Posted on 07/01/2008 10:31:18 AM PDT by forkinsocket
To be an American is to be the best. Every American believes this. Their sports champions are not U.S. champions, they're world champions. Their corporations aren't the largest in the States, they're the largest on the planet. Their armies don't defend just America, they defend freedom.
Like the perpetual little brother, Canadians have always lived in the shadow of our American neighbours. We mock them for their uncultured ways, their brash talk and their insularity, but it's always been the thin laughter of the insecure. After all, says University of Lethbridge sociologist Reginald Bibby, a leading tracker of social trends, "Americans grow up with the sincere belief that their nation is a nation that is unique and special, literally called by something greater to be blessed and to be a blessing to people around the globe." Canadians can't compete with that.
But it turns out that while they've been out conquering the world, here in Canada we've been quietly working away at building better lives. While they've been pursuing happiness, we've been achieving it. How do we know? You just have to look at the numbers. For our Canada Day special issue this year, Maclean's compared Canadians and Americans in every facet of our lives. We scoured census reports, polls, surveys, scientific studies, policy papers and consumer databases. We looked at who lives longer, who works more, who spends more time with friends, who travels more and who has more sex. We even found out who eats more vegetables. After digging through the data, here's what we found: the staid, underpaid Canadian is dead. Believe it or not, we now have more wealth than Americans, even though we work shorter hours. We drink more often, but we live longer and have fewer diseases.
(Excerpt) Read more at macleans.ca ...
Yeah, but we have The Stanley Cup.
I never made fun of a Canadian in my life. I hate generalizations. They make everybody guilty.
If they keep up with that attitude, we ain’t gonna let them become a State.
It’s nice for Canada to have a neighbor with a real military while they have a handful of broken down helicopters and floundering ships.
What’s the big deal with Canada? California actually makes more sense as a separate country than Canada.
Macleans just got out of the dock with its Human Rights Commissions accusing them of ‘hate speech’. It seems to me that incident effectively demolishes the point they’re trying to make with this article.
Canada is a country? I’d like independent confirmation on that. From an American source.
Still mad about Gretzky, hmm? ;-)
Canadians will be even happier once sharia law becomes the law of the land.
Canada, Shmanada. Who cares....
Canada: where they go for the bronze!
Too bad Canada didn’t borrow American free speech laws.
They leach off us for military protection and as a backup to their healthcare system. Oh yeah and they jam the highways in the South in the winter with their damn “snowbirds”.......
: )
Canada: America’s Hat.
Actually, every Canadian I’ve ever met has been a very happy and friendly person, with the exception of a nasty and bitter tow truck driver from Toronto that I ran across while vacationing in Florida. Canadians just have a different attitude about things. They seem more laid-back, more “it’s all good, eh”.
}:-)4
the people i meet from british columbia are @ssholes.
the winter over here in socal.
they’re arrogant.
Canada wins.
And as their prize I give them...
...Obama.
Ah yes - Canada the home of the ‘nots’.
We are not American.... among other references to the U.S.A.
... until I gag at hearing all the general comparisons, mostly anecdotal from one or two who have ventured across the border, living limited lives in fear of acknowledging comparative benefits.
They live for criticism these Canadians. The very core of their being and self-worth seems to be locked into the mantra: They are NOT British. They are NOT American.
They simply seem unable to define what Canadian is... except what they are “NOT”.
I am also a transplant - had the most wonderful schooling a single woman could ask for moving to the U.S. - twelve years of it, while working and being afforded benefits unheard of. Classes I would never have qualified for in Canada unless I waited for years to move up the waiting list.
I now reap the rewards, and my only payback of reason was to join the nation - a commitment which comes so easily to me. The permanent Canadian migration south continues unabated and the snowbirds who live half the year in the warmer climates are in love with the U.S. and have happier lives for it.
A sideline - I have always had excellent and cost worthy health insurance and medical care both regular and immediate. Why? Because I do my own homework and see to it I take care of my necessaries. I could never consider what I see my families going through up there with their grand plan of what passes for health care. I do not sit back and expect help. Canadians have little choice with their ‘free’ concept of health care. I would rather pay insured rates and be given good medical service as needed.
The article has reinforced what I see as a growing illness in Canada - their disdain, their neurotic comparisons with the U.S. and their feverish desire to be ‘better’ - which is a load of hogwash whether written by Macleans or by a blogger or on a forum.
I am ashamed of their continued demeaning nitpicking. It is unworthy of a great nation who seems to have misplaced its identity.
How’s that gun registration/control thing working out for you Canadians?
50% of Canada’s population lives within 50 miles of the border, as close to the US as possible.
Kind of like an insecure puppy trying to stay close to the hand that feeds it.
Along those lines...
Stanley is in Detroit but the real “talent” is in Windsor!
The state of California alone has more people and a higher GDP then the entire country of Canada.
to put things in perspective...
If Canada really had something unique and innovative that was of value, Microsoft would make a better copy of it and sell it to at Best Buy. Something like “Happy Life 2.0”.
I’ll be on the look out.
At around the time US Grant left office in the US, the Marquess of Lorne assumed office as Governor General of Canada and ebcame the most beloved administrator in its history.
Lorne was born to wealth and never had to work a day in his life. He was given a seat in the UK Parliament and then was made Governor General of Canada at the age of 33 - mostly because he married into the royal family.
He governed as a caretaker for a few years, then became a Duke and spent the rest of his life in luxury before dying of a short illness at the age of 69. He was a beloved public figure all his life.
US Grant was born poor. He got into West Point, but received a quartermaster appointment rather than the cavalry assignment he wanted. Although he proved himself in battle in the Mexican War, after the war was over he was given an undesirable post in the far west where he could not afford to bring his young family. At the age of 32 he resigned from the Army under a cloud with rumors of alcoholism and dereliction. He tried to start several businesses and they all failed. At the age of 38 he swallowed his pride and begged his father and his younger brother for a job as a sales assistant at their leather goods store.
He got an Army commission again when war broke out and fought hard again, finally being promoted and recognized. At the height of his fame he was elected president, but there was a financial crash in 1873 and he ended his administration under a cloud of accusations of incompetence and corruption.
A few years out of office he had to declare bankruptcy. Soon after, he found out he had throat cancer and spent his last years dying painfully from that disease.
Lorne led a charmed existence and a very happy one where all he ever desired was handed to him on a silver platter. Grant led an existence full of poverty, setbacks, humiliation and pain where every achievement was won through hard fighting with no encouragement.
Lorne was happy.
Grant was great.
Therein lies the distinction between the Canadian national ideal as described by this author and the American ideal that Grant embodied.
What exactly is this “Canada?”
“Still mad about Gretzky, hmm? ;-)”
And Mark Steyn, eh?
from the article:
“And within that mix, he says there’s a subset of Americans who are just like Canadians. “Left-wing urban Americans,” he says. “Canada is just a country of left-wing urban Americans.”
No wonder Canadians are so popular on FreeRepublic.
HAPPY CANADA DAY - or ?
Canada is a nation which cannot even celebrate is own “Canada Day” - unique unto itself - without a smarmy fictionalized daydream again spewing hate upon their neighbor.
Who needs it? Or them?
Game. Set. Match.
Excellent post!
Canadians are most known for being "nice"...but this quality actually grated on my nerves.
There's no energy in Canada. It seemed to me that Canadians don't really stand strongly FOR anything, but are most interested in getting along...being social, etc.
Personally, I couldn't wait to leave.
The article actually says: “Canada is a country full of left-wing urban Americans”. That is nothing to brag about.
Their National Motto: “Canada,Why?”
the socalis that move to BC and muck everything up for us in BC are @ssholes, want to trade?
Canada is a defense parasite.
When you take away the trouble and expense of simply having to survive in this dangerous World, there is a lot more money left over for the luxuries of life.
America is Canada's "Tommy".
"For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Chuck him out, the brute!'
But it's "Savior of 'is country," when the guns begin to shoot"
I also notice the article did not include a mention of "Quebec".
Otherwise, I neither agree nor disagree, except that I pay for my healthcare, and my healthcare does what I TELL it to. That's why I pay for it. If I were 25 and did not need it, I am sure I would embrace any screwball Socialist "Free" scheme that came along.
But for the rest, it's a pretty nice place, the people are OK and some are really great, there is not much to dislike except the climate and oddities like beavers on money. *shrug*
Bashing America - Pierre Trudeau’s lasting legacy and only real achievement. And we thought that the Clintons were bad.
Does that mean that Mexico is our underwear?
Times have changed.
Our kids are getting worse.
They won’t obey their parents;
They just want to fart and curse!
Sharon: Should we blame the government?
Liane: Or blame society?
Randy, Gerald, Stuart: Or should we blame the images on TV?
Sheila: NO! Blame Canada!
All: Blame Canada!
Sheila: With all their beady little eyes
And flappin’ heads so full o’ lies!
All: Blame Canada!
Blame Canada!
Sheila: We need to form a full assault!
All: It’s Canada’s fault!
Sharon: Don’t blame me
For my son Stan.
He saw the darned cartoon
And now he’s off to join the Klan!
Liane: And my boy Eric once
Had my picture on his shelf,
But now when I see him he tells me to —— myself.
Sheila: Well? Blame Canada!
All: Blame Canada!
Sheila: It seems that everything’s gone wrong
Since Canada came along!
All: Blame Canada!
Blame Canada!
Man: They’re not even a real country anyway!
Ms. McCormick: My son could’ve been a doctor or a lawyer, rich and true.
Instead he burned up like a piggy on a barbecue.
Men: Should we blame the matches?
Man: Should we blame the fire?
All: Or the doctors who allowed him to expire?
Sheila: Heck, no!
All: Blame Canada!
Blame Canada!
Sheila: With all their hockey hullabaloo
Liane: And that b-—h, Anne Murray, too.
All: [slowing] Blame Canada!
Shame on Canada!
For the
[normal] Smut we must stop, the trash we must smash.
The laughter and fun must all be undone.
We must blame them and cause a fuss
Before somebody thinks of blaming
Us!
The looney is about to fall.
Things are about to change.
And while doing so he wrote his autobiography -- which is widely recognized as excellent -- to provide an income for his family.
Very good. Thanks.
We’d listen to you, but, well,.....you’re a Canadian. /sarc
What we need to learn from Canada ... get someone else to foot the bill for our military defense.
Their statistics are goofy
These are the real numbers:
In 2006, the median annual American household income was $48201.00
In 2006, the median annual household income was 67,600 Loonies
Canada’s population is about 10% greater than California’s. California has about the same median income.
Canada has the luxury of not needing a real military, because we supply what they don’t for their own protection.
Name a Canadian car, a Canadian air plane, a canadian rifle, or even a canadian food. They do have a beer company and they have oil.
I feel stupid, but when did our military defend Canada?
well said and exactly right
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