# In Which I Pit the Reporter Who Godwinizes the Vancouver Olympics **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 3, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-reporter-who-godwinizes-the-vancouver-olympics/531153 "2010-03-03T17:29:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-reporter-who-godwinizes-the-vancouver-olympics/531153/81 "2010-03-05T19:57:03Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > No Well then. > [@](#): > > and I can’t remember anyone citing George Washington as an authority in an argument on modern governmental policy, either. He’s held up as a hero, but I very honestly cannot remember a single instance, ever, when a person seriously debating an American political issue argued for X because George Washington said so. **Crafter Man** , for one. Look, I’m not stating it as a good or bad thing, just one of the differences between American and Canadian nationalism. We do not toot our horns so. We don’t need to. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Even those who call back on what the Founders said usually invoke Jefferson, Hamilton, or some of the more intellectual revolutionaries The principle’s the same, though. I picked Washington because I couldn’t think of a Canadian equivalent to Washington’s peers is all. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-reporter-who-godwinizes-the-vancouver-olympics/531153/82 "2010-03-05T20:28:52Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > I picked Washington because I couldn’t think of a Canadian equivalent to Washington’s peers is all. Sir George-Étienne Cartier was MacDonalds intellectual peer. That and Guinness. It was a much more gradual transition to full self-government (completed relatively recently by Trudeau), so rather than a handful of people making big changes more or less at one time, it was more of a progression with a person here and a person there making a big change here or there over an extended period of time. There is a whole stack of intellectuals who have made a great difference in forming our nation, but most of them are relatively unknown. For example Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine was the intellectual predecessor of Cartier, but no one has heard of the guy. More recently, there was Trudeau, but a lot of folks are not familiar with his intellectual writings fairly early on in his career, out of which rose the constitutional changes he brought in later when he ran the show. Revolutions and civil wars make for exciting history. We have not had too much of that sort of stuff up here, so by comparison the telling of our history is somewhat dull. Intellectually, I find a lot of it is riveting, but as far as the popular telling of it, it tends to be a snore. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-reporter-who-godwinizes-the-vancouver-olympics/531153/83 "2010-03-05T20:39:44Z")
Alright, face washes all around! ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-reporter-who-godwinizes-the-vancouver-olympics/531153/84 "2010-03-05T21:03:30Z")
[And once again, Muffin hangs his head in shame.] ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-reporter-who-godwinizes-the-vancouver-olympics/531153/85 "2010-03-06T01:56:15Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > And we sure don’t refer to our PM as Leader of the Free World. Look, I agree with the rest of your post, but this is just silly. For the majority of the Cold War, the US President _was_ the Leader of the Free World. Not always (or possibly even usually) a good leader, but the leader nonetheless. I have not heard the ‘title’ used recently, FWIW. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-reporter-who-godwinizes-the-vancouver-olympics/531153.md?page=4)