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I've noticed in general younger Canadians seem more pro-American in sense they are less proud of being Canadian, more into hip hop, more likely to favor free market capitalism and guns, and have more watered down accents generally. Do you think people overestimate the influence of Alberta on Canada becoming less socialist and underrate the influence of the elephant to the South?
Whenever I comment on a topic like this, I often get attacked quite mercilessly because of my views, but I don't care anymore so I will say what I really think...
The short answer is yes.
I know that many Canadians say that the extremely high levels of consumptions of U.S. culture of all kinds can peacefully coexist with the perpetual maintenance of Canadian values and thinking, but seriously, if you look at the evolution of the country, it's quite obvious that the constant conveyor belt of Americanity is slowly but surely having an effect.
Yeah, we still have medicare and better social programs, but have we really improved them or are they becoming less and less effective and even threatened?
Another point: look at voting patterns. American influence is greater in English Canada and lesser in French Canada. Who tends to vote more to the right and who tends to vote more to left?
Watered down accents... To be frank, American accent is actually quite pleasing to the ear. Who wouldn't want to have that sexy thick southern accent like Kevin Spacey? And if I were forced to adopt another accent, I'd probably go for British (London) accent all the way.
Yes, I think Canada is gradually leaning more towards free market capitalism. And that may not be a such a bad thing. In fact, the entire world has been gearing towards that direction for the last 20-30 years since the fall of the USSR.
I've noticed in general younger Canadians seem more pro-American in sense they are less proud of being Canadian, more into hip hop, more likely to favor free market capitalism and guns, and have more watered down accents generally. Do you think people overestimate the influence of Alberta on Canada becoming less socialist and underrate the influence of the elephant to the South?
Four part answer:
Title of thread ~ answer: "Nope".
Younger Canadians seem more pro-American, less proud to be Canadian ~ answer: "Nope".
More watered down accents; (insofar that one agrees that noticeable accents existed in the first place,) ~ answer: "Nope".
Overestimate influence of Alberta while underrating influence of the U.S. ~ once again the answer is: "Nope" to either.
Now let's discuss that little canard thrown in for good measure of what I'm sure was your intended "Canada becoming less socialist" in comparison to the U.S. ~ answer: "Yep".
I answered generally but BruSan has a good idea of answering the questions point by point:
- I've noticed in general younger Canadians seem more pro-American in sense they are less proud of being Canadian - I would not say this. There have always been pro-American Canadians who "wished" they were American. Going back for decades. Canadian pride is as strong as ever although it is often very superficial.
- more into hip hop - Sure, but this is true of young people the world over. Anyway, there is no specific Canadian musical genre that Canadians are abandoning in favour of hip hop.
- more likely to favor free market capitalism - yes
- and guns - the gun issue has never been one on which Canadians unanimously agree, although the gun control side has generally had the upper hand through most of our recent history. This government is one of the more pro-gun governments I have seen in Canada, though.
- have more watered down accents generally - again, this is a global trend. Because of travel and media accent are becoming less pronounced across the anglosphere and in other language spheres as well.
- Do you think people overestimate the influence of Alberta on Canada becoming less socialist - people are quite conscious of this but see it as OK. Alberta wields a considerable amount of power at the moment in Canada and is also seen as a model or a hero for many other parts of the country.
- and underrate the influence of the elephant to the South? American influence is always on people's minds in Canada but they rarely do much about it other than fret or bemoan it. They've got too many CSI episodes or NFL scores to catch up on to waste time on that.
Watered down accents... To be frank, American accent is actually quite pleasing to the ear. Who wouldn't want to have that sexy thick southern accent like Kevin Spacey?
You might consider Mr. Spacey's accent as "Southern", since he was born in South Orange, New Jersey and went to high school in southern California.
Nope, to title of post. I just think it is Harper who is strangely, by Canadian standards, right-wing. He seemed to be butt-kissing for a while after 9/11 but then he seemed strangely relieved when Obama was elected president.
Nope. I consider his accent southern only in the context of his performance in the House of Cards series, in which he plays a congressman Francis Underwood from South Carolina. And I grew up on the NC/SC border south of Charlotte. Try not to take things out of context and make assumptions on an anonymous online forum.
I've noticed in general younger Canadians seem more pro-American in sense they are less proud of being Canadian, more into hip hop, more likely to favor free market capitalism and guns, and have more watered down accents generally. Do you think people overestimate the influence of Alberta on Canada becoming less socialist and underrate the influence of the elephant to the South?
I don't think this is true. Canadian youth is still youth born in Canada. Yes, they consume American media and other cultural outputs but I wouldn't interpret this as saying they want to become American. Not sure where you got this from. Personally, I don't see any changes in this regard in my social circles. US influence has always been there from the beginning and while I agree that there is an overlap in many respects, it's never to the point to taking over a distinct Canadian identity like you suggest - if anything, it forces a backlash in terms of highlighting differences. Some Canadians even have a negative view of the US based on a CNN-view of the country and judge it based on all its problems, downplaying all the good things. Criticism is still alive and well.
Now sure, some people dream of moving to LA to be an actor, going to Harvard, working for Facebook in SV, or moving to NYC to be a banker, but it's more for the personal opportunity, not to reject their country of origin. I don't think things have changed much in this capacity. People from all over the world have these goals too. In fact, with the economic slowdown, fewer talented Canadians are leaving for opportunities down south.
As for being right wing, I think the Prime Minister's foreign policy actions are getting a bit too much and not consistent with what the population wants - getting entangled in world affairs/conflicts. Personally, I think lobbying and US political influences are pushing Harper (e.g. support US political agendas and we might build a pipeline for you). Things like Nationalized Health Care and Subsidized Education aren't going anywhere.
Alberta has no social influence on the rest of Canada, at least in anywhere in the East. It has more economic muscle for sure because of it's growing oil field production, and will have more at stake at the political table for sure but it's still not running this country the way Ontario and Quebec does.
Last edited by johnathanc; 08-28-2014 at 10:00 AM..
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