Quote:
Originally Posted by seattleflamer
Sorry for the long post but trying to help Sowa understand the hate:
I straddle the border and live and work in Seattle/Vancouver. As well, I've lived in NYC and 5 different provinces while travelling around the States on vacation and business since the 90's. From my experience, I would say most Americans have a neutral to a positive attitude towards Canadians.
They find Canadians to be friendly, nice and very similiar to Americans if they know anything at all. Usually it is a conversation killer because they don't know much about the country. There is a perception that we speak French and English equally well..haha..and liberals love our healthcare while conservatives don't. They ask about the high taxes and more recently the oilsands.
Posters like Montana Moe and Sowa are typical American in that they don't understand that Anti Americanism is part of the Canadian national identity. In fact, it is the very definition of Canadianism unfortunately that goes back to the Revolutionary war.
The irony of course is how Canadians love American culture via the internet, movies, tv, music, shopping, American products and prices. Canadians are and have been economically dependent on the the States since Confederation even to the extent that trade between the provinces and the US is easier than interprovincial trade because of artificially created provincial tariffs.
Canadians compare themselves on every level to America that borders on paranoia like daily local news updates on how the loonie is doing versus the greenback. You don't see that in the States even in border towns.
I think Americans would be shocked and confused how disliked they are by their closest relatives since we are so similar. A typical American see Canadians in the same view as a New Yorker would see a Washingtonian...American in all but name. Certainly differently than the perception towards Europeans or Mexicans.
Canadians OTOH essentially have a built in envy and an inferiority complex that is manifested by a need to point out how bad and stupid Americans are at any opportunity to compensate.
|
You pretty much nailed it. If you were to ask a Canadian what it means to be "Canadian" the typical answer would almost always be "not American." There has always been a sort of identity crisis among Canadians. I think a big part of that is because Canadians are just as ignorant as Americans. As a history major I find it extremely disappointing how little Canadians know about their own country. We have an interesting past that should be celebrated, not hidden away. There is a lot more to this country then simply being "not American."