10 06:17 pm (UTC)Obvious Answer: Because they don't live here.
Query: Is that reason good enough?
Yes and no.
When I (an American) bash America, some quick assumptions are made.
1) I'm bashing something specific
2) I'm bashing it because I care how it effects my life or the life of others
3) I have ideas about how to make it better
This isn't always accurate. I could just be a loudmouth. In fact, if I carry on too much without saying anything constructive, these assumptions will fade and people will start to hate me.
When someone else bashes America that isn't American, they don't get the benefit of the doubt. They have no allegiance to us; they don't live here; they probably aren't 100% informed of the issues. So the assumptions that are made are:
1) They are bashing something specific, but in turn, this translates into bashing on the country as a whole
2) They are bashing it because it's stupid (haha, stupid American dumbfucks), or because it's a foreign policy decision that effects them
3) If they don't present anything constructive, we don't give them the benefit of the doubt (they don't live here, why do they care if it gets better)? So we assume they are a loudmouth.
Again this isn't always true. But these are the assumptions we make because as with any group, it's easier to assume that someone internal to the group wants to see an improvement, and someone external to the group just wants you to go away.
Another problem is that external commentators often punctuate their criticism with stuff like "Stupid Americans." or something like that, which re-targets their issue against all individual Americans. Hearing "Bush is a fucking moron" is one thing; hearing "America is so fucking stupid" is an insult on a personal level.
So that's the way I see it. If you are external to the group you have every right to complain, but there is a bit more burden of proof on your side that you aren't just a loudmouthed moron. It's too easy to hate something you're not part of; I can't assume that you aren't just running your mouth and that you actually have something intelligent to say.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-02-10 06:23 pm (UTC)If an American bashes America, it's because they're frustrated with the state of affairs.
If a non-American bashes America, it's often to give themselves a sense of superiority. In bashing a group external to their own, they "elevate" theirs.
One more reason that the burden of proof of their intentions is higher for non-Americans bashing our country.
It isn't just about America/Canada anyway. The same stuff happens internally in our country. Stupid Democrats! / Stupid Republicans!. In that case though, these are splinter groups inside a larger group. We're all still American, we just rally into sub-groups in order to facilitate inflating our sense of superiority. This is why you don't hear Americans bashing Canada too much; we're too busy beating on each other, especially with a renoB like Bush in office. I don't know much about Candian internal politics, but it seems like they don't have the same sort of insane party/politics issues so their favorite target is us.