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I meant I don't have any idea what the actual racial situation is in the USA because so don't live there and I take what I read about US race relations with a grain of salt.
It drives me nuts when people do this, no matter which side of the border it's coming from.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Canadiangirll
I meant I don't have any idea what the actual racial situation is in the USA because so don't live there and I take what I read about US race relations with a grain of salt.
So, you should probably stop making the claims you're making.
I don't watch CNN and I don't get my information from news outlets. I have no idea the actual racial situation in America however I do know at one time race was very much an issue. In Canada it never really was a big deal (apart from Nova Scotia who had some type of segregation imposed)
You have to understand something. When you read things online or get information from a third-party, it often does not accurately reflect what is actually happening on the ground. In the past few minths we have had a few white cop vs black perp issues that have made headlines. Is that really an epidemic when you are talking about a nation of 330 million? Nobody is openly being racist on th streets. Do some people have a bias? Of course. Those are due to negative stereotypes. I grew up just outside NYC. Mostly white people and I NEVER remember hearing aggresive verbal racism growing up. Human nature causes people to make blanket statments/generalizations when somebody offends them or they have a bad interactions with someone. It's easy to say that America has racism issues because of a few events over the past few months, but in reality, I really don't see it nor dos it have any affect on me. Any reasonable American knows that most people judge a person on their own individual actions and does not simply stay away from someone because of their skin color or because they talk using ebonics. Things are peaceful here. Most people just want to enjoy life, work and have fun in the weekends. YOLO
The only person who says such things - apparently you.. I've heard someone else from Alberta call Quebec Separatists terrorists in these forums... Surprising really but it is what it is...
No I didn't.
I said the FLQ were terrorists. Just sayin'.
I also fully support whatever the citizens of Quebec want to do, in or as a part of Canada.
...and if Quebec gets their little special part of confederation, you can bet your butt that BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan will be standing in line. Manitoba will remain the DMZ. (Sorry Netwit )
From his posts I sense he genuinely wishes to lives in Canada but doesn't want to leave his Starbucks-media obsessed-early 20's California culture behind which is why he hopes Canadians in his age bracket are "more american" so he wouldn't be too homesick. I don't think he realizes what life in Canada would really be like even if he was able to immigrate here. It would be expensive, he would find Canadians "aren't nearly as American" as he hoped for and he would not qualify for disability benefits in this country as what he has (Asperger's) is not even recognized as a significant disability except under special circumstances. I hope he realizes that life in the U.S would probably be a better bet.
I've actually been to Canada a lot and I have friends there so I'm basing this on my experiences. When it comes to dialect most Canadians who are over 25 or 30 have very noticeable accents while the ones that are younger sound a lot more like Americans. Dialect is a big part of identity so I think this is more than a superficial difference, though you are perhaps right in that imitating the valley girl thing may be something people "grow out of".
Still, being that under-25er Canadians grew up with Starbucks, Miley Cyrus, Walmart, NAFTA, globalization, 24 hour news, warmer winters due to global warming, a more Americanized political landscape in Canada, Youtube, and other things from south of the border it would make sense that their national identity is greatly diluted compared to old-timer Canadians born in the 80s, 70s, 60s, 50s, 40s, etc. That old generation grew up in the 90s and earlier decades when Canada was more sealed-off from American media influence and thus are less likely to have Americanized value systems.
landscape in Canada, Youtube, and other things from south of the border it would make sense that their national identity is greatly diluted compared to old-timer Canadians born in the 80s, 70s, 60s, 50s, 40s, etc. That old generation grew up in the 90s and earlier decades when Canada was more sealed-off from American media influence and thus are less likely to have Americanized value systems.
Nope.
I was born in the early 70's and was raised on my fair share of US media. We get all the US stations beamed across the border so we get NBC and CBC. All it's done is temper my belief that all media has a bias.
We were by no means sealed off from anything American.
I was born in the early 70's and was raised on my fair share of US media. We get all the US stations beamed across the border so we get NBC and CBC. All it's done is temper my belief that all media has a bias.
We were by no means sealed off from anything American.
True but Valsteele's comment refers to people born before the 1970's. I was born in the 1950's and we didn't have access to any of those stations you mentioned, until cable TV arrived on the scene.
Certainly CBC and CTV had some US shows, but nothing like today, or even when you grew up.
In those days it would of been US movies and music that most English Canadians would of been influenced by.
Not only US music though, the UK was a huge influence on the US and Canada as well.
Now how much deep is the influence is the big question. Is it mostly superficial like clothing and hair styles or does it go beyond that?
Personally I think it really depends on the person.
True but Valsteele's comment refers to people born before the 1970's. I was born in the 1950's and we didn't have access to any of those stations you mentioned, until cable TV arrived on the scene.
Certainly CBC and CTV had some US shows, but nothing like today, or even when you grew up.
In those days it would of been US movies and music that most English Canadians would of been influenced by.
Not only US music though, the UK was a huge influence on the US and Canada as well.
Now how much deep is the influence is the big question. Is it mostly superficial like clothing and hair styles or does it go beyond that?
Personally I think it really depends on the person.
I'm sure there's always been some American influence yup but it's been REALLY strong since NAFTA went into effect in 1994. Prior to the 90s/00s it was a lot more muted, today pretty much all Canadian pop culture is American. I'm sure plenty of Canadians watch shows like Duck Dynasty now, that would have been unheard of in the 80s for them to identify with American redneck culture to such a degree.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natnasci
Now how much deep is the influence is the big question. Is it mostly superficial like clothing and hair styles or does it go beyond that?
Personally I think it really depends on the person.
I think the influence goes deeper. It's not like the media influence of the United States only influences people's musical or clothes tastes in foreign countries, it also influences the way they think. I mean it's pretty obvious the success of Stephen Harper and his party is a direct result of American cultural influence. A culture that's fundamentally more conservative than Canadian culture.
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