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When would you ever see a bunch of Canadians guys volunteering to go up against Meisha Tate and get their butts kicked. No problem for a bunch of Ozzie dudes lol..
Yeah, all this from the person that says they have never been to the US and could not name more than eleven states.
The last two sentences couldn't be further from the truth. Look at a list of common wealth countries and tell me if you really think we have more in common with them than with the US.
I really don't want to visit the U.S...
The point is I believe Canada has more in common with Australia than the U.S. The U.S. is a giant country with a totally different political landscape. Australia and Canada are smaller countries with more similar political landscape and a way smaller crime rate than the U.S. How can you argue with that? If you believe Canada and the U.S. are more similar, in what ways do you think they are more similar? I do want to hear your thoughts. I really can't find many similarities honestly. Especially when you compare it to Australia.
The point is I believe Canada has more in common with Australia than the U.S. The U.S. is a giant country with a totally different political landscape. Australia and Canada are smaller countries with more similar political landscape and a way smaller crime rate than the U.S. How can you argue with that? If you believe Canada and the U.S. are more similar, in what ways do you think they are more similar? I do want to hear your thoughts. I really can't find many similarities honestly. Especially when you compare it to Australia.
GM10 you make some good points about the political system between Australia and Canada. Crime rates are a bit tricky because neither Canada or Australia have the same issue with gangs.. That said, I think you are just glossing over the similarities we do have with Americans - especially Blue State America and border states. Don't forget, same sex marriage is legal in both the U.S/Canada and not in Australia. I know its surprising but gay Australians can't get married. So we can always cherry pick examples. What about Hockey, a lot bigger in the U.S than in Australia (obviously reasons).
The biggest difficulty with these comparisons though is we have a lot of differences within our own country so what are we actually comparing. Its the same thing in the U.S and i'd imagine the same thing in Australia. This is why these broad based national comparisons are just that, broad based comparisons.
In any event, you say you can't find many similarities between Canada and the U.S but admit you don't really want to visit the U.S. What does that say? It says you are happy to keep your comparisons based on what you see on TV or what you read about online or hear about from others. Not what you experience! Something to think about.
I agree. But few people will believe you because most Canadians have it hammered into their heads that Canada is "just like the states" without the politics and longer summers. People don't realize the intrinsic differences, maybe it is something they have to experience for themselves by living in the U.S for a number of years and then coming back to Canada. There is a different mentality that Americans have, and it isn't just political. It is a mentality of fear and some kind of of aggressive superiority complex that you'd be hard pressed to find in Canada. Most Canadians aren't fearful of our neighbours, and while we may brag on the internet about our healthcare or education system we do not consider our selves superior to all nations and a shining beacon of "awesomeness" (or whatever) like Americans do (and BELIEVE ME they do, I deal with them often). We are more different than alike which is why I believe, we haven't had more of an "EU" type Union and never will.
While Canada advances in women's rights, multiculturalism and move towards secularism the United States continues to regress on these issues more so now than ever before. Race relations are poorer than ever before in the U.S, a woman's right to choose an abortion is being infringed by religious fundamentalist groups restricting access to affordable abortions by closing plan parenthoods nation wide, xenophobia against Muslims and immigrants is back full swing and only getting worse and worst of all 80% of the United States is STILL sickeningly religious. The United States is a country we want to distance our selves from if we want to keep advancing.
Hard to do that when they're right next door and goings-on there are followed extremely attentively by most Canadians.
I know it's a popular myth that Canadians often learn from mistakes made by Americans, but I am not sure that's always the case.
Just look at the current madness over Donald Trump that's getting tons of coverage in Canada too.
The usual view is that Canadians paying attention to Trump is giving them a prime example of what NOT to do.
But there are no doubt more Canadians than we realize that find Trump appealling in some way.
So there is some measure of negative influence there that comes from our national southward gaze.
The Klan is more active in the U.S than we're less to believe, look at Davod Duke! A former KKK grand dragon (or whatever) and co-owner of Stormfront is still a relevant politician south of the border. It may not be like the 1960's but boy oh boy, race relations in the U.S still have miles to go and they could start by getting rid of the likes of David duke and Donald trump.
I am not saying things are great.
I just have a thing when people use expressions like "worse than ever".
Canada has way more in common with both Australia and England than the U.S. I really don't know how someone can say America and Canada are similar when they're completely different. The only similar thing is the streetscape, that's it. We're different politically, historically, and culturally. Our attitudes are completely different. If someone makes the argument that we get American movies, shows, music and entertainment, well so does Australia. Australia pays just as much attention on American celebrities as Canada does, but Canada and Australia also both have their own forms of entertainment as well. All the commonwealth countries have similarities. America is completely different except for the fact that they speak English.
oh come on.
I dont think Canada and the US are "completely different"... whatta load of crap and just an outright wrong statement. Are there differences? Absolutely.... Are we "completely different?"....Hardly. Not only is Canada out biggest trading partner and but there are more similarities than differences overall in dress, spelling, pop culture, accents, food, etc... Our shared border with Canada by default makes Canada more like the US than Australia or England, by a long shot.
Pop culture is similar, but U.S media is popular in ever country. Hardly unique to Canada. There is no accent in Canada similar to any accent in the United States, even American accents "we're supposed to sound similar to" like Minnesota sound nothing like the English spoken in Canada in reality. Dress style? Lululemon is hugely popular in Canada where as the U.S it isn't very well known at all. Food? I can confidently say we don't have the same diet, yes there's McDonald's but in Csnada Tim Hortons still rules.
These are such superficials cultural things you're mentioning that mean nothing. Canada having Tim Hortons is not a huge cultural difference than something similar in the US (Dunkin Donuts/Starbucks)... and "lululemon" is not a cultural difference. Not everyone in Canada wears Lulelemon, just like not everyone in the US wears Polo or whatever American brand u can think of. ... Our overall styles of dress are similar. I saw a lot more people in Toronto Canada dressing like "urban black males" in the US then I ever saw in Australia or England... Your superficialities regarding Tim Horntons and Lululemon mean nothing lol, nice try.
In the minds of a lot of Canadians (not saying this is what I think of Americans BTW) the U.S. is like the boorish brother that they're a bit ashamed of, but what can you do, you are still part of the same family. Whereas countries like the UK and Australia apparently serve as more palatable comparables for them. Kind of like the cool third cousin that you secretly want to be like.
Sort of like how people in Luxembourg *like* to think they are more like the French, when in actual fact they really are more like the Germans (but don't like to admit it because of the global stigma related to WW1 and WW2)...
oh come on.
I dont think Canada and the US are "completely different"... whatta load of crap and just an outright wrong statement. Are there differences? Absolutely.... Are we "completely different?"....Hardly. Not only is Canada out biggest trading partner and but there are more similarities than differences overall in dress, spelling, pop culture, accents, food, etc... Our shared border with Canada by default makes Canada more like the US than Australia or England, by a long shot.
Firstly, Canada isn't the U.S.'s biggest trading partner anymore.
No, we are not similar to the U.S. on those fronts either in comparison to other countries. Australia has American pop culture and McDonalds too. We have our own unique food and culture. Just because we share borders doesn't mean we are similar.
How can you say spelling is the same? That's the biggest difference and that just proves we are more like Britian and Australia than the U.S. I forgot to mention spelling in my previous post. Please tell me how does Canada and the U.S. have the same spelling when Canada uses the British spelling system? You just noted a very big difference...
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