Another missive from the land of assumptive twerpdom. :rolleyes:
I’m in Taiwan, dude, and a card-carrying member of the American Club in (the Republic of) China. All white foreigners are automatically assumed to be Americans here anyway, so I don’t know what good emblazoning my luggage with a Canadian flag would do.
And I’ve had my share of locals buying me drinks, and offering invitations of a more salacious sort. What, are you jealous or something? You’ve been hanging out in the wrong part of the world, mon frère.
But I’ve never hidden my nationonality in China, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Korea or Japan–why should I? Nobody out here really cares all that much about the Iraq war. I’ve never had a single person so much as ask me a question about it.
You should never hide or be ashamed of your nationality, just know that the last 228 days of that moron in the white house can’t go fast enough!
I know how many days it is because I got a count down calendar for Christmas. A calendar of “Bushism’s”. Today’s is… “He’s kind of a-probably feeling his oats pretty good about that time” (when Rabbi Mark Borovitz met his wife. 3.3.04). Such an eloquent man!
I’m not sure it matters who wins the election, the point is Bush will be gone.
The best thing you could do would be to start a huge movement called something like, “Foreigners trying to get McCain elected president.” Make ads to support him. Be very clear that if we want the respect of conservative Canadians, we’d better elect McCain. Please get started!
I’ve not got much foreign travel experience in the last 8 years. But 5 years ago (right after the start of the Iraq war), I went to Denmark and Norway. I’m not the sort to put a flag on my backpack in the first place–I find that to be a silly and jingoistic idea (and I suspect that 90% of the people with Canadian flags on their backpacks are Americans, anyway–do lots of Canadians do that?). On the other hand, I certainly didn’t hide my nationality. And when I talked with people, they were always, always interested in talking about America, whether they were young Norwegians on the train, or the Afghani guy who waited on us at a restaurant (he was really excited to be talking to some Americans, but when I suggested that he come visit, he visibly deflated, awkwardly explaining to me the obvious point that a poor Afghani dude would never get a visa; I felt like a jerk).
I’ve talked with other folks who get to travel more than I do. They’ve told me the same thing: people in other countries are as friendly as ever, in their experience, although they often go out of their way to show off their ability to distinguish between their contempt for our government and their admiration of many aspects of our culture. And yes, this includes folks who’ve traveled in France :).
As for the OP, I get what it’s saying. Obama can bring tremendous international goodwill to the nation. That’s some diplomatic capital that we haven’t had since 9/11; I think that, unlike Bush, he won’t squander it.
I’m a (small c) conservative Canadian, and I don’t care much for your Republican party. Not that it matters much, since: A. Republicans and Democrats are virtually the same, and B. I can’t vote in your elections.
Apparently, some Democrats feel similarly. Perhaps now that isn’t such a risk, gas speculation will decrease and was in fact driven by the thought that a Hillary presidency would result in gasoline demand increases for self immolation.
(The woman polarizes more effectively than a electromagnet).
That’s basically a total myth. When I was travelling in Europe a few years ago, all Canadian-flag wearers were Canadian. 100% of them. I never met a single American with one on.
I’d guess that 90% of the Canadians I met or encountered had the flag on their luggage.
Well, when you travel through Islamic countries you may come up with a slightly different view.
As a Canadian I have never worn my flag on my backpack. But I have approached a couple of people with them on theirs, only to discover they were not Canadians at all, just nervous Americans. No biggie.
I’m just saying Europe may not be the best experience to judge by.
When I went overseas, I specifically did not wear a Canadian flag on my backpack, because I wanted to be accepted (or not) for my own traits, not my nationality.
That is so full of shit. If you’re getting spit on or called names, it’s because you’re acting like an obnoxious asshole, not because you’re an American. I was so sick of this stupid meme when I lived abroad that Americans were hated, ridiculed. So many people emailed me that they hated us “over there,” that Americans were afraid of traveling to Europe because of this, etc., etc. Maybe I was lucky, or maybe I’m just such a likeable guy, but this was my experience throughout pretty much everywhere France and eastward.
I’m not proud of any nationality, so I don’t wear any flags or national identifiers, but I freely admit to anyone asking me that I am American and not one single person anywhere ever gave me shit about it. Many people took exception to the government and GWB, but every person I met, without exception, was able to separate a citizen of the country with the policies of that country.
I mean, I was in Belgrade, on assignment, weeks after NATO/America bombed them in '99 and I freely admitted that I was an American, and had no problems whatsoever. The whole idea that Europe hates Americans is completely overblown. Completely.
I’ve been hanging out with Americans outside of the US fairly often in the past six years, both in Asia and in Europe. Didn’t notice any spitting on or name-calling.
A pubbie would be less likely to toss NAFTA than a dem, but given that doing so would hurt the USA economically, I expect that the dems are simply pandering for votes rather than actually expecting to scupper free trade.
If they do try to tinker with it, something good might come out of it (e.g. level environmental regulation across the borders), or something bad might come of it (economic downturn and Canada responding by pressing the oil button). In any event, trade is trade, and can be worked through, whereas needless invasions and killings of a great many thousands of people is something quite beyond the pale. For myself, a Canadian, I would rather suffer an economic downturn than have the Americans continue with their war in Iraq.
As far as the economies of Canada and the USA go, the pubbies have a very bad track record when it comes to government spending, which over the long term is one heck of a drain on the American economy, so if the dems are able to get things rolling again by reigning in an out-of-control government, then even if they do bugger up free trade, the overall tag-along effect will mitigate much of the damage done to Canada.
