Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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My sister works as a teacher in Denver. She often comments about how little Americans know about thier country and especially Canada. Some kids still think we have Cowboys and Indians up here and that we live in Igloo's in the winter.
I still remember while travelling down into the States I came across 4 ppl who believed I had crossed an ocean body to get there. ...Yes, I did tell them I was Canadian. Oy.
I went to college predominantly with Americans though and found that overall we're pretty much the same ppl.
Too bad your national anthem is only the third best out there, after Canada's and Russia's.
Patriotism aside, Canada's anthem really isn't that great from a musical perspective. I'd rank Russia and France 1-2 when it comes to quality national anthems.
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I've worked in about 40 States over the years. I've drank beers with a lot of nice people, but some of them were completely ignorant about the world outside of their borders, hell some we're completely ignorant of their own country. I had one guy from Texas argue with me that New England was a State.
I'd say less than 20% knew where Calgary was. You name off any city with 1 million + people in it in the USA and I'll have an idea where it's at.
Maybe Global geography should be a mandatory class down there. I can only blame the education system down there I guess.
Btw, the Southern states are my favorite to work in. Awesome people live down there!
I've traveled extensively through the US and have noticed the exact same thing. Some of the people have just a complete and utter lack of understanding of anything outside of their own part of the country, and that's something I've never encountered to that degree in Canada or anywhere else for that matter. I can't count the number of blank stares I've gotten when trying to explain to someone where Vancouver is (even a few months after the Olympics). Even when I tried to use Seattle as a point of reference most people were still confused so it's not even a country thing. These people just had no clue.
What's crazy is that a lot of this has come when talking to otherwise intelligent and reasonable (but exceptionally ignorant) people.
When I lived there, the lack of geographic knowledge was shocking to me, bewildering in fact. And it was not just your average dolt, even the highly educated simply did not know much about anything outside their own borders. I found it really frustrating.
I did learn some important things about Canada from Americans though. The weather in Canada is the same across the entire country, doesn't matter where you live. When the power fails in a Canadian city, it fails across the entire country. We all speak French. We don't have a lot of technology here.
How are you guys inundated by American media? It's an honest question. I would think that the American media wouldn't have a presence in Canada unless it was profitable and it wouldn't be profitable if there wasn't an audience for it there. The few times I have been to Canada have been on vacation where I pretty much didn't turn on the TV. Does American media have a large presence there?
Ffs, let's just lock this thread and move on shall we?
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When I'm down there and am asked where I'm from, I'll say "Calgary" and leave that hanging, with no additional help like "Alberta" or "Canada."
Then I'll just wait to see what happens.
I'd say that 9.5 times out of 10, Americans I encounter have heard of Calgary and know where it is.
In the 70's and 80's, that was definitely not the case. Canada was definitely not on the radar then and certainly not western Canada.
On the other hand, in a rural part of Georgia a couple of years ago, in discussing something with an obviously prosperous and intelligent business lady, she asked if I knew someone named Bob in Toronto, even after I'd said "Calgary." Lady, one is a city of five million, the other is a city of one million and they're about 2,000 miles apart. That's like asking someone from Los Angeles if they know Bob in New York. That was funny somehow, someway.
I was in Kerrville, Texas a couple of years ago standing around when a middle aged fellow meandered nearby real friendly and asked me some question about the local university basketball team. Basically a surefire conversation starter in that part of the world. My blank face and clear lack of enthusiasm for the subject material followed by a shrugged shoulders and statement "Don't really know. Don't follow US college sports. I'm from Calgary" caused his face to go into instant confusion followed by distaste. I think he hastily left because he was pretty sure I was gay from that moment on. Also, I didn't feel threatened and didn't wish I was packing heat to deter his unwelcome question.
Cowperson
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Dear Lord, help me to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am. - Anonymous
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I'd say that 9.5 times out of 10, Americans I encounter have heard of Calgary and know where it is.
That is drastically different to my experiences. I'll start with Calgary, Alberta and that has a 10% success rate, I'll move to north of Montana and even that has only a 75% success rate.
Been down to States quite a bit for work in the last couple of years and there's is definitely a lack of global, or even continental knowledge. I knew more about other parts of their country and US current events just because I had been there for work...for a few days. While their specific local knowledge would probably outweigh mine, there did seem to be an attitude of 'if it doesn't directly affect me immediately, I don't care to know or learn about it'
As well, while training them to do something new, or even just a different way, there was a lot of pushback. As in 'if this was the best way to do a task, I would already be doing it that way, I know better'.
I lived in the U.S. for over a decade, I rarely if ever met anyone that had heard of Calgary. If they had, they knew about it because of the Calgary Stampede, but still had no idea where it was.
i insult americans any chance i get. i gotta think that on a per capita basis we are the dumbest first world nation. never have i seen a society embrace stupidity like we do.
Every society/country has stupid people. Canada has Newfoundland. The US just happens to have the South. And, assault weapons. Gays can't marry in most states, but everyone has the right to own an uzi. :/
Traveled a fair bit and can honestly say only ran into one "you have to be kidding me moment". I was at a football game in Seattle and an Oregon Alum, once I told him I was from Calgary, asked if for my post secondary I communted to Montana. I told him we had almost a million people and he asked if we had schools. I really didn't know where to go from there and just commented about the game.
I've worked in about 40 States over the years. I've drank beers with a lot of nice people, but some of them were completely ignorant about the world outside of their borders, hell some we're completely ignorant of their own country. I had one guy from Texas argue with me that New England was a State.
I'd say less than 20% knew where Calgary was. You name off any city with 1 million + people in it in the USA and I'll have an idea where it's at.
Maybe Global geography should be a mandatory class down there. I can only blame the education system down there I guess.
Btw, the Southern states are my favorite to work in. Awesome people live down there!
I'm similar spent a lot of time in the US between travel and work and agree about the lack of knowledge when it comes to global geography , with that said most are interested to hear about it.
The thing is it doesn't offend me that much. Maybe it's because I'm used to it growing up in rural Alberta and the clueless look you get from the average American when you say you're from Calgary is the exact same one you get from the average born and raised Calgarian or Edmontonian when you say you are from Spirit River, Cereal, or Irma.
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This clip from "The Newsroom" sums it up perfectly, IMO. (NSFW - Some f bombs)
I think the biggest problem with the U.S. is that the number of people there that are completely ignorant to the fact that there are serious issues with the country seems to be a lot higher than pretty much every other country in the world. Don't get me wrong, there is a ton wrong with Canada, but most of the people here realize it and can admit to it; hence our relatively large swings in politics.
I have spent a lot of time in the U.S. as well, and it seems to me that a higher than average amount of the population just tow the party line. They honestly believe that it's the best country in the world by a large margin and are happy to chant "USA, USA" while their society crumbles around them which comes off as arrogance to the rest of the planet.
All of that being said, however, there are a bunch of things that I envy about the States. Number one on the list is massive amount of options and competition there is for everything. The amount of retail, television, cell phone providers, etc. that is available down there is amazing and it drives me crazy how the government up here protects the losers we are forced to deal with every day.
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My knowledge of Spirit River is that they make good hot dogs but charge too much for gas. Really though I thnk a lot of Canadians are pretty clueless when it comes to geography. 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.
