Canadian breaking news and politics and hats and general sexiness

[lettertodaddy]

And while we're on the subject of American media paying attention to Canada, how awesome is it that Entertainment Weekly's Music Mix section has a "Things that are Canadian" tag?

[suebee]

Originally Posted by lettertodaddy

.....It's lazy thinking to be so biased and so bigoted about an entire country of people. It seems like disordered thinking to be so dismissive of an entire country yet completely obsessed with getting them to pay attention to you.....[/B]

I can't even begin to express how condescending this is. You're saying that we're awesome - just as long as we don't say anything about anybody else. Using the phrase "lazy thinking" is a great red herring, but offers no explanation or examples as to why what I have to say is invalid. And speaking of lazy.....did you notice this part of my post?: "The U.S. as a society is VERY ego-centric. This doesn't mean that every individual is - but as a whole Americans know little of what happens outside of their own country." - expressed in context of my experience of living on the border. Your opinions are yours. Please have the respect to realize that others may differ with you.

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by lettertodaddy

It seems like disordered thinking to be so dismissive of an entire country yet completely obsessed with getting them to pay attention to you. It's so easy to drift into that lazy thinking, and I get that Canadians obviously get something out of this national obsession with trying to catch the eye of the United States, but as an outsider who chose to make Canada her home, I've never understood it.[/B]

I'm just saying that I'd like to, on occasion, see some positive mention of Canada in the US media. There are times that we got a LOT of coverage south of our border. Like if one of our politicians is caught calling Dubya a moron - boy oh boy that media shitstorm lasted a MONTH. Or when we opted out of Iraq - another shitstorm of media attention. Or when we almost decriminalised possession of cannabis - that shitstorm included lengthy articles about how now people are going to be trafficking tonnes of drugs from Canada to the US and culminated to my wait to cross the border (I was living in BC at the time) going from an average of 10 minutes to WELL over an hour (and getting the back seat removed from my car by US border guards on a regular basis). And when Obama started working toward affordable healthcare for everybody in the US - again attention was turned to Canada and our apparently 3rd world health system and the long waits and all the people who die in our emergency rooms waiting for care (none of which is true, of course).

Like Suebee, I live in a border town. Before I moved here I never really thought about Americans that much. And now that I'm married to a Butch from Ohio....well. I love my spouse but sweet Jesus some of hys friends ask me the stupidest fucking questions. Sometimes I just want to shake them and say "I know that about you guys, how do you not know that about us?"

[lettertodaddy]

I'm an American who doesn't always get pegged as American who has lived here for 10 years (because of how I look, most people assume I'm from the Caribbean).

In that ten years, I have heard and read some of the most dismissive yet completely off-handed biased and sometimes outright bigoted comments about Americans that I've ever heard. When I speak up about it, I generally hear "Oh, well, we didn't mean you!" in response. This is the same sort of lazy bigotry that I've heard from white people who, when making racist comments about blacks, are quick to turn to me and say "Oh, well I didn't mean you!" in reply. Bigotry is bigotry, and I'm calling it as I see it.

Do I need to provide you with a transcript, subeee? Because if that's what you're waiting for, I'm afraid you'll just have to keep waiting.

I once did a little experiment with a Canadian friend of mine who was one of the worst offenders when it came to these kinds of lazy assumptions. For one day, I decided that every time she made a bigoted, uniformed, broad sweeping comment about Americans, I was going to poke her in the ribs. I told her in advance that I was going to do it, just so she could see how often she was making comments that I took offense to and were hurtful. After about the fifth or sixth poke, she started to become annoyed. After about the tenth, it finally sank in that she was making these comments without even thinking about them.

Dismissive? Sure. But it isn't any more dismissive than some of the things I've heard over the years. I think what's different is that maybe many Canadians haven't had many Americans call them on it before.

To you it may matter that you're speaking about the group and not the individual. But I'm a member of that group, and I take my membership in that group very, very seriously. I am here to tell you that it is hurtful, and that it needs to stop.

And please don't get on me about being respectful. I've been nothing but respectful in this thread. I just have a different opinion. But as it seems that this opinion isn't welcome here, I'll bow out and leave y'all to your little Canadian oasis. Don't mind me as I whistle "O Canada" on my way out.

[imperfect_cupcake]

Ltd et al feel free to completely ignore my post like it has nothing to do with this at all ....


here I'll put it in a nutshell to re-dress: large powerful imperialist-esque nations will be very self-gazing. the states isn't the only one. even though scotland and wales and ireland are all next door, people in england know relatively nothing about them. for example all they know about the welsh is "their language is funny hahaha" and "sheep shaggers hahaha" etc.

It's fucking annoying. But it will never, ever change. not ever. why? because they don't have to. And LTD I don't think of it like an annoying little brother, I think about it like a mentally challenged older cousin who keeps punching you (with things like their unilateral foreign policy, their bullying tactics with NAFTA, their religious right sending money into canada to try and undo our constitution, just to name 3 out of thousands of toe crushing/rib bruising/wrist twisting encouragements made on us - not to mention many other countries) but you have to be nice about it because they'll never "get it" and plus if you piss them off, they'll break your arm.

The relationship used to be called the lion and the mouse, when I was a kid. And Mulrooney, used to be accused of trying to shove the mouse up the elephants ass, which no one liked. However, the one thing people do like in a priminister, is when they have the guts to tell the US to fuck off - like during the NAFTA negotiations when they wanted us to flood our desert in BC to hold water for them. LMAO.

It's a very, very strained relationship. Just like every other country who lives next to a large and very powerful nation. But it won't change. There will always be stupid questions, they will think we're smug when they actually notice us. forever and ever, amen.

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by honeybarbara

everyone feel free to completely ignore my post like it has nothing to do with this at all....

I'm pretty sure I interacted with you? I could be misremembering, though. Possibly I just blah blah blahed about Rick Mercer or something.

[betenoire]

11th Human Foot Since 2007 Found On The Shore In BC

(I'm not going to lie. Because I am a terrible person I laughed hysterically when I read the part about how a couple of "fake" feet have also been found. And then I was sad that I didn't think of it first.)

[imperfect_cupcake]

sorry, I meant the back and forth you were having with LTD lol. and ta da! I expanded to include what I ment.

I think I missed anything about rick mercer... or I could just be half awake. To educate my dutch wife on canadian culture I showed her "talking to americans"

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by honeybarbara

sorry, I meant the back and forth you were having with LTD lol. and ta da! I expanded to include what I ment.

I think I missed anything about rick mercer... or I could just be half awake. To educate my dutch wife on canadian culture I showed her "talking to americans"

Yeah, your mention of the Prime Minister Jean Poutine thing made me watch Talking To Americans again. I had to.

Congratulations Canada, on allowing the Irish the right to vote!

[imperfect_cupcake]

Originally Posted by betenoire

11th Human Foot Since 2007 Found On The Shore In BC

(I'm not going to lie. Because I am a terrible person I laughed hysterically when I read the part about how a couple of "fake" feet have also been found. And then I was sad that I didn't think of it first.)

PS - don't forget to lock your door, I can hear that bodyless foot walking up your pathway.

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by honeybarbara

PS - don't forget to lock your door, I can hear that bodyless foot walking up your pathway.

I don't imagine it'll have any trouble hoping up the three flights of stairs to my apartment, either.

But it will be defeated by my doorknob! Unless it brings thing with it:

[imperfect_cupcake]

it could annoyingly scratch at your door with it's toe nails till you let it in.

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by honeybarbara

it could annoyingly scratch at your door with it's toe nails till you let it in.

Well now I -really- hope it brought Thing with it because somebody needs to clean the coffee off of my monitor now.

Lordamercy.

[betenoire]

So apparently Marg Princess Warrior showed up at Mayor Ford's place to try and get an interview with him...so he ran back inside and called 9-1-1.

Jackass.

Ford calls 911 on CBC comedians

[Linus]

Originally Posted by betenoire

So apparently Marg Princess Warrior showed up at Mayor Ford's place to try and get an interview with him...so he ran back inside and called 9-1-1.

Jackass.

Ford calls 911 on CBC comedians

What. A. Dumbass.

I would kill to get an interview with Marg Princess Warrior (I still say she'd make a great PM).

[betenoire]

45 Canadian movies you should see - according to Strombo

I am still raw that eXistenz was left off of the list.

Jesus of Montreal is also a cool movie, although it's not an english movie and that's what the list is of. But still.

Isn't Hard Candy canadian???

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by Linus

What. A. Dumbass.

I would kill to get an interview with Marg Princess Warrior (I still say she'd make a great PM).

I know! I would want to be in politics in Canada JUST so that she would ambush me for an interview!

(Hey, Linus. Is there any way I could get you to move this thread back to the Canada forums? I'm not sure why it ever got taken out of there. Since it's not super active Canadians are unlikely to come across it in the "news" forums and if it's Canadian content they're looking for the first place most people would look is in the Canada forums. Please?)

[Linus]

Originally Posted by betenoire

45 Canadian movies you should see - according to Strombo

I am still raw that eXistenz was left off of the list.

Jesus of Montreal is also a cool movie, although it's not an english movie and that's what the list is of. But still.

Isn't Hard Candy canadian???

Nope. US. Although that is a great movie.

Another film, although french, that's good is Les Boys. I actually enjoyed it both dubbed and subtitled.

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by Linus

Nope. US. Although that is a great movie.

Another film, although french, that's good is Les Boys. I actually enjoyed it both dubbed and subtitled.

Really? But Hard Candy has so many Canadians in it! I guess we're the only ones willing to be in a movie like that (it's one of my favourites)

(Well, I guess by "so many Canadians" I really just mean Ellen Page and Sandra Oh)

[Linus]

Originally Posted by betenoire

So apparently Marg Princess Warrior showed up at Mayor Ford's place to try and get an interview with him...so he ran back inside and called 9-1-1.

Jackass.

Ford calls 911 on CBC comedians

And Ford, of course, had to use his sense of entitlement.

Sources say Ford turned on the dispatcher, yelling: “You … bitches! Don’t you f--king know? I’m Rob f--king Ford, the mayor of this city!”