I am not surprised that others were taken aback by such a display of Canadian nationalist spirit.
Canadian’s were too. It’s somewhat, well, not very like us. But something about these Olympics, or maybe the torch relay, who can say? Or maybe it was just our time? But, as diverse as we are, and far flung from each other, there we found ourselves, sharing something, a great commonality, even if only over something as trivial as sport.
It was a galvanizing moment for my country. In talking to others, I find they are struck by the same thing. People who haven’t sung the anthem since leaving school, were singing it along with the audiences for the medal presentations.
We seemed to be not just enjoying the sensation for ourselves but enjoying that we were sharing it together.
I don’t know how much of the Canadian coverage you got to see but there was a particular newsbroadcaster who kept saying he’d covered 13 Olympic games and never seen anything like it. Canadians are not, traditionally, very nationalistic, lots of people were taken aback by it.
It matters not. If the Olympics, (and a very successful one for us, gold medal record and all) aren’t an occasion for such harmless displays, then I can’t imagine what is.
Exactly. One of the things I love about my adopted country is the general lack of flag waving. That said, if you’re ever gonna be patriotic, the Olympics is a good time. Plus is was pretty cool when all the people on the bus sang ‘O Canada’ together.
Sure, Sir John A. Macdonald was the first PM, but it’s also known that he had a taste for booze, and his wife rode through the Rockies on the cowcatcher of the train. (Cite for both.) Admired, yes; and deservedly so, but definitely not the reverence that George Washington gets from Americans.
Yeah, but Brian’s always saying shit like that. Plop him down next to a bunch of seniors lawn bowling and he’d go on a long monologue about how it was the most remarkable thing he’d ever seen. Gotta love the guy.
In the 1970s and 1980s, when television stations still signed off for the night, those in Buffalo and Rochester concluded the broadcast day with the Star Spangled Banner and Oh Canada. Those in Hamilton and Toronto signed off with Oh Canada and God Save the Queen.
I wasn’t there so I don’t know how this went on the ground, but when I saw the stands were full of people from other countries visiting Canada, I was very pleased by that, too - “Hey, welcome to our party! Enjoy yourselves!*” was how I felt.
I think maybe others forget how young Canada is as a nation, too. How we were 30 years ago isn’t how we’ll be 30 years from now. We’ve been bemoaning the lack of Canadian identity outside of “not US American” for a long time now; now we’re supposed to bemoan our excess of Canadian national pride at something as singular as hosting the Olympics? No way, man. Not gonna do it.
All the visiting nations had to do to increase their visibility was to hand out their own nations’ flags to Candians. Hell, we’ll happily wave anything at a party.
In fairness, Sir John A. MacDonald did not, prior to taking office, lead an army through an almost impossibly difficult war of independence against the greatest military power on the planet, almost entirely through sheer determination and force of will. He also didn’t turn down a kingship.
I think MacDonald is underrated, but Washington is revered for good reason. The guy was kind of weird and had his foibles, but he was legitimately the number one reason the USA became the USA.
My gawd! Do you read that type of stuff for a living? I mean looking at the entire page shows line after line of process and direction. If this and that, OR not this and maybe that, then goto there. It makes non-top down computer programming look elementary. But, a death panel by any name ;).
But would you invoke him or any other American founder as an authority on policy today? Would you argue fer or against something based on what a dead bewigged guy wrote, or argue fer or against based on the matter at hand? Who cares what someone thinks a bunch of slaveowners would have to say about gay marriage or health care if they were around today? It’s irrelevant. WWGWD? Who cares?
I think it is a matter of drawing a distinction between understanding how long-standing values need to be considered when making a legislative or judicial decision, and simple argumentum ad auctoritas by touching on a great leader or a holy book.
No, 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. Even those who call back on what the Founders said usually invoke Jefferson, Hamilton, or some of the more intellectual revolutionaries, rather than Washington - Washington was more a man of action than words - and it’s usually in reference to what the Constitution means and hey, it’s fair enough to talk about what the guys who wrote it meant.
If the Americans want to worship George Washington and we don’t want to worship John A. MacDonald, I don’t see why either decision is righter than the other. The two countries were not founded the same way, were not founded for the same reasons, were not founded at the same time, were not founded under the same circumstances, and aren’t the same now. There’s no particular reason why there should be equivalence between the way Americans treat their first head of government and how we treat ours.
And that really goes back to the OP; the problem with Gell LeBreton is that he needs to shut the fuck up about other people’s countries. If some other country is invading its neighbours of committing hideous atrocities that’s one thing, but the manner in which it chooses to peacefully celebrate its independence and identity, or for that matter run its day to day affairs, is their business and not mine.
I’ll be the first to admit way too many Canadians are WAY too quick on the trigger to blather on and on about what’s wrong with Americans and the USA, and I make an effort to (a) not be one of those assholes and (b) tell such assholes, in polite terms, why they might want to be less assholesque. But Gell LeBreton’s idiotic blather isn’t a case of turnabout being fair play. It’s just one more braying jackass, and they all sound the same no matter their passport.
