Canadians always seem to look down on Americans, yet at the drop of any mention of Canada in the US media, they jizz their pants. There is still a ton of insecurity and need to gain acceptance. Educating Americans on Canada seems like the job of every Canadian. When it comes to this issue, Canadians come across insecure as hell.
And last but not least, there ARE two Americas. Don't compare what you see in the midwest to what you see in NY or Boston or SF. They are separate countries and separate mindsets.
..Really? I've yet to experience this--and here I am doing all the work myself.
Some random thoughts from a guy who grew up in Canada and lived the last 8 years in NY (keep in mind though, NY is NOT the US) and has an American wife.
America is just the extreme version of Canada. What's better is a lot better, and what's worse is a lot worse.
People there don't hate Canada, disrespect Canada, or dislike Canada. They just don't care about Canada. It would be like asking you what you thought of Singapore. They know that Canadians like hockey. Montreal is a great party town, and that Toronto is the capital of Canada.
As a Canadian, it can be frustrating to think how someone wouldn't care about their neighbor. But don't worry, they don't care about a lot of countries. New Yorkers don't even care about America.
Most Americans are functionally stupid. Smart about what they need to know....but don't give a crap about anything they don't, and don't care. That's the bad news.
The good news is that America also has some of the smartest people in the world. They run things even if the other 90% are morons. They used to be a lot better at attracting these smart people however, but its still an amazing hive of really smart people doing really smart things.
Canada has dumb ignorant morons too....they are just slightly less dumb, ignorant, and moronic on average.
Americans have balls and take chances. That's the best part of America. Some of the best things in our life have originated in America because people took chances. They innovate and dream less than they used to however, which is a real shame, but still produce fantastic things.
Canadians don't really take chances, and don't dream big. That's often the worst part of Canada...the lack of balls.
Canadians always seem to look down on Americans, yet at the drop of any mention of Canada in the US media, they jizz their pants. There is still a ton of insecurity and need to gain acceptance. Educating Americans on Canada seems like the job of every Canadian. When it comes to this issue, Canadians come across insecure as hell.
And last but not least, there ARE two Americas. Don't compare what you see in the midwest to what you see in NY or Boston or SF. They are separate countries and separate mindsets.
As a dual citizen who has put in a lot of time on both sides of the border I must agree with most of what Table 5 says above. I find the biggest difference is that although both countries have some incredible heroes and some incredible morons, the U.S. tend to celebrate (maybe publicise is a better term) their morons more for some reason. The balloon boy hoax, the Kardashians, Fred Phelps etc... They also do a much better job of celebrating their heroes like Captain Sully for example. In Canada, nobody wants to seek too much attention as opposed to the U.S. where many think fame is their god given right.
Table 5's point about the extremes is a very good one I think. On a good day the U.S. is about the best place on earth to be but on a bad day you wonder how they have survived this long already. The good is very good there and the bad is very bad.
On a side note, I got back from WA where I was at a family reunion last month and to a man the Canadians all were extremely complimentary of the people down there. Way more friendly and polite than was expected from the Canadian group that came down. No matter if it was servers at a diner, gas station attendant, shop clerk etc...the attitudes were always so friendly. I was a tiny bit proud actually.
The most absurd thing I read is that Americans don't like multiculturalism, but like everyone else to blend together. I don't even know where to start on that one.
Are you kidding me?
If I have to hear anymore about "The Beaners taking our jobs" in California or "That n*gg*r is looking at me the wrong way" pretty much anywhere in the South, I'll go nuts. There are racist canadians too, but holy ####, a good half of the US is mildly to totally racist.
If I have to hear anymore about "The Beaners taking our jobs" in California or "That n*gg*r is looking at me the wrong way" pretty much anywhere in the South, I'll go nuts. There are racist canadians too, but holy ####, a good half of the US is mildly to totally racist.
I live in California and I never hear people complaining about Latinos taking jobs. That's ridiculous. You have completely misinterpreted the immigration problem in California based on, what I picture is a drunken racist ranting like an idiot. You've just stated 50% of Americans are racist, but we're the ignorant ones. Got it.
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The Mexicans are taking all the plum jobs. Everyone wants to pick fruit, do landscaping in the hot sun, be a fry cook, and haul boxes around in the warehouse!
I think in the 90's Canadians certainly had a bit of an inferiority complex. And now the tables have turned, and Americans don't like having to hear about how great things are for us, because things are just awful for many of them. Thing is though, a lot of Americans still think they have it better than everyone else, except they clearly do not.
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"Think I'm gonna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Sheeee......."
I'm amazed at the generalizations being made for a population of over 300 million people. I don't know most of them, but nobody I know is a chest pumping, we're so much better than you, type of person. We're a patriotic bunch for sure, but I know nobody blind to the problems we have in this country. There are great things about our country, but we're not perfect. Everyone I know recognizes our government is a bit of a mess and lacks true leadership. We have a border so porous we are now having Americans murdered on our soil by drug cartels. Our medical insurance combined with Obama care is a joke. We get it, there are big problems. But next time there's a disaster anywhere in the world, who is going to be the first to respond with volunteers, medical staff and money? I don't think the US is as bad as some Canadians make it out to be, which is surprising because I suspect you know us best.
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Location: Oklahoma - Where they call a puck a ball...
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ice
i'm amazed at the generalizations being made for a population of over 300 million people. I don't know most of them, but nobody i know is a chest pumping, we're so much better than you, type of person. We're a patriotic bunch for sure, but i know nobody blind to the problems we have in this country. There are great things about our country, but we're not perfect. Everyone i know recognizes our government is a bit of a mess and lacks true leadership. We have a border so porous we are now having americans murdered on our soil by drug cartels. Our medical insurance combined with obama care is a joke. We get it, there are big problems. But next time there's a disaster anywhere in the world, who is going to be the first to respond with volunteers, medical staff and money? I don't think the us is as bad as some canadians make it out to be, which is surprising because i suspect you know us best.
lmao, right.. America to the rescue--you can't even respond to your own domestic disasters in a timely fashion, so I'm quite sure the 'world' will get on without you. (And yes, you're the one bringing up 'the world' and disaster) That is just one of the many reasons you're not liked.
M...Most know that Canada is the second largest country in the world but how many know that it is only marginally bigger than the US with China not too far behind.
+350,000 km2 is "marginal"?
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Dealing with Everything from Dead Sea Scrolls to Red C Trolls
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Originally Posted by woob
"...harem warfare? like all your wives dressup and go paintballing?"
Americans have balls and take chances. That's the best part of America. Some of the best things in our life have originated in America because people took chances. They innovate and dream less than they used to however, which is a real shame, but still produce fantastic things.
Canadians don't really take chances, and don't dream big. That's often the worst part of Canada...the lack of balls.
This is an excellent point and is easily the number one thing that makes me jealous of the States. They build these incredibly huge things like Hoover Dam, Mount Rushmore, the Interstate system, and Cowboys stadium that nobody in Canada would even consider. I fully realize that the majority of these things are created to make a buck, but I don't care. It's still awesome.
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...next time there's a disaster anywhere in the world, who is going to be the first to respond with volunteers, medical staff and money? I don't think the US is as bad as some Canadians make it out to be, which is surprising because I suspect you know us best.
Honestly, this is kind of a silly and pointless rhetorical question, as I suspect that the answer is most likely "any number of the first-world nations".
In my experience, there are not great differences between Canada and the US, but the few differences tend to produce some exaggerated gaps in thinking and ideology. Most significantly, I think it is fair to say that the feelings that create the perception of Americans as brash and arrogant patriots, and Canadians as insecure and aloof likely stem from general tendencies of the citizens on both sides of the border. On the one hand, the virtuousness of American pride appears to the outside world as arrogance, and this same sense of patriotism also interprets Canadian responses as an inferiority complex.
On the contrary, I am starting to believe that a Canadian cultural distinction might be our moderation in all things that makes this one of the best places in the world to live, but also simultaneously produces a familiar sense that we are far from perfect. I think this is most clearly on display in an Olympic year—in every Olympic games, the media and the general population tend to resent the fact that we are not a more successfully competitive sporting nation. A common refrain in the media these days is the fairly disappointing lack of gold medals for Canada in these Olympics, but I sometimes wonder if the reason for that has a lot to do with a generally less insatiable pursuit of being the best. It seems to me that Canada—as a whole nation—is very good at getting a great many things right, but is not the best at much of any one thing.
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Dealing with Everything from Dead Sea Scrolls to Red C Trolls
Quote:
Originally Posted by woob
"...harem warfare? like all your wives dressup and go paintballing?"
This is an excellent point and is easily the number one thing that makes me jealous of the States. They build these incredibly huge things like Hoover Dam, Mount Rushmore, the Interstate system, and Cowboys stadium that nobody in Canada would even consider. I fully realize that the majority of these things are created to make a buck, but I don't care. It's still awesome.
The CN Tower was the tallest thing in the world for 4 decades. The Oil sands is the largest industrial project ever. Confederation Bridge is the longest Bridge over icy water.There are plenty of massive dams in Canada. Daniel Johnson dam in Quebec is almost the same height and much longer than the Hoover dam.
Plus the Hoover Dam and the Interstate System were government funded.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
+350,000 km2 is "marginal"?
157,995 km2. And that's because Canada includes ocean straits in its total area. Just counting dry land and fresh water Canada is smaller than China and the USA.
