In the US, we wish we had terrorists like the FLQ! You think there were no terrorist acts in the US prior to 1970? I’m not trying to excuse every US action since 9/11, but do you realize that al-Qaeda killed 2,996 more people in one day in the US than the FLQ killed in their history. Hell, the SLA had a larger body count and they are considered a punchline to a Parry Hurst joke not a threat. If our biggest threats were fire bombings of McDonalds by domestic terrorists, we’d have just ratcheted up the FBI, shrugged our shoulders, and build more McDonalds.
You understand that the purpose of terrorism is not to kill people, but to make your enemy upset himself so much that he changes things in such a way that he abrogates the rights and freedoms that his people have traditionally enjoyed? Your enemy changes; he’s always looking over his shoulder, trying to anticipate your next move; he is always off-guard, constantly checking to see what you might do.
The loss of two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six people is tragic, yes. But look at what it has done to you. You are afraid, and in order to assuage that fear, you have forced your citizens to give up their rights in the name of security. I would suggest that this was the goal of the Muslim terrorists of 9/11; and in that sense, they won.
Aside to RickJay: I’m not afraid of Americans. But I would suggest that they are afraid of me. Hell, they’re afraid of everybody.
Yeah, since 2009. :rolleyes:
I have never had to take my shoes off when passing through a Canadian airport security checkpoint, prior to 2009 or after.
This was quite routine in Toronto, so it did happen. I’ve had to take my shoes off in Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver, too.
And if anything beeps, it’s still the first thing they’ll tell you to do.
You may deny it to yourself, but it’s obvious that you are. It takes some pretty big fright to say things like that if too many American tourists come across the border they’ll steal our multiculturalism or turn us into murderers; that’s sheer xenophobia, not else, and “phobia” means “fear.”
You said it, not I.
I haven’t lived way up north in more than 20 years, but when I lived on the border, it was like night and day. Socially, New Brunswick took their cues from Quebec, which is as foriegn to most Americans as it would be if France were plopped in the middle of the country. And like I said before, French is the dominant language in norther New Brunswick - as in, any store you walked into, there’s about 66% chance the clerk didn’t speak English.
Southern New Brunswick was less French, but there was still a different vibe going on. I can’t reall say much about that area, as the only time I spent there was an occasional weekend for ski meet.
An odd memory: one of the biggest differences I can remember is that American kids all wore Levi’s and Canadian kids all wore Jordache jeans. I can’t explain how weird that seemed … but it was weird.
The last time I visited your country, one of your civil servants manning the little booth on the bridge asked for our papers. I was accompanied by my wife and step-daughter. Wife is a Ukrainian-born naturalized US citizen. Step-daughter is a resident alien Ukrainian citizen. I am ethnic Ukrainian born in the US. When the “nice lady” in the booth saw all those Ukrainian names, she got rather pissy. She wanted to know why we wanted to enter “her country.” When I said “to see the Falls.” She went into a long, angry rant about my “attitude” and that featured the phrase “MY country” repeated several times. Then she had my car searched.
Later discussion with Canadian citizens indicated that there is a largish immigrant population from Eastern Europe in parts of Canada and that some of the “natives” dislike them for all the standard reasons. e.g. not assimilating, talk funny, diluting Canadian culture, etc.
It seems to me that I remember hearing in some history class that during one or another of the 20th century wars you rounded up your ethnic German (or was it Italian?) residents. I concede that I might be mistaken about that, though.
Xenophobia, it appears, is no stranger in our neighbor to the north.
Not in this thread.
I completely disagree with both you and George W Bush on this, I don’t think al Qaeda gives a damn about our domestic rights and freedoms. The point of killing all those people was they thought it would cause the US to back out its military, money, and influence from the middle east. They felt we would be shocked and scared into deciding that projecting out power ther was not worth it. I doubt they care one bit how we treat our citizens or residents except in how it relates to their main goal of having the US leave.
While your definition may apply to domestic terrorist groups and separatist groups who think they can provoke such a harsh reaction from a government that it will cause an uprising of some kind, it does not apply to international terrorist organizations like al Qaeda. What we do to our own people in response doesn’t matter, it’s all about how we respond to them.
It was the the Japanese, during WWII. (But, during WWI, while nobody got rounded up just for being German, anti-German feeling ran so high that sauerkraut was renamed “liberty cabbage,” and, by one account I once read, people actually kicked dachshunds. I doubt anybody kicked German shepherds.)
That may be the best whooooosh I’ve ever seen.
Of course, German shepherds are also known as “Alsatians” – so their nationality might be debatable.
And that name change is also due to the anti-German feelings of WWI.
You might be interested to know that one of the groups we interned was Ukrainians, for a couple of years after WWI.
Not just Ukrainians and Japanese, but others too, it seems.
Why would that be relevant? You claimed Canadians are not fearful. You are Canadian. You’ve made remarks that show you are afraid of Americans, and there is no evidence you are atypical. This is compelling evidence you are wrong.
And if you are feeling insulted by the implication that you are fearful, think about how we feel. And at least we’re not saying we’re better than you.
Of course we’re going to try to prove we aren’t worse than you. If you didn’t want that, why’d you post? This is a debate forum. You will be argued with. Especially if you insult the majority of parficipants.
They interned Mennonites? Mennonites? Good grief!
Yeah, I suppose the thought’s never crossed your mind . . .
Apparently, prostitution is legal everywhere in Canada.
States-of-the-Union like that would take some getting used to . . . We’ve never been entirely comfortable with Nevada . . .