Quote:
Originally Posted by Cactus Jack
We would be discussing gun laws if gun murders were a serious problem in Canada. Like murder rates, gun crime rates per capita in the US are double what they are in Canada, despite the fact that per capita we have close to the same amount of guns.
And don't call Canadians judgemental when the US is far worse. Despite many countries in Scandanavia that do well with socialism and, like Canada, have had a higher standard of living than the US for years, the United States labels these countries and looks down on them as socialists. Why do you care if socialism exists? Why is socialism a bad word in the US? Why do you care so much that they are?
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For the record, I'm Canadian residing in the US.
Canadians are judgmental. For some reason, Canadians like to point out as many flaws in the US and discuss them as though in doing so, it makes Canada better. Not to say that other countries aren't equally judgmental (including the US), but Canadians, for whatever reason, love to differentiate themselves from the US and almost define themselves based on these differences. Only my perception though.
The next paragraph is not intended to be argumentative, rather just trying to answer your question. I don't want to and I don't think there's any reason to get into the socialist v. capitalist debate in this thread. With that caveat:
I suppose socialism is a "bad word" in the US because it is the opposite of the foundations of the US system and culture. Capitalism is the driving force behind virtually every area in the US - healthcare, industry, universities, taxes, elections, etc.... To introduce socialism is tearing down that capitalist structure. It would be like introducing completely private healthcare to Canadians or promoting something that directly detracted from beer or hockey.
I think that it was compounded by the Cold War and fears of the "Red Soviets" taking over the world and all the propaganda that went along with it. There is obviously residual effects of that still in the population that grew up during the Cold War and the generation or two immediately following.