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I meant in general, not only the media. I've been to the States so much I've lost count and this' my general concensus from what I've experienced.
I guess it depends on whether you consider ignorance to equate with prejudice. I have been to the U.S. many times and have met many Americans abroad as well. The vast majority are totally clueless about Canada and do tend to think ignorant things about Canada (igloos, year-round snow, severely underestimating the size of our cities, etc.). But I never considered any of this ignorance to be malicious in any way, so I guess that is why I don't consider it to be "prejudice".
I can count on one hand (with a few fingers left over) the instances of Americans being overtly negative/hostile/prejudiced (in my definition anyway) against Canadians.
Note that I can also count on my fingers the instances where I have met Americans (not actually living in Canada) who were even close to being decently knowledgeable about Canada.
It's retribution to the prejudice we face from Americans, really. Every time Canada is mentioned in the States, we're usually written off as a joke or nothing of importance.
According to my brother who has spent his entire life in the USA we Canadians live in a socialist Nanny state and as a consequence are no better than Communists,
Its so sad its funny.
Luv ya anyway bro..
Location: Moose Jaw, in between the Moose's butt and nose.
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Play hockey regularly in BC, some Canadians live in the dark ages (or 20 years ago), thinking that American hockey and American hockey players are for sure inferior to them, I would say that the 2 countries, are almost tied, when it comes to producing hockey talent, but sadly, the interest in the States is not nearly as intense.
I guess it depends on whether you consider ignorance to equate with prejudice. I have been to the U.S. many times and have met many Americans abroad as well. The vast majority are totally clueless about Canada and do tend to think ignorant things about Canada (igloos, year-round snow, severely underestimating the size of our cities, etc.). But I never considered any of this ignorance to be malicious in any way, so I guess that is why I don't consider it to be "prejudice".
I can count on one hand (with a few fingers left over) the instances of Americans being overtly negative/hostile/prejudiced (in my definition anyway) against Canadians.
Note that I can also count on my fingers the instances where I have met Americans (not actually living in Canada) who were even close to being decently knowledgeable about Canada.
I agree with that along with the whole "little brother" situation, but I think some of it would be also related to our exposure to America. I think a lot of Canadians are more exposed to American media, government and corporations than other countries, none of which are viewed positively. We also hear a lot about the more extreme Americans (racist, ignorant, religious zealots, etc) and don't know that many Americans personally so we don't realize how few of them are like that. I think the fact that we don't learn that much about racism in Canada in the past in school might be a factor.
@beenhereandthere: Even though the American national teams are no pushovers, the NHL has a lot more Canadians than Americans... Not sure what that has to do about the topic though.
It doesn't really bother me that Americans know so little about Canada (and the rest of the world). Why should they bother their pretty little heads? There are far too many other interesting things to hold their attention.
And Fox News is a joke. The first time I saw it (while on vacation in Mexico of all places), I literally thought it was a parody of a news program. Like This Hour Has 22 Minutes. When I realised they weren't joking, but were actually supposed to be a real news network, I lost all hope for the USA.
I wouldn't worry about Canadians hating on ya - you guys are quite evidently gobbling each other up and self-destructing from within.
There were some Canadians I talked to in Canada that admitted they have prejudices against Americans. You hear all the time about people having prejudices based on race, religion, or ethnicity, but not so much on nationality (especially between Canadians and Americans). There are definitely noticable differences but both countries are very similar also. And Canada is highly americanized. So why is it that some Canadians would be prejudiced against Americans?
You never stated what were the reasons your Canadian friends gave you, so what was it they said about it?
I disagree that Canada is Americanized. JMO.
I think prejudice is the wrong word to use, contempt might be a more appropriate word. This is something that I've talked with many Canadians about and I do think that a lot of Canadians have a certain degree of contempt for Americans but not as much contempt as many Americans seem to have for Canada and Canadian people (and the rest of the world for that matter).
So, some of the things I've gleaned from conversations with Canadians ..... I think many Canadians get tired of hearing Canada referred to by Americans as America's unaccomplished and inferior little brother that can't compare with America. I don't think most Americans realize that Canada (and most other countries) aren't trying to compare with America and wouldn't want to be comparable considering all the internal political problems and social strife that America has. Many Canadians seem to view America as having an obsessive superiority complex and doing a lot of aggressive, threatening chest thumping and tooting their horns in an effort to prove it and demanding acknowledgement of their superiority when they don't need it and don't necessarilly deserve it.
Now another thing that rubs many Canadians the wrong way is America's general lack of mundane education about worldly affairs, like referring to Canada as communists, or the country being criticized and jeered at for being a monarchy like it's some kind of crime and betrayal against American society. Another bone of contention I've noticed is that Canadians can't relate to the way America is so incredibly politically and socially divided within itself and the way American people all say such horrible things about each other as well as their elected political representatives. The character smearing and mud slinging and lies and propoganda is mind boggling. Like nobody has any loyalty to each other as a whole nation. I think it's a bit difficult for most friendly Canadians to relate to that kind of internal social hostility and wondering when the tipping point will come that you'll end up having another civil war in America cuz you all can't agree with each other on so many things.
Recognition of the importance of friendship and trade between both countries is another one. Most Americans don't seem to realize that Canada and America do the majority of their trade between each other and are reliant on each other that way, and that America gets the majority of its oil from Canada, but Americans think it all comes from the middle east. Then there's the matter of America's firearms regulations and that whole aggressive 'right to bare arms' gun culture you have down there.........
Oh, I guess I could go on with a whole lot of other things I've noticed that Canadians get choked about with America, but I'm not trying to fling accusations or start a fight - just explaining the viewpoints I've observed. I think the thing that bothers many Canadians the most about America is that America comes across as being an arrogant bully while still being so insular and isolationist and ignorant about the outside world, thinking they're the only country that counts for anything in the world because they have more superior fire power and weapons of mass destruction than anyone else. Nobody likes a bully.
No offense intended - but you did ask and those are just my observations from talking to both Canadians and Americans on the matter.
Now, just one personal opinion of my own - I think that Americans are actually afraid of Canada, that they see it as a threat or competition to their own stability, but don't recognize their own inner perception of Canada as a threat to them but rather as something to be considered beneath their regard as anything of consequence. Maybe their own contempt of Canada is their way of brushing off their inner paranoia and suspicion of their neighbour to their north???
In reality nobody is better than anybody else and nobody should have to prove superiority to anyone. Canada doesn't want to be like America and doesn't need to prove anything to America.
From the perspective of someone who is from the outside looking in, I noticed a certain level of contempt from Canadians towards Americans from my travels in the past few weeks.
In both Canadian cities I visited I ran into people who were associated with my prospective employers who made very insulting and sarcastic remarks about America when I mentioned that I was deciding between job offers in US cities and Canada. One told me to buy a bullet proof vest for my travels and another made an insulting comment about the Healthcare system. On the other hand in Kansas City, people did not seem to know much about Canada in general, but in Cambridge Massachusetts all of the comments about Canada were very complimentary.
Now I do admit that English is only my 4th most proficient language and the comments from Canadians could have been humorous in nature and the humor was lost on me not being a natural English speaker. Either way it came across as quite unprofessional to me.
As far as Americans ignorance is concerned I as a European have heard the complaints about Americans in general, but from finally having an opportunity to spend time a lot of those fears seem to be ignorant stereotypes from the Media rather than actual American thoughts and actions.
I think that ignorance is everywhere, look at these posts for example. Jambo mentioned the comments of his brother in the USA and that is horrible he thinks that, but then you have a previous poster base his or her view of Americans on a Television station Fox News to generalize an entire country of people which seems prejudiced and ignorant to me. It shows that it does not matter where you live, you can run into people who are not very well rounded anywhere.
From the perspective of someone who is from the outside looking in, I noticed a certain level of contempt from Canadians towards Americans from my travels in the past few weeks.
In both Canadian cities I visited I ran into people who were associated with my prospective employers who made very insulting and sarcastic remarks about America when I mentioned that I was deciding between job offers in US cities and Canada. One told me to buy a bullet proof vest for my travels and another made an insulting comment about the Healthcare system. On the other hand in Kansas City, people did not seem to know much about Canada in general, but in Cambridge Massachusetts all of the comments about Canada were very complimentary.
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Unfortunately, this is all too common on the part of many Canadians. Totally ridiculous and ignorant.
It is also typical of people who are very insecure in their national identity.
Most Canadians are more mature than this, but sadly a significant minority are not.
From the perspective of someone who is from the outside looking in, I noticed a certain level of contempt from Canadians towards Americans from my travels in the past few weeks.
In both Canadian cities I visited I ran into people who were associated with my prospective employers who made very insulting and sarcastic remarks about America when I mentioned that I was deciding between job offers in US cities and Canada. One told me to buy a bullet proof vest for my travels and another made an insulting comment about the Healthcare system. On the other hand in Kansas City, people did not seem to know much about Canada in general, but in Cambridge Massachusetts all of the comments about Canada were very complimentary.
Now I do admit that English is only my 4th most proficient language and the comments from Canadians could have been humorous in nature and the humor was lost on me not being a natural English speaker. Either way it came across as quite unprofessional to me.
As far as Americans ignorance is concerned I as a European have heard the complaints about Americans in general, but from finally having an opportunity to spend time a lot of those fears seem to be ignorant stereotypes from the Media rather than actual American thoughts and actions.
I think that ignorance is everywhere, look at these posts for example. Jambo mentioned the comments of his brother in the USA and that is horrible he thinks that, but then you have a previous poster base his or her view of Americans on a Television station Fox News to generalize an entire country of people which seems prejudiced and ignorant to me. It shows that it does not matter where you live, you can run into people who are not very well rounded anywhere.
This explains it very well. Almost everyone I meet thinks people in the U.S. go bankrupt twice a year due to health care costs and half of the population is shot annually because we're the wild west. I had someone tell me that when they were in Texas they refused to get out of their car and go knock on someones door because they felt that they were going to get shot because people in Texas are that crazy.
While Canadians may view Americans as having this narrow minded opinion of them (when in reality most don't know or care about Canada in a good or bad way) it's extremely surprising to me the negative stereotypes that Americans get from Canadians.
This explains it very well. Almost everyone I meet thinks people in the U.S. go bankrupt twice a year due to health care costs and half of the population is shot annually because we're the wild west. I had someone tell me that when they were in Texas they refused to get out of their car and go knock on someones door because they felt that they were going to get shot because people in Texas are that crazy.
While Canadians may view Americans as having this narrow minded opinion of them (when in reality most don't know or care about Canada in a good or bad way) it's extremely surprising to me the negative stereotypes that Americans get from Canadians.
I know this may sound harsh (and some of my fellow Canadians will hate me for it), but given the relative absence of *apparent* cultural differences between the US and Canada, and also the fact there are few really distinguishable Canadian characteristics, many Canadians unfortunately have chosen to base their national identity on a form of moral superiority vis-à-vis the United States.
The experiences some have described here are typical manifestations of the phenomenon.
It always makes me shudder around Canada Day (July 1) when inevitably we see "Canadian pride" opinion pieces in the media that focus almost exclusively on why the U.S. is bad as opposed to concentrating on why Canada is good.
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