Posted on 09/12/2006 7:10:47 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
Are Canadians Stupid?
They're Not getting it…
By Tom Nichols
I don’t know quite how to ask this question, but I suspect that a lot of Americans are about to, so I’ll put it as directly as I can: Are Canadians stupid?
A recent poll found that a majority of Canadians, including a whopping three-quarters of Quebecers, believe that U.S. foreign policy was the root cause of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This shouldn’t be so shocking; their previous prime minister, Jean Chretien, said practically the same thing a few years back (which I wrote about in NRO here.) In other words, they believe that the Americans brought 9/11 on themselves.
What makes this such a jaw-dropping finding, and prompts my question about the intelligence of the average Canadian in general (and of Quebecers in particular), is that it comes only a few months after Canadian authorities broke up a conspiracy among Islamic extremists in Canada in which a dozen men and five minors were arrested. They were apparently planning to blow up the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Canadian parliament, storm the national public-broadcasting building…oh, and they were going to behead the Canadian prime minister, too .
How can anyone in Canada, knowing this — and I assume it was news published there both in English and French — still believe that foreign policies, American or any other, have much to do with terrorism? How many such plots need to be broken up before the Canadians, or at least some Canadians, get the point? Do these same Canadians who think U.S. foreign policy is generating terrorism also think that Canada’s foreign policy would be to blame if their prime minister were decapitated on live television? Canada, after all, has over the past several years gone to no small lengths (especially under Chretien) to distance itself from the United States, and publicly opposed the war in Iraq. (As did Germany, by the way…but that didn’t stop Islamic terrorists from plotting to blow up two trains in Germany this summer, either.)
So let me for a moment address our Canadian friends (and I swear, I still do still think of them as friends), and try to state the obvious one more time. Unfortunately, I don’t speak French, but I’m sure some helpful Canadian colleague will translate this for me: It’s not about foreign policy, it’s about who we are. As long as we are a secular, tolerant, open, and free society — and by “we” I mean all of us in the West, including Canada — the terrorists will continue to strike, because everything we are, our very way of life, is repellent to them, and they are going to do everything they can to destroy it completely.
Is that clear enough, or will it finally sink in only when pieces of the Canadian parliament are falling out of the sky in burning flinders?
On the other hand, let’s not be too hard on our friends to the north. We have plenty of people down here in the Lower 48 who believe the same silliness about how this or that policy — and, of course, support for the Israelis — caused 9/11. (A small number of Americans are even so reality-deprived that they think the Bush administration pulled off 9/11, despite tapes shown this week on al-Jazeera of some of the hijackers meeting with Osama bin Laden and training for the attack.) And let’s face it: If we’re going to get into a “who can say stupider things than whom” contest with the Canadians, we have to acknowledge that Michael Moore is an American, which would give us an unfair head start right away.
The real problem here is that the Canadian poll results are just another example of a kind of denial that has set in among certain people, both inside and outside of the United States, over the past five years. These people desperately want to find some reason, some issue that can be solved, as the mainspring behind Islamic terrorism. Otherwise, they would have to confront the terrible reality that there is nothing we can give the terrorists that will stop the killing. We can change our policies, but we can’t change our culture or beliefs—or at least change them enough to suit the Islamic fascists who would turn the world into one big Taliban-run Afghanistan if they could. And so rather than face the fact that we’re at war with a relentless enemy with whom no negotiated peace is possible, such people retreat into fantasies about how the whole thing could be settled somehow if we could only figure out how to stop doing whatever it is they don’t like.
Blaming America, and American policies, might bring many Canadians a sense of comfort (and to some, no doubt, that smug feeling of superiority that too many Canadians seem to exhibit regarding Americans), but it is a foolish and only temporary escape from reality. The terrorists are going to continue to try to kill Americans, Canadians, Frenchmen, Germans, Russians, Australians, and anyone else they can get their hands on who won’t bow to their impossible demands.
Instead of ignorantly pointing fingers at U.S. foreign policy, the Canadians — citizens of our sister nation — should join the Americans in an attempt to lead the Western community in defending our common values of tolerance and liberalism, extolling them in one voice in the face of our would-be oppressors, and cooperating with each other to find, capture — and if need be, kill — the kind of people who would blow innocent men, women, and children to pieces for the sake of their own demented ideology. Any other course of action would be…well, stupid.
---------------------------------------------
— Tom Nichols is a professor of strategy at the U.S. Naval War College and a senior associate of the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs. The views expressed are his own.
After we invade the place we will have to deport most of them.
Oh, yes we will!!!!!!
They're not stupid, they just by and large hate the US.
Excellent! Thank you for finding and posting that!
Ping.
Not the Canadian FReepers.
What do you expect, with their flappy heads and beady eyes?
Nope, we are stupid. Most Canadians actually like America and Americans. It's just like down there, most of the press are ultra left and they poll the same way the dems do.
this is not true nor right
due to bushes foreign policy, the christian crusades dragged on for roughly 300 years. The muslim nations largest concern was a fear of moderniazation and economic progress the christians in the house with the white picket fence had made. Thinking the picketeers did not want to share with the impoverished turd world nations, the turd world continued their jihad. More recently, in the last 50 years, 95 percent of all armed global conflicts were initiated by expansionery imperialist muslims; again a product of american foreign policy and a muslim desire to spread the good word.
yup, blame it on bush
BLame it on two things: French genetics and brain freeze during the winters.
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They are jealous of America so will dissent from us on almost every issue.
Get over it Canada. We broke away from Britain and are not going back. We are the new leaders of the world.
So the Canadians are stupid.... ay?
Actually, it depends what language they speak. The French speaking are 100% stupid. The English speaking are stupid at approximately the same ratio as Americans.
Unfortunately far too many, but hey the same could be said about Americans I reckon. Apparently some 36% believe that 9/11 was an inside job pulled off by the current administration.
God bless Canada for giving Stephen Harper the chance to lead his people beside the Americans in this war. God bless the great and brave Canadian troops who are fighting so gallantly in Afghanistan.
Nice catch on those Muslim terrorists in Toronto, BTW!
let me re write history
most canadians supported and enshrined the bastard commie trudeau...castros friend... who made it fashionable to be anti american. since then his majority vote followed through to his political partner chretien. the thought processes and values had not changed. some of it was french "intellectual" influence.
you see, with their love affair with trudeau starting in ~'65, the canadians have had decades of sh*t instilled, consequently are still hungover. not only that, and combined with it, there was a huge immigration of mideasterns who were the natural enemas of the big satan.
its this b/s that they shape foreign policy towards the US
In a nationwide study in the country mentioned in the above article, it was shown that liberalism is the greatest remaining mental disorder suffered by humanity.
Yes.
Canada ping.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
Bingo.
The story the press generally tells is the way they wish things would be and rarely the way they are. I factor that greatly into any "report" they give.
If you think of a socialist as a rapist. A person for forces themselves upon another for a feeling of power, then it makes PERFECT sense that the socialist, like a rapist, would blame the victim with "she was asking for it."
Socialists are Rapists. (in the political sense of course)
Recently went to Banff, Alberta. Got a paper cup from a tour guide, drank some water, then asked where the trash can was. She looked at me like I had just shot her mother...no kidding. Then she said "you mean the recycling bin?!" Not that I am against recycling, I'm not. Her disgust and anxiety over throwing away a paper cup nearly caused me to break out in a fit of laughter right there in front of her.
The smart ones leave Canada and set up shop in the U.S. The net effect is an accumulation of the stupid ones north of the 49th parallel. It's called the Brain Drain and has been going on for decades. Socialism is such a wonderful thing. All the talent leaves.
Well I guess nobody will write it so I will:
Canadians will celebrate when the U.S. is brought to her knees. Many Canadians sincerely wish the country is overtaken by our enemies - the Islamic fanatics.
The country has bred extremely insular and European loving, U.S. hating creatures who not only no affiliation for western democracy but would not care if it was overthrown.
Canada in the last twenty years has become an un-friend and yet if our supremacy fails and we are no longer a viable trading partner, you will hear them whine all the way to the southern border at Mexico.
They have become a nation without passion and foresight, happily sucking on the hated teat of the U.S.A., expecting to revile us while profiting from us envy; and "superior" sneering being their primary source of motivation.
Prime Minister Harper honours 9/11 victims and restates Canada's commitment to fighting terror
11 September 2006 Ottawa, Ontario
Good evening.
Today is the 5th anniversary of the terrible events of September 11, 2001.
I am speaking to you from the Hall of Honour in the Centre Block of Parliament.
With me are some Canadians whose lives have been touched by 9/11 in ways that most of us can’t even begin to imagine.
Men and women who lost loved ones in the attacks on the World Trade Centre.
# Tanja Tomasevic, who lost her husband, Vladimir;
# Danny Eisen who lost his cousin, Danny; and
# Maureen and Erica Basnicki, who lost their husband and father, Ken.
I asked them to join me because words alone are not enough to express what needs to be said today.
As we pay tribute to the 24 Canadians who lost their lives on that infamous day five years ago, their family members remind us that they were real people with real lives.
Lives that were cut short – deliberately so – by a murderous act of terrorism.
Like most Canadians, I have a vivid memory of that morning.
As my wife, Laureen, and I watched the second tower collapse on television, - as the enormity of the events began to sink in, - I turned to her and said: “This will change the course of history.”
And so it has.
In the years that followed, terror struck:
# Bali in Indonesia
# Madrid in Spain
# London in Great-Britain
And security forces in many countries - including Canada – have foiled alleged terrorist plots before they could be executed.
The targets and tactics were different in every case, but the objective is always the same.
To kill, maim and terrify as many people as possible.
Not in the name of any idealistic cause, but because of an ideology of hatred.
And while this war of terror has displayed some of the worst of which humanity is capable.
So too has it revealed the greatness and generosity that lie at the core of so many ordinary people.
Something which was on display for all to see when Canadians opened their arms and homes to thousands of travellers whose flights were diverted on 9/11.
And because of this war of terror, people around the world have come together to offer a better vision of the future for all humanity.
For this vision to take hold, the menace of terror must be confronted.
And that is why the countries of the United Nations …
With unprecedented unity and determination launched their mission to Afghanistan …
To deal with the source of the 9/11 terror and to end, once and for all, the brutal regime that horribly mistreated its own people while coddling terrorists.
And that is why i invited the families of some of the Canadian soldiers who are currently serving in Afghanistan to join us here today.
I want to thank:
Raquel Hounsell;
Janice Shaw;
and Jane Hill…for being here.
Their husbands are currently serving in Afghanistan.
and Captain Edward and Judy Kosierb, whose son is serving in Afghanistan.
Their presence here reminds us that real people – Canadian men and women with families and children – are courageously putting themselves forward to make that part of the world a better place.
It is the desire to make a better and safer world which compels our soldiers to put their lives on the line.
There are Canadian heroes being made every day in the desert and the mountains of southern Afghanistan.
These are the stories we don’t hear – the countless acts of courage and sacrifice that occur every day on the battlefield.
And in the towns and villages where Canadians are reconstructing the basic infrastructure of a shattered nation.
because of their efforts, the Taliban is on the run, not the charge.
Women now have basic rights as human beings.
Youngsters are getting a chance to go to school.
And many – but not yet all Afghan families – are beginning to rebuild their lives with our help.
Because we are a country that has always accepted its responsibilities in the world
# from two great wars in Europe,
# from Korea to the Balkans
Canada has acted when the United Nations has asked .
And as the events of September 11 so clearly illustrate, the horrors of the world will not go away if we turn a blind eye to them, no matter how far off they may be.
And these horrors cannot be stopped unless some among us are willing to accept enormous sacrifice and risk to themselves.
I would ask that, tonight, you keep in your thoughts and prayers the victims and families of 9-11 and all those ordinary people who have died or lost loved ones in related acts of terror.
I would ask as well, that you keep in your thoughts and prayers the personnel and families of the extraordinary people in Afghanistan and elsewhere who have put themselves on the line so that the world is a better and safer place for all of us.
Good night.
Are Canadians stupid?
No - just the Americans who ask stupid generalized questions like this progressive socialist question ... sounds just like a DNC anti-Bush political ad question.
You can read post 29 as well.
http://www.unitednorthamerica.org
some of the scholars think amalgamation with the USA is inevitable within the next 100 years.
I'm sure we'll find out eventually, because it's going to happen sooner or later.
Sorry - I have been fighting this since 1999 and since 9/11 have pretty much given up trying to keep my Canadian roots intact.
Perhaps in your world your friends are all like PM Harper - but I see very little of it in my world.
It is why I am here in the United States - I can only take so much negativity and spoil child-like behavior.
There are good people everywhere - Canadians as well - but they succumb to the anti-American rhetorical trash and I simply will have no more of it - I have made all my excuses for them and have run out of good reasons why they choose to live in anger and hate.
Ask a them what foreign policy and they haven't a clue.
So you've been fighting this fight since 1999, from the States?
Canadian Conservatives stayed to fight, others ran.
but they succumb to the anti-American rhetorical trash and I simply will have no more of it -
So you believe everything our MSM says? Hmmm.
I'm not canadian, but the title seems uneccesarily hateful. There are a lot of smart, conservative canadians....
Well, I'd say there are about as many
stupid Canadians as there are Americans.
For the OTHER SIDE, read this:
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/cover091206.htm
I've had my disappointments with Canada, and disagreements with Canadian Freepers; but....Canada has been showing a lot of character these last couple of years.
You are late to my decision making process FanFan...therefore I won't continue this discussion.
Your assumptions in the reply you made to me are way off and I will not honor you with an answer.
I have stated my opinion. I have not insisted you change yours.
Leave it at that.
I think people who aren't trained to think for themselves, who are bombarded with liberal propaganda hard enough and long enough will buy into stupid ideas and thoughts.
Since GWB took office, the Liberal media and the Dems have been preaching Bush sucks 24 hours a day. When people from other countries hear over and over, from our own citizens in the media and from big mouthed liberal Democrats, that Bush sucks and America sucks, they tend to believe it.
The liberals have done way more damage to our international image through their "we suck" propaganda, than anything Bush has ever done.
Are Canadians Stupid?
By definition yes.
Eh?
My experience with Canadians...yeah, pretty much.
I don't think they are stupid--just selfish.
Yes we are making slow progress. I'm not offended by the question: Are Canadians Stupid. I often ask myself the same thing. With respect to Quebec, I speak the language but I would not bother translating this document since it would not resolve their misconceptions about the US.
Americans have to understand that this country was formed because of fear of annexation. Your doctrine of Manifest Destiny was taught and discussed "ad infanatum” while I was in school. The entire country sifted left with the election of Pierre Trudeau in the late 60’s. Educational institutions, the press and media constantly blamed the US for all the ills of the world. It is still this way and that is why some Canadians, like me, pay to be able to watch FOX NEWS to get a different slant on what is happening in the world. We have lost 30 some soldiers in Afghanistan and our national network is turning our presence there into a tragic mistake. Our next election will probably be fought over this issue. As a nation we have drifted so far left that we make France look like a nation on the right.
Canadians are not informed about what is happening in their country little less the rest of the world. Few will admit that what is being fought now is the Third World War and that we are all at risk.
Finally, if you do not believe me Google Barbara Kay’ article dealing with Quebecistan!
God bless Canada for giving Stephen Harper the chance to lead his people beside the Americans in this war.
I felt a little down on reading the main post, still, fair is fair, it is his opinion. The first sharp air has set in up here in Great Lakes country. Global warming on the back burners. Harper has set back the payment of large monies re Kyoto. He must figure that unless China and Russia clean up- it is a waste of time.
I just have to have a laugh though. We are at the American border opposite Michigan. A traditional respect for Veterans in both Cities. Thursdays is Canadian days as the Tribal Casino, 15 miles away. Canadian money at par.
The dern International Bridge is packed tight one way , sometimes right back to the Canadian customs.
Oh yeah, We do love America. Honest.(Laughs).
Many on the left are warm and happy, wrapped in a cocoon of ignorance and self-deception. They believe that terrorism is America's fault because that is the easy thing to do. Knowing the truth has caused me many a sleepless night, but ignoring it will not advance the cause of peace. Jesus himself gave us the link between truth and freedom, when he said "the truth shall set you free". Embracing the truth is a prerequisite for freedom.
True. Also, if you give money to people after they hit you, they will likely hit you again.
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