Quote:
Originally Posted by nik-
I like Americans, but in general I think they have a problem questioning themselves and get overly defensive and illogical when someone doesn't think the US is the greatest country in the world. I think part of the problem is a lack of education about other countries. When you realize you're not that special, I think you start acting more reasonable. This goes for people and countries.
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Agree.
To me it is the education, and the attitude that prevents them from questioning themselves. Over time, their people will come back to earth. They kind of have this brash arrogance but it doesn't ever really seem like it's coming from that person. It always sounds like it's this brainwashed recycled line that their parents or teacher or movie told them.
I was in Vegas recently talking to some chick about the States, and I was treading very carefully about the topic. She was blabbing about how they were the greatest or some ####. I didn't want to insult her, but I just don't think she really understood a lot about the world outside of the U.S.. In general, I never thought firing up a debate about all that plagues her country was a very sensible thing to do, and I thought about how I would feel if a stranger came to Canada and did so.
I remember hearing a stat once, that Americans tend to travel within their country, whereas Canadians tended to visit outside their country. Americans obviously have a lot more to see in their country, but I think travelling is uncomfortable for the average American, raised in what they believed to be the best country in the world and then landing in a place where your faced with the reality that maybe that just isn't completely true.
In my career I have worked for Americans and been friends with many Americans. People are people.
But I'm not sure what's worse, listening to an American drone on about having the best country in the world, or listening to a Canadian act superior, telling the Americans their country sucks (when it doesn't in the least) and by extension behaving very un-Canadian. If we could somehow deport Iginla I'd vote "yes", as his attitude and demeanour in this thread are very unbecoming of what a Canadian is and should be. The reason a person can differentiate themselves as a Canadian, is because you're not supposed to act like an #######. What I find myself able to feel proud about as a Canadian, you just took all those characteristics and #### all over them, and then lit the #### rag on fire, probably with a Canadian flag. Maybe grow up, realize there are no hard and fast truths about anything, and that the problems facing all countries, the U.S. not exclusively, are complex and historically borne.
All of this not to mention the fact that if you get off while kicking a friend when they're down, you're not doing yourself or anybody else any favours, you're basically just a ######bag. Whoops broke my own rule, I guess that's a hard and fast truth.