Perhaps it’s unfair to draw comparisons from this side of the border. The difference is, the U.S. is a Great Power, with all the good and evil that comes with it, and even before we were a power we had an at least partially justified sense of being Something Special – the first big republic in human history, and all that; and then there was the high moral drama of basing our system on proclaimed ideals of freedom while keeping slaves, etc. Canada is . . . just a country. A very good country, to be sure, beautiful and free and highly civilized, and, I have no doubt, a wonderful place to live. But no history of great achievements or great crimes. No sense of historic mission or Canadian exceptionalism. Not much racism (the thing this thread is about), except just maybe some towards Indians or, more recently, Asians – but not the sort of racism that produces riots or lynchings. No history of military adventurism or imperialism – the Canucks always help out when Britain is in trouble but they don’t go around the world picking their own fights. Just a country. And I have always had the impression that Canadians are perfectly content to be just a country – a wisdom I wish my own compatriots would learn, but I see little hope of that in this year of grace.
Anyway, that’s what makes it so utterly fucking bizarre to see “Canadian” turned into a racial epithet in the States, and one that actually has nothing whatsoever to do with Canadians or with Canada.
I don’t think your impression of Canadians’ sense of history is accurate. Among other things. (Canada has little history of racism and Anti-Asian racism is particularly new? No history of race riots? I don’t know much about Canadian history, but two-second Googles give this and this, which don’t inspire high confidence in such claims)
What? Why? I grew up about 10 miles from where Cheerwine is made, and it’s a white boy drink. The grape soda thing is very true in my experience. I worked at a pizza shop in high school and almost every black person that called asked if we had grape soda. Our branch that was in a blacker neighborhood started stocking it in violation of our Coke contract because they got so many requests for it.
Because I’m curious: what, in your opinion, would count as a “great achievement” or a “great crime”? Matt posted a list of achievements, and a few more have been mentioned by other posters. But obviously, these don’t count. So once we know what counts in your book, I’m sure many Canadian Dopers would be glad of the opportunity to fight the ignorance you’ve displayed yet again.
Oh crap. Brain Glutton’s comment is going to be like the opening scene of a bad movie. It starts on a message board, then suddenly irate Canadians from Newfoundland to Victoria become determined to cause the greatest crime in the history of the world, something that will make the word ‘Canadian’ the most ominous euphemism in existence. Think The Wannsee Conference as directed by John Waters.
Fact: Canadian eugenics laws were an inspiration to and model for Hitler’s Third Reich, and because everybody knows that Canadians are above all inoffensive and nice, we were able to carry on a program of forced sterilization of undesirable breeding types (like aboriginals and poor people) into the 1970s, well after those Teutonic types were taken to task for their excesses.
Brain Glutton, I’m sure it will come as a surprise to you to hear that parts* of the rest of the world consider the US just a country. You seem to have an over-inflated sense of the United States’ importance to the rest of the world. One thing I’ll grant you, though, is that you guys cause a lot more trouble than just about anyone else; you just can’t seem to keep your fingers out of anyone else’s pie.
And no sense of historic mission? Our historic mission has always been to keep the Americans out, and we’ve done a good job of it so far.
Isn’t “54’40” or Fight!" simply one reminder of the many territorial conflicts as the Canadian subjects of the Crown tried to expand West in competition with the US? I submit that Canada was at least as impelled by the thinking of Manifest Destiny as the US had been. The reasons for the Canadians included self-defense, but that was also part of the reasoning behind the US drive to expand, as well.
Cheerwine is a cherry cola made in North Carolina. It’s like Dr. Pepper, but better. It’s hard to find outside of the region. When my uncle’s family was stationed in New Mexico, they would bring cases of Cheerwine back with them when they came home for vacations. Bizarrely enough, it’s also available in Norway, according to Wikipedia.
Hmmmm Thank you Brain Glutton. You did sound like someone entirely dismissive of Canada. Now you sound more understanding/reasonable. Being a New Zealander I fully understand the helping Britain out in trouble scenario…though being in Veitnam was helping America not England. New Zealand is also “just” a country.
Perhaps the world would be a better place if America was “just” a country.
Is it a cola? I’m not so sure. I’ve always had trouble describing it. It’s definitely not like Cherry Coke at all. It’s not very much like Dr. Pepper, but that is that most common drink to get mentioned in descriptions. It’s a cherry-flavored soda, but not just cherry. It really stands alone.
