we don’t have LL BEAN up here, thankyouverymuch. We’ll stick to ROOTS.
Yes. Yes, it is.
Two things. First, thank you for proving my point. Second, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
Lola: I personally don’t think every American fits that stereotype. I’ve been to the States enough to know that it’s as unfair a stereotype as the one of the “Canadian” who speaks only French, eats moose meat, and lives in an igloo year-round. But when people fly off the handle the way Mr. Ex did and choose to slur an entire country because of one guy, it does nothing to diminish the stereotype. As to the double-standard, it has long been my experience that being the top dog makes you a target and shooting back only makes things worse. I agree that there are double-standards all over the place, mostly set up to protect the little guy. I don’t always like them, but I have come to accept them.
Finally, as a general comment, I actually find it kinda gratifying that I’ve finally posted something that someone – anyone – noticed and responded to. And it only took 350-odd posts.
Speaking as a Western Canadian, if Ex is serious about the minefields I’d be happy to contribute $20.00. American.
Hey, I’m not Canadian. I just saw an American had pretty much given me carte-blanche to bash citizens of his country (under the guise of sarcasm), and I was childish enough to take up the offer, with, admittedly, about as much wit and panache as the OP’s criticism of Canada. I mean, you know, America, great place, great people many of whom, despite all stereotypes, have an excellent grasp of geography. But when someone leaves themselves open like that, you can’t really bitch when they get what’s coming to them.
Best. Post. Ever.
When Canada is mentioned in your media, 90% of the time it’s in terms of moose/mountie/lumberjack-stereotyping, patronizing, pat-us-on-head obnoxiousness.
Canada-bashing? I’ve heard plenty. We all heard some just recently from your ambassador to our country, Paul Cellucci, who felt the need not only to threaten us over our stance on the Iraq war, but also such purely internal policy decisions as decriminilizing marijuana.
Within our country, we get Canada-bashing from Canadians all the time. I don’t mean humility, or the self-deprecating humour that makes up most of our comedy – I mean people like a National Post columnist named David Bond who once used the word Canadian to mean “economically backward compared to the United States.” I mean that small-but-vocal group of Canadians – the Aspers, the Blacks, the Francises – who scream from the tops of our mostly-monopolized media about how we should do things like erasing the border, adopt American currency, and avoid legalizing pot or gay marriage because it will make your country upset.
I’ve said it before on this board, and I’ll say it again – Canada is in the middle of a cultural war, and in the shared space of the Internet there tends to be a lot of friendly fire. It’s not that we hate you guys, but in spite of all appearances, our two countries are very, very different.
Some people want to change that – most of us don’t. But those few tend to be our most powerful citizens, and they have a lot of help from your corporations who see Canada as nothing more than a big, rich market – once those wasteful public services and Canadian-content regulations are cleared out of the way. Struggling to keep a hold of Canadian values in the face of an economic and political onslaught against those values has made a lot of us very bitter about America. That’s what comes across in posts by Canadians as America-bashing.
:o Thank you. I didn’t think it was my best work, though. I saw some things I wanted to change after posting.
Ex claims that his original post was sarcasm, hyperbole – as if this explanation negates the emotional tones of his first posts.
I think Ex has confused sarcasm and hyperbole with satire. Satire is associated with irony and humor. Sarcasm and hyperbole are often used to injure, whereas satire is often used to inform.
Ex’s posts do not inform, educate, or enlighten. His posts are not humorous. His explanations are not credible, and it is reasonable to question his honesty.
Perhaps he is a misunderstood genius. Perhaps he merely lacks comedic training and talent. It is more likely that he knows that he posted something really stupid, but can’t admit it.
It’s everything we would expect from someone who works in “telecommunications”.
I think we need something to distract us from this futile country bashing. How about we take that minefield idea and run with it, only instead of separating the US and Canada, let’s work together to enclose Quebec.
-FK
Want to take it outside, buddy?
Great idea ! As soon as it is operational, I will take you tap-dancing in it. :mad:
Yup, get Quebec, then France. Good start. Where do I sign up.
BTW, Spiff I speak English, German and Latin. It’s not a matter of the French language, it’s the matter of the French from what I’ve seen here (The country, not Francophones)
You speak English? Judging by your writing (lack of “?” at the end of a question, mis-placed comma after BTW, dubious claim to speak Latin, inappropriate use of capitalization within a paranthetical phrase) it’s apparent that you have not yet mastered English. Perhaps you should have posted in Latin. Your entire last sentence (“It’s not a matter…not Francophones”) is incomprehensible.
In other words, your contribution fits in perfectly with most the the other posts to this thread.
Enough of this stupid bullshit.
Country bashing. I thought the general populace of the SDMB was intellectually above such nonsense. Apparently, I was wrong. Some people in this thread have truly surprised me, and not in a good way.
Joking about the odd stereotype, that’s to be expected. But there IS a line between a friendly jab about moose or hockey, and downright xenophobic obnoxiousness. And I’m saddened that a lot of seemingly intelligent posters fail to see that distinction.