Being a Canadian on a US Politics forum

[Danny]

Recently, I have had to fend off a number of jabs from users who don't believe a Canadian should have an opinion about US Politics. While I understand where the sentiment is comming from, there are some things that Americans simply do not understand and I would like to try to clear it up as best I can.

The US is the lone Superpower in the world. What happens in the US affects the rest of the world so naturally people would be interested in US Politics who are not from the US. I think most Americans know and understand this however.

Canada is a special case in my opinion. We are the US's largest trading partner, share the longest undefended border in the world with the US, share defence responsibilities of North America with the US, our militaries train together on a regular basis, our sports teams play each other and we share essentially what is the same quality of life.

If you looked at a photo of suburban Toronto for example side by side with one from any large American city you would probbaly need a label to tell which photo is which. If you did a similar comparison from suburban UK or France or Australia it would be very obvious which one is which.

So we've established that we are very very similar peoples. Because Canada has a population of 30 million vs 300 million for the US it goes without saying that Canada isn't all that influential in what goes on in the US. It does not go both ways though. Alot of what happens in Canada is because of the US. Movies, products, celebredies, sports teams, cars etc many of which come form the US are taken as every day commodoties in Canada without even thinking twice about it.

But we have different governments so why should Canadians care about what happens int he US? A photo is worth a thousand words so I will let this photo do the talking. It is a snapshot of my morning paper today (click to enlarge).



We see that 95% of the entire front page is on Rumsfeld's resignation and the Democratic congressional gains. Now honestly...can you tell me any American city that would devote any portion of their front page to the Canadian defence minister resigning? What about even the Canadian Prime Minister stepping down as just happened last year? I don't think either of those events would make it on the front page or even near the front page of a single US newspaper.

That is the reason why I understand American's aprehension about Canadians being vocal on US politics. Americans don't involve themselves in ours so they feel the sentiment shoudl be reciprocated. Unfortunately, they do not understand just how much the USA plays a part in Canadian lives. There are not many Canadians who'd like to admit that for fear of loosing their national identity but I cannot ignore the facts.

So please, the next time you feel like throwing a jab at a Canadian form being on the forum please think of this thread and give your northern brothers and sisters some slack. We are just like you in many ways.

[beforreal]

So you want to jump on the band-wagon huh?

Stop looking at the US as a super power andbut rather just as another country. And if you spend an inordinate amount of time looking at what the US is doing rather than whats happening in Canada ...lets just say you've gotten bit by the "Tom Cruise" bug!

The reason why the US cannot fix the mess in Iraq right is because of our arrogance. We believe that everybody wants to eat hamburger and pretend their Tom Cruise ..and when we find someone who don't ..we call them a terrorist.
Notice we're not asking the Iraqis what they want?

Your just feeding into that arrogance ... by confusing the US with God.

[imported_Speakeasy]

So you want to jump on the band-wagon huh?

Stop looking at the US as a super power andbut rather just as another country. And if you spend an inordinate amount of time looking at what the US is doing rather than whats happening in Canada ...lets just say you've gotten bit by the "Tom Cruise" bug!

The reason why the US cannot fix the mess in Iraq right is because of our arrogance. We believe that everybody wants to eat hamburger and pretend their Tom Cruise ..and when we find someone who don't ..we call them a terrorist.
Notice we're not asking the Iraqis what they want?

Your just feeding into that arrogance ... by confusing the US with God.

What?

Anyways, Danny, I'm sure most of the posters here have no problem at all with our northern neighbors giving their 2 cents. This is a US Politics forum for everyone, not just US Citizens, and some people just need to realize that.

Just remember, no matter how many times people may tell you to be quiet because you're Canadian, that will never ever lead to you being removed from the site.

You're just as welcome to be here as anyone else.

[imported_Mrs. M]

Danny, we do have several Canadians on the forum that aggravate the hell out of me. I don't mind that they have an opinion but it's the way in which they present it that pisses some off. I enjoy reading your posts, as well as Mad Michael's but people like bcbailey contribute nothing to the forum with their BS.
You just keep posting and ignore the idiots that say you shouldn't be here!

[Billy1382]

Recently, I have had to fend off a number of jabs from users who don't believe a Canadian should have an opinion about US Politics. While I understand where the sentiment is comming from, there are some things that Americans simply do not understand and I would like to try to clear it up as best I can.

The US is the lone Superpower in the world. What happens in the US affects the rest of the world so naturally people would be interested in US Politics who are not from the US. I think most Americans know and understand this however.

Canada is a special case in my opinion. We are the US's largest trading partner, share the longest undefended border in the world with the US, share defence responsibilities of North America with the US, our militaries train together on a regular basis, our sports teams play each other and we share essentially what is the same quality of life.

If you looked at a photo of suburban Toronto for example side by side with one from any large American city you would probbaly need a label to tell which photo is which. If you did a similar comparison from suburban UK or France or Australia it would be very obvious which one is which.

So we've established that we are very very similar peoples. Because Canada has a population of 30 million vs 300 million for the US it goes without saying that Canada isn't all that influential in what goes on in the US. It does not go both ways though. Alot of what happens in Canada is because of the US. Movies, products, celebredies, sports teams, cars etc many of which come form the US are taken as every day commodoties in Canada without even thinking twice about it.

But we have different governments so why should Canadians care about what happens int he US? A photo is worth a thousand words so I will let this photo do the talking. It is a snapshot of my morning paper today (click to enlarge).



We see that 95% of the entire front page is on Rumsfeld's resignation and the Democratic congressional gains. Now honestly...can you tell me any American city that would devote any portion of their front page to the Canadian defence minister resigning? What about even the Canadian Prime Minister stepping down as just happened last year? I don't think either of those events would make it on the front page or even near the front page of a single US newspaper.

That is the reason why I understand American's aprehension about Canadians being vocal on US politics. Americans don't involve themselves in ours so they feel the sentiment shoudl be reciprocated. Unfortunately, they do not understand just how much the USA plays a part in Canadian lives. There are not many Canadians who'd like to admit that for fear of loosing their national identity but I cannot ignore the facts.

So please, the next time you feel like throwing a jab at a Canadian form being on the forum please think of this thread and give your northern brothers and sisters some slack. We are just like you in many ways.

For the most part I feel 99% of the Americans don't mind our opinions at all. Even most of the ones that disagree with my views don't do so because I am Canadian and rarely is that brought up. I think if a Canadian comes in being self-righteous generalizing Americans and telling them how their country is horrible and tells them how to fix it in a put-down sort of way, they will be defensive and rightfully so. I am a firm believer that Canadians and Americans are no different. The differences lie in the regions. For example, as a Maritimer, I have more in common with someone from the New England states than someone from Alberta, and some from Alberta has more in common with someone from Western state than someone from the Maritimes. Our ancestors were the same people, and aside from the different political systems we are the same.

As for the picture of the paper. That is Canada's fault. We are far too unaware of our government and too concerned with the US government. Harper gets a free ticket here while he destroys our country and we bitch about Bush. A majority government in Canada has more power over us than the President has over the US. Do we care? No. There are issues, important issues in this counrty right now but what was one of the biggest at election time? feelings towards Bush. We should have Harper on the front page, or at least something Canadian. It is our fault it is there and it makes our people ignorant and arrogant. We are too smug as it is, our media only feeds that. We should demand we get more Canadian issues in our media, we should demand less attention to american politics and more to our own. We ask for what we get, the US doesn't impose it so much as we beg for it. We choose the American media because it's better. CBC only makes one good show, Hockey Night in Canada, although the news can be good too, but the sitcoms and shows are junk. Why watch those when we can watch Seinfeld. Now with shows like 24, Will and Grace, even back to Family ties, we see Canadian actors on the popular shows. They make reference to Canada a lot too, on Seinfeld, Kramer was tapping Canadian Parliament on C-Span and he watched the CFL, Nova Scotia was even mentioned in Friends. Just to see those little tidbits is better than watching Due South or North of 60.

I have had many experiences with Americans and very rarely have they ever pissed me off, and still far less than Canadians piss me off (ie: those who voted for Dictator Harper). I enjoy this site, and I say a lot here. A lot of it is not agreed with and argued quite a bit, but I never feel as though it is because I am a Canadian that they disagree. On the rare occasions that it has happened where someone has tried blast me on being Canadian, plenty of Americans have argued back with them on it.

Despite the US part of the name of this site, there are many world issues and it is very much a site for everyone and most of the people have no problem with that.

[Samantha]

The Americans that tell Canadians they have no say, are extremists and you should just ignore them. They are the ones that agree with the Republican fear mongering, dirty tricks and war profiteering. They are wrong before they even open their mouths, errrr touch the keyboard.



And to Mrs M - ain't nothing wrong with bcbailey.

[imported_Mrs. M]

The Americans that tell Canadians they have no say, are extremists and you should just ignore them. They are the ones that agree with the Republican fear mongering, dirty tricks and war profiteering. They are wrong before they even open their mouths, errrr touch the keyboard.



And to Mrs M - ain't nothing wrong with bcbailey.

Wow, Sam, pretty nasty post for someone who's been proven wrong so many times herself.

As for bcbailey, his only friends on this board are other extremists like yourself. Most sensible people find he's nothing but an obnoxious US-basher.

[imported_Cato]

As for the picture of the paper. That is Canada's fault. We are far too unaware of our government and too concerned with the US government.

A very eloquet and incisive post, Billy. You took the words right off my keyboard.

Personally, I have no problem with anyone's opinion - be they Canadian, European, Asian, whatever. Everyone has their own opinion and I applaud their courage in speaking it. However, I just don't understand this pre-occupation everyone has with our government and our country. It's our government. It's our country. You have no representation here. You can't effect any change, though you may be a catalyst.

You can argue, as Danny as, that we're the only super-power, and what we do affects you as well. But, together you are orders of magnitude more powerful than the US. If we ever get out of line, I would hope you wouldn't hesitate to rectify the matter.

In the meantime, "look to thine own selves". Fix your own houses before demanding we fix ours. Yeah, I'm sorry we have great movies, products, celebrities, sports teams, and cars. But we're not forcing you to buy anything. If you don't like our influence, stop being influenced by us.

Mrs. M, be careful or you'll be accused of insulting Samantha. (Please, ignore her insult ladden post.)

[MattLarson]

Suck it up Danny, suck it up. Breathe.

Matt

[Billy1382]

A very eloquet and incisive post, Billy. You took the words right off my keyboard.

Personally, I have no problem with anyone's opinion - be they Canadian, European, Asian, whatever. Everyone has their own opinion and I applaud their courage in speaking it. However, I just don't understand this pre-occupation everyone has with our government and our country. It's our government. It's our country. You have no representation here. You can't effect any change, though you may be a catalyst.

You can argue, as Danny as, that we're the only super-power, and what we do affects you as well. But, together you are orders of magnitude more powerful than the US. If we ever get out of line, I would hope you wouldn't hesitate to rectify the matter.

In the meantime, "look to thine own selves". Fix your own houses before demanding we fix ours. Yeah, I'm sorry we have great movies, products, celebrities, sports teams, and cars. But we're not forcing you to buy anything. If you don't like our influence, stop being influenced by us.

Mrs. M, be careful or you'll be accused of insulting Samantha. (Please, ignore her insult ladden post.)

Yup.
I choose to watch your sports and your TV. Hockey is my main one obviously but I love NFL football more than the CFL (but it is still good). Nothing forces me to like it, I just choose to. Plus we have that own problem here. I live on the East Coast. In my country my province has no voice. NS cannot influence anything. The West and Ontario get to make all the rules and they give us the shaft. We are forced even to like the wretched Toronto Maple Leafs in hockey, though I will die before our sports networks turn me to a leaf fan. We have big problems here at home. I agrue them on our news sites and I follow Canadian politic more closely than any other. If every Canadian did so they would see we have many similar problems to the US and therefore we can only discuss on the same level, not put down.