[lbo-talk] American Religion (Was Irrationality of the Masses)

[Marvin Gandall]

Well, maybe what you and Wendy say about "the ugly American" is mostly urban 
legend, but certainly enough Canadians - especially young backpackers - seem 
to believe it. In any case, no one likes to be mistaken for someone they're 
not, and it's not easy to distinguish between the two nationalities outside 
North America, especially for non-English speakers. When I was at Wisconsin, 
though, took all of 30 seconds and my first "eh?" for someone to say 
"Canadian, huh?".

M
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net>
To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 5:49 PM
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] American Religion (Was Irrationality of the Masses)


>> Wendy Lyon wrote:
>>
>> >> Not my experience in Canada, either, where most people would describe
>> >> themselves as "Canadian nationalists", but don't worship their country
>> >> with
>> >> the same blind fervour as many Americans.
>> >
>> > Well, I think that nationalism expresses itself in different ways in
>> > different nations, and one country's particular means of expression
>> > may be misinterpreted outside its borders.  An Irish friend of mine
>> > once told me that she viewed Canadians as "stupidly nationalistic", on
>> > account of their tendency to plaster the maple leaf all over
>> > themselves whenever they leave North America.
>> --------------------------------
>> Heh. Did you ever wonder why they do so "whenever they leave North
>> America"?. They sport the maple leaf very self-consciously so as not to 
>> be
>> mistaken for Americans, who are not liked abroad. People joke about it.
>> Inside the country, there are very few ostentatious displays of the 
>> Canadian
>> flag on cars, lapels, or in front of homes, except during the world 
>> hockey
>> championships.
>>
>> Let me amend that. A very ugly Canadian nationalism, with a lot of
>> flag-waving and anthem-singing and not a small dose of racism, does 
>> assert
>> itself whenever there is an independence referendum in Quebec. That's 
>> when I
>> get a good sense of the alienation my American friends feel on a daily 
>> basis
>> south of the border.
>>
>> Marvin Gandall
>
> The story that Canadians plaster the flag as a way to point out that they
> are not Americans, and therefore not "one of the worlds oppressors" is
> pretty well taken for granted but I'm not so sure it's true. When my uncle
> hopped around South America and Africa between '47 and '52 he
> noticed that Canadians tended to put their flag on their backpacks,
> motorcycles and some of their clothing. Granted he didn't encounter
> thousands of Canadians in his wanderings but enough that he noticed
> the maple leaf on practically every Canadian and commented on it in his
> journals at the time. Americans were hardly reviled world wide so soon
> after WWII.
>
> John Thornton
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