Quote:
Originally Posted by PowerPlayoffs06
Sticking with my RCMP example, when I see an officer sporting the familiar RCMP uniform I think Canada. When I see a Sikh officer with his turban, I think India under Brittish occupation. For me the turban instantly sways the image to that of an Middle East orientation and not Canadian.
A question for you: What symbols, objects or traditions can you identify that are clearly and unquestionably Canadian other than our flag? Something that could be seen in a foreign country and the people would instantly relate it to Canada? I can think of a few solid ones.
Now think of Germans, Italians, Mexicans, Africans, the French, Scots, Irish or English to name a few... How many cultural icons can you identify with any of those? Dozens.
My complaint isn't so much the erosion of Canadian culture, since the country is so young that we've never really had one, as it is that there's no real chance for a distinctly Canadian culture to develop because we so freely embrace foreign cultures and encourage them to maintain the lifestyles of their homelands.
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1. When I see the red serge, I think of the Canadian RCMP. I do not look at the head of the person, I do not look if the person is male or female, I do not look if the person is white Caucasion or of some other ethnic background. It is the red serge. And it is the riding knickers. But mainly the red serge.
Tell me, when you think of RCMP, do you also expect everyone to be riding on a beautiful black horse with a white star on its forehead too? And what if one of those horses would have a larger white star than the other horse? Or perhaps one horse has a slightly different sock on its foot than the other (sock being any white coloring the horse might have by its hoof) Does that make one horse an RCMP horse and the other one not, even if both are being ridden by an RCMP officer wearing their red serge?
Minor differences do not make one "authentic" and the other "less authentic".
2. Please elaborate.
3. Well if as you say, we have never really had a culture, then how is that non existant culture being eroded? You hit the nail on the head when you said Canada is a young country. We are in the midst of building who we are and who we will become. Ask in another couple of hundred years what our culture is, what symbols define Canada on the international scene, you might have a more definitive answer. Then again, because we are a nation built on other cultures, you might not.