That's the reason the Star Spangled Banner brings a tear to my eye... it was written about that particular event.
Well, not precisely.
After Washington was burned, the British forces (who actually came up from Bermuda - they had been in service in Europe in the Napoleonic wars, and at conclusion of that Britain had the troops available) moved on to Baltimore, and it was in Baltimore harbour that Francis Scott Key wrote The Star Spangled Banner.
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
it really goes both ways. I worked in Richmond, Va for a few months 4 years ago. I knew more about the US than some of them, let alone Canada. I also had a ton of intelligent conversation about the differences between the two countries. The biggest thing they told me was that nothing about Canada was ever taught in school.
Ignorance know no borders, though. On that same business trip, one of my co-workers asked me what ocean was under us as we were landing in Chicago.
This is mostly in response to the Mercer vid but it applies to the thread as well.
He's asking these poor folk leading questions with a video camera in their face. How many of them, if given a few low-stress moments to think about it, would come to the conclusion that what he's saying is stupid? Nobody wants to disagree with a reporter on camera, they want to smile and wave and say they were on TV. Such a dumb segment. Let's show how bigoted Americans are by being bigoted towards them! Woo!
And outside of the US or countries you've lived in or traveled to, how much do you know about some random country out there? Name all the provinces in China -- aaaaand GO! Face it, Canada is not a big deal to most Americans and it doesn't really have to be.
Location: Close enough to make a beer run during a TV timeout
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by getbak
which I believe is in NEW Mexico.
Wait..... there's now a NEW Mexico?
[/Homer]
Five Hole does bring up a good point, and I'd like to expand on it. While many of us may find it funny, strange or ignorant to not know about Canada, is that necessarily a bad thing? What I mean is the American culture. Look at a lot of Americans; many never go more than 50 miles from their birthplace. That brings about a huge sense of community. The best example of this is high school sports. In many communities people you'll get more people attending a high school football game than we see for a CFL game.
Being focused on their own communities rather than places they never plan on visiting isn't always bad.
This is mostly in response to the Mercer vid but it applies to the thread as well.
He's asking these poor folk leading questions with a video camera in their face. How many of them, if given a few low-stress moments to think about it, would come to the conclusion that what he's saying is stupid? Nobody wants to disagree with a reporter on camera, they want to smile and wave and say they were on TV. Such a dumb segment. Let's show how bigoted Americans are by being bigoted towards them! Woo!
And outside of the US or countries you've lived in or traveled to, how much do you know about some random country out there? Name all the provinces in China -- aaaaand GO! Face it, Canada is not a big deal to most Americans and it doesn't really have to be.
or the fact that most of that vid was prob scripted...or edited, or they got lucky that gore/bush didnt bother wasting their time correcting the error of his question. the kid at the end? sounded scripted to me....
as far as the original post goes, as a guy who as encountered hundred of americans through gas station and waiter jobs, yes there are a lot of americans who just dont know anything about canada....but there are also alot of canadians who couldnt point out where delware is on a map either...
Last edited by MelBridgeman; 09-04-2007 at 12:36 AM.
And we've all learned of late that 5% of Americans can't find the U.S.A. on a map! And teenage beauty Queens think it's because some Americans don't have maps!
But hey, The U.S. has ~300 Million people. 15 million can't find their own country on a map??!! That's half the population of Canada!
I spent six weeks in Clearwater beach about 7 years ago and had a great time but i did find the Americans so uneducated in regard to anything outside of their country. I ended up at a party one night and got talking about computers. I told everyone we was getting the internet in a few years (this was in 2000) just after we get colour TV. Their replies were along the lines of "dude the internet is like so cool and OMG TV is like the best thing, they have these shows about people who like, you know live in these cool houses, its awesome". When my wife was at a cheerleading event in America, she was asked if its cold when she sleeps in an igloo and what does polar bear taste like. Her sarcastic reply that her igloo melted in the rain prompted a genuine offer to stay at the girls house while they waited for more snow. The education system in the US doesn't generally focus too much on events outside their own country.
Good question, unfortunately I find it to be true that the Americans I generally meet, don't know anything about Canada and don't care to either. I live in a border city and feel I know almost as much about American culture as I do Canadian. It always surprises me, because we do get a lot of American visitors here.
I know quite a few Americans, and most of them, by and large, are knowledgeable enough about Canada and Canadians in general. They may not be able to recite every province, our national anthem, or know much about our history, but they also know that Canada isn't a frozen wasteland full of igloos, dogsleds and polar bears. Sure there's a few idiots out there, but they exist on this side of the border, too.
For those who will insist on defending the U.S. for the fact that many people here know very little about Canada, I'll say this: plenty of people here know almost nothing about the U.S. Among the gems that I've heard from my university students:
1. The founding fathers were puritans who landed at Plymouth Rock.
2. Benjamin Franklin was the first president of the U.S.
3. In a discussion of the Vietnam war:
Student A: "Gunnar, do YOU remember the Vietnam war?"
Student B: "Don't be stupid. He was in Iceland then! Besides, he was like 15 or something."
(for the record, at the time I was like 5 years older than them, MAYBE. The point is--they had no idea how long ago Vietnam was, though in their defence I was already a haggard-looking grad student...)
Not to mention a few "civics lessons" that they obviously got from AM-band talk radio, including
1. The Constitution is based on the Bible.
2. The Founding Fathers were religious men who founded the U.S. on Christian principles.
There's all kinds of nonsense that passes for "fact"--but far worse is the vast array of things about which most of my students know nothing at all.
And is it because they're stupid? Heck no. Plenty of my students at Iowa were really, really, smart actually. But in school they learned absolutely NOTHING about
a. world history
b. AMERICAN history
c. how to write an academic paper
d. how to think critically.
It's not because there's something wrong with Americans. The public school system here is failing American children, more so in some states than others, but pretty much everywhere. It's a massive, massive problem.
