Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This thread puzzled me, I recall running into this only once in seventy-nine years, and that was in the Fifties on one of our vacations in Wasaga Beach on Georgian Bay. He was a Canadian teenager and good fun, but a bit prickly about the U.S. However, he worked in a hotel patronized by many working class Americans and perhaps he was used to hearing his country slagged by them. And I remember passing through the lounging areas and hearing Americans comparing the two countries to Canada's disadvantage as if none of the people around them were Canadian.
Each time we went in those years the very first thing that impressed me about Ontario was that it was infinitely cleaner - the countryside and the cities - than the western part of N.Y. state where I lived. In those years the ditches on our roadsides with filled with litter and just plain garbage - none of that in Ontario.
Interestingly, though my mother's mother's family were all descended from Loyalists who had left New York State and settled in Hastings Co., Ont. after the American Revolution, none of them that I can recall made derogatory remarks about the U.S.
My last visits to Canada, regrettably, were quite some time ago, and perhaps there is abrasiveness nowadays. I now live in Portugal and many of the young Americans who visit are very discourteous in their behaviour and loose-mouthed with their negative criticisms. And they do seem very insecure about their place in the world, doing a lot of retro-flexing of Cold War era verbal muscles. So, I can believe that Canadian youth might be sparring for an identity too.
Interestingly this jibes with my memories of spending summers in Temagami shuttling American Goodyear executives to Wingfoot Island aboard Pathfinder II. About 2 hours or so of alternating between listening to the wonderful Chrysler Crown exhaust note & them deriding Canada and even Canadian habits and norms while I'm sitting there supposedly deaf because I'm just a hired teen flunky on his summer job.
Learned a lot about the fabled American arrogance listening to those guys rag on about the lack of services in an area they were coming to for the purpose of leaving "it" all behind. They did look splendid in their spanking new Abercrombie and Fitch gear though.
I'm actually Canadian. I just live in Australia at the moment. In both countries there is a tremendous level of obsession over what and how the US does things. It usually turns into how we are better than the US due to "so and so factor". Granted, there are a number of things I believe these countries do better than the US, chief among them healthcare, lower homicide rates... but to suggest that they excel on every front is naive at best.
Australia to this day hasn't fully legalized same-sex marriage.
That is why I don't understand the criticism that Americans boast about their country being superior when it's largely a product of the international community's constant coverage of the US. Even when reflecting negative points of view, the US is constantly brought up in discussions not centered around it by non-Americans, and that is something I've observed in both casual and professional environments.
The US has a tremendous economy that countries like Canada and Australia can't match due to their much smaller size.
I lived in Australia, I still go often Down Under and I have friends there...my impression is that the "obsession" and media coverage is way less than Canada...one of the reasons is obviously the physical distance from the US.
Aussie identity does not have a component of "being different than America" or "we are not like America" as Canada identity, at least in part, does at least in my observation.
I believe that all that hatred Canadians have against the US is jealousy, insecurity, envy, brainwashing by politicians.
Why do I say that.... because they repeat the same drivel that all anti-American zealots from all over rthe world, and you can see they feel jealous, insecure.
Canadians remember me the inhabitants of a city we have 8 km. away to the south, they are ALWAYS putting down this town because we are more famous and a high class resort during a century or more....and NOBODY knows them...
But the inhabitants of this town wholy ignore them, even speak marvels of them...so they go madder.
But not only that, they seem to have no love lost for French Canadians...and I wonder if they prefer Americans over them.
Relatively few Anglo Canadians will tell you or even think they prefer Americans over French Canadians.
But deep down probably more than a few of them feel more comfortable or more "at home" with Americans.
This thread puzzled me, I recall running into this only once in seventy-nine years, and that was in the Fifties on one of our vacations in Wasaga Beach on Georgian Bay. He was a Canadian teenager and good fun, but a bit prickly about the U.S. However, he worked in a hotel patronized by many working class Americans and perhaps he was used to hearing his country slagged by them. And I remember passing through the lounging areas and hearing Americans comparing the two countries to Canada's disadvantage as if none of the people around them were Canadian.
Each time we went in those years the very first thing that impressed me about Ontario was that it was infinitely cleaner - the countryside and the cities - than the western part of N.Y. state where I lived. In those years the ditches on our roadsides with filled with litter and just plain garbage - none of that in Ontario.
Interestingly, though my mother's mother's family were all descended from Loyalists who had left New York State and settled in Hastings Co., Ont. after the American Revolution, none of them that I can recall made derogatory remarks about the U.S.
My last visits to Canada, regrettably, were quite some time ago, and perhaps there is abrasiveness nowadays. I now live in Portugal and many of the young Americans who visit are very discourteous in their behaviour and loose-mouthed with their negative criticisms. And they do seem very insecure about their place in the world, doing a lot of retro-flexing of Cold War era verbal muscles. So, I can believe that Canadian youth might be sparring for an identity too.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, at one point in the 80s and 90s there was a noticeable shift in the Canadian identity where it went from being insecure and feeling inferior to the US to feeling like Canada offers the good stuff of the US (or at least most of it) with none of the problems.
I lived in Australia, I still go often Down Under and I have friends there...my impression is that the "obsession" and media coverage is way less than Canada...one of the reasons is obviously the physical distance from the US.
Aussie identity does not have a component of "being different than America" or "we are not like America" as Canada identity, at least in part, does at least in my observation.
It's somewhat less prevalent in Australia compared to Canada, but still very much a thing. Like whenever there is a major incident, people will reflect on how thankful they are that guns are not as prevalent here as in the US or else there would be more shootings. While the point has a lot of truth to it, it is not the only factor that defines the higher level of crime in the US. I've run into people who believe that shootings in the US occur on every street corner.
Then there are the assumptions made. A lot of people ask if I'm American and when I tell them I'm Canadian they apologise. I tell them there is no need for it, I'm just correting you because I'm Canadian. Then they tend to bring up the political situation, telling me how great Trudeau is and how disturbed they are by Trump. I'm no fan of Trump whatsoever, but the level of assumption made really annoys me. You don't know me, so who are you to assume that my political positions align with yours based off of nationality.
Australia may be more distant to the US, but its culture is still in many influenced by the two anglosphere titans (the US and the UK).
I'm not bashing Australia or Canada as I think both are wonderful places and I understand their desire to have a unique identity, but it's obvious that they both feel a huge level of insecurity vis a vis the US and the UK.
I am quite familiar with Oz and Aussies and it is true that you often find high levels of irrational anxiety down under about gun violence in the US.
In fairness it's not like they can hop across the border like Canadians and see for themselves.
In this specific case Canadians often come to the defence of the US when Aussies or other foreigners say it's very dangerous. Though Canadians often trash talk the US on other topics when abroad.
I lived in Australia, I still go often Down Under and I have friends there...my impression is that the "obsession" and media coverage is way less than Canada...one of the reasons is obviously the physical distance from the US.
Aussie identity does not have a component of "being different than America" or "we are not like America" as Canada identity, at least in part, does at least in my observation.
I agree with you 100% on that. I've even heard Canadian expats and visitors in Australia complain that Australians are "too accepting" of the level of US influence here, or that Australia is "even more American than we [Canadians] are"
Aussies may from time to time compare certain aspects of Australian life to the US, such as gun control or healthcare, but its more an observation that for a particular issue they are more comfortable with Australia's approach. On other topics, those same people may tell you that Australia could learn a thing or two from the US.
I think its more than simply the impact of physical distance. From the earliest days of its history Australia has had to stand on its own two feet way more than Canada has. And Australia's very existence as a nation has been threatened in a way Canadians have not experienced. And of course the relationship between the US and Australia in the WWII and following era has been very different than that between Canada and the US.
Last edited by Bakery Hill; 09-10-2017 at 11:35 PM..
I agree with you 100% on that. I've even heard Canadian expats and visitors in Australia complain that Australians are "too accepting" of the level of US influence here, or that Australia is "even more American than we [Canadians] are"
Aussies may from time to time compare certain aspects of Australian life to the US, such as gun control or healthcare, but its more an observation that for a particular issue they are more comfortable with Australia's approach. On other topics, those same people may tell you that Australia could learn a thing or two from the US.
I think its more than simply the impact of physical distance. From the earliest days of its history Australia has had to stand on its own two feet way more than Canada has. And Australia's very existence as a nation has been threatened in a way Canadians have not experienced. And of course the relationship between the US and Australia in the WWII and following era has been very different than that between Canada and the US.
I always compare the relationship between US and Canada to the relationship between Australia and New Zealand....there are a lot of similarities in my opinion...
I am quite familiar with Oz and Aussies and it is true that you often find high levels of irrational anxiety down under about gun violence in the US.
In fairness it's not like they can hop across the border like Canadians and see for themselves.
...well there are quite few Canadians that think you get shot at every corner in the US (or that everybody is going broke because of medical bills)...even on this forum....
I always compare the relationship between US and Canada to the relationship between Australia and New Zealand....there are a lot of similarities in my opinion...
I think the relationship between Australians and New Zealanders is better.
Americans and Canadians seem to have a very different mentality. There seems to be a tension between them.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
