How much do Canadians really dislike Americans? (college, income)
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Personally I care about what is going on around the country and world, but when I wake up go to work and go about my life some bible thumping idiot in Butt F*ck Mississippi is the last thing on my mind and he/she has no influence on how I choose to live my life in Boston Massachusetts.
As if Boston can provide a good example for the rest of the nation!
Last I checked I didn't say it could. Its where I choose to live for now and you choose to live in Mississippi...what exactly is so difficult to understand?
Last I checked I didn't say it could. Its where I choose to live for now and you choose to live in Mississippi...what exactly is so difficult to understand?
I'm talking about life in the United States.
CNN reports on important stories going on all around the 50 states,
sinkhole in Florida, kidnapper runs to Idaho, San Diego mayor is sexually abusing women, stop in frisk in New York City.
Does this mean every American is getting kidnapped dodging sinkholes and getting stopped and frisked by NYPD everytime we walk out the door.
No.
Our life in America is very similar to your life in Canada.
Some things are similar on the surface, but scratch that surface and you find a very different country. Different world view, different political system, different history ( we never had a wild west for instance ), more progressive socially and more liberal. Less fear mongering about " socialism " etc.
Totally different banking system, different and stronger labour laws, paid maternity leave, mandatory paid vacation time, gun control etc.
Things that seem so logical and valid to Canadians are major political battles in the U.S.
There are some Americans who feel very much at home in Canada because their own views are similar. These tend to be U.S. liberals.
The P&C forum is good for laughs but using it to gauge the pulse of the nation or inform yourself to any degree is useless. Your smarter than that Jambo, or at least I hope you are.
For me here in Canada its equivalent to sitting in the bleachers,i got very little skin in the game,its merely opinion based on the vast amounts of American media we are subjected to here in Canada.
As for this forums political section i do believe it represents a certain rightwing viewpoint that is prevalent in the USA today, that said this particular political section is a complete joke that gives me much entertainment reading just how nutty the righties can get, i really enjoy their creativity when it comes to name calling,and their ability to hate knows no bounds,,The birthers are my favorites they're totally bonkers and come off like a demographic thats suffering from collective dementia ,its a riot down there, just dont take it seriously or if you participate dont get into anything but the most shallowest of conversations,
And in case you are wondering if i were a voting US citizen i'd be a staunch Democrat..
Canadians do not really dislike Americans and I don't believe the reverse is true either. I've lived in both countries and consider Canada my home and the US my second home. We can focus on differences all we want but on a personal level, I find the people equally good. Why would a rationale person seriously dislike another person in this case? There isn't a good reason for two neighboring countries with pretty much the same origins and similar culture/lifestyle to really hate each other. We are economically integrated and have always had a more or less peaceful co-existence. We need each other and together form the best continent (North America) on the planet, at least IMO. But I won't lie and say no animosity exists on the Canadian side. It does exist but it is not serious and pretty normal in the grand scheme of things, i.e. siblings fight and tease each other growing up. Any sources of (non-threatening) animosity I believe fall under one of the following:
1 - We are so integrated with the US geographically, economically, and culturally but the US-centric mindset has undervalued our relationship. If you ask most Americans, including the Government, who the USA's closest allies are, you would get the UK or perhaps even Australia before Canada. In other words, It's hard to be BFFs when you don't call each other BFFs.
2 - We share so much culturally with the US in terms of media and entertainment that there is a need to differentiate our culture within Canada (at least some many parts). This creates a counterbalance to embracing all things USA because it crowds out all things Canadian. It is normal to want to differentiate one's self and be one's own person.
3 - We just don't understand US Foreign Policy, nor does the rest of the world really. Historic US policies/actions in the Middle East, Asia, LATAM and around the world seem much more self-serving/illogical/wrong to external viewers. Canada doesn't play this foreign policy game (at least directly) so news reports leaves one shaking their heads, as I'm sure many Americans do too as individuals.
4 - Our overall opinions are a bit different. The US is big country that is probably 51% Liberal and 49% Conservative (with the Conservatives more on the decline). Canada has a bigger % Liberal majority than the US overall, and we all know this is very geographically defined and you can't paint everyone with same brushstroke either but this will skew some viewpoints on taxes and services.
5 - Some Canadians are just ignorant, just as the US has its share of ignorant people. Some people will focus on the negatives and cherry pick news items to put down others down to make themselves feel better and the internet is a great outlet for these folks, who are a minority. Another source of ignorance is just not really experiencing the other country. When I was in the Toronto, people would drive to Buffalo to fly out, shop etc. and somehow extrapolate that upstate NY symbolizes the whole US...really? This obviously cuts both ways, see #1.
Again, most people do not dislike the US nor are most people obsessed with it either. In fact, many people will acknowledge that it does have more 'stuff' and 'excitement' and nearly everyone I know has vacationed there a few times. Everyday people have enough problems surviving day to day in either country to really care that much about the intracacies of our relationship. But no relationship is perfect and our friction between peoples remains quite light compared to the squirmishes you will see in almost any other part of the world.
Last edited by johnathanc; 08-13-2013 at 05:24 PM..
Please answer do you think everyone I'm the USA cares about politics.
And do you think Democrat voters and Republican voters never interact with each other and avoid each other like the plague?
No i dont think every one in the USA obsesses about politics .
And many Democrat and Republicans do interact with each other, usually calling each other names and degrading each others political views. You dont notice this?you dont feel many hate their duly elected leader or think half the country are welfare bums or a certain party just wants to feed the rich more money and the other party is evidently heading toward Communism?, if you dont watch FOX or MSNBC you are missing much of the media generated conflict..
Some Canadians must dislike me, because I get spam from "Canadiana Pharmacy" almost every day!
I sure hope you haven't been opening any of those emails. It's a computer virus of Russian origin - it's not even really an online pharmacy, let alone Canadian. Check it out here --> Google for further information about the virus.
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