Posted on 04/30/2005 8:29:58 AM PDT by fanfan
...but wearing a pro-Bush T-shirt can be a risky thing to do
Not all Canadians hate George W. Bush, contrary to the received wisdom. There is a secret underground society of Bush fans (three and a half of us, at last count) in Canada. How do I know this? It started with a T-shirt an American friend of mine gave me earlier this year. It has a big "W" on it, next to a wee American flag and an "04."
To clarify, I am a Bush fan, in the way Woody Allen's character, Mickey, in Hannah and her Sisters, wanted to become a Roman Catholic. Mid-existential crisis, Mickey tells a priest that some aspects of Catholicism entice him, but he would prefer to join the "against school prayer, pro-abortion, anti-nuclear wing" of the church. That's how I feel about Bush and his Republican party. I support the against school prayer, pro-war on terror, pro-war in Iraq, pro-war in Afghanistan, pro-pressure on tyrants, pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, pro-death penalty, thumb-your-nose-at-the-UN wing. And, on a human level, I like Bush, who seems to genuinely like and respect women -- a refreshing break from his predecessor.
Because my own government does not fret about jihadists, I am eternally grateful there is an administration in Washington that does. I don't think I realized how much I wanted Bush to win a second term until he actually did, and my shoulders went back down to where shoulders should be, in sharp contrast to where they had been all last summer, up around my forehead.
Still, I was reluctant to wear my "W" T-shirt in public, given the unfounded hysteria and fear George Bush seems to inspire in Canadians. I thought a good place to start might be my gym, a YMCA, as the Y's battle cry is "inclusivity." My membership card even warns that failure to comply with inclusivity will get me tossed out on my backside.
I told one gym friend of my plans, a fellow I knew to be of a similar political mindset. He is a man I initially started talking to for superficial reasons -- he is dead handsome -- only to discover he had more going for him than looks. That's so rare with men. Handsome Guy said this about my T-shirt: "Tell me when you're going to wear it so I can bring my camcorder."
No one beat me up the first time I wore it, in mid-February, but the furrowed brows and looks of horror were hard to miss (even more than I usually get). One fellow shook his head and said, "It's dangerous to wear that in Canada." Another told a joke about Bush out at a restaurant with Dick Cheney. Bush looks at the menu and orders a "quickie," shocking the waitress. The punchline was that Cheney explains to Bush that what he wants is, in fact, a "quiche." Hilarious! Do you get it? It's so funny, you see, because Bush is so dumb he needs Cheney to help him read menus. Get it? Oh, how funny.
On another occasion, a woman confronted me mid-weight training. "I am deeply offended by your shirt." All I could think to say was, "Then it's a good thing you're not the one wearing it." She asked me how I would feel if she wore a Hitler T-shirt. "Deeply offended," I said. "Well?" she said. "Surely you're not comparing the two," I replied. She was.At the gym, I have seen T-shirts with various union and political party logos, and I have seen those ubiquitous "Bush-- International Terrorist" T-shirts. None of those offend me, though some make me snicker. None make it hard for me to work out, either, which is the effect my "W" T-shirt had on another lady. She turned to me, after a boxing class, fuming that she could "barely concentrate" during the leaping and punching, due to seeing that damn W in the aerobics studio's mirrored walls. An hour of sweating didn't mitigate her fury. That George Bush is a powerful man.
More recently, an older, 1960s leftover lady I had shared friendly chitchat with asked me if my T-shirt was a joke. I told her no. She looked dubious and told me she was "very far left." "How fun for you!" I said. Days later, she introduced me to a friend of hers. "This is Rondi," she said. "She likes George Bush." She then paused, before saying, desperately trying to convince, "But she's very nice!"
I was tempted, in turn, to introduce her to people thusly: "This is Peggy. She's a leftist." Pause. "But she's not always illogical, infantile and myopic!"
Amidst more of the same, however, the rumblings of a radical uprising could be heard. A guy I'd seen around, but not talked to, sidled up to me one day, whispering conspiratorially, "I like your T-shirt."
I told my brother, who suggested that what this gentleman really liked was under my shirt. Perhaps, but he and I talked about politics, not my chest. He felt our underground society should come up with a secret handshake as a stealth means of identification. I realized that between him, Handsome Guy, and me, Bush had three fans in Canada, rebels all.
Three and a half, figuring in the teenage boy, who, taking a break from basketball one day, asked me if I had "gotten any grief" about my T-shirt. He was curious, he said, because while he had "no strong opinions," he had got into a fracas with friends, when they insisted there was nothing about the U.S. president that was not entirely evil. "I told them," he said, "there has to be something about him that isn't evil."
Now that's hopeful. Nonetheless, I am giving the T-shirt a break for a bit. It's too risky. In the meantime, we three and a half need a name for our group.
I like the sounds of the "Cold Weather Underground," myself.
Rondi Adamson is a Toronto writer whose work has been published in The Wall Street Journal Europe and the Christian Science Monitor.
I'm still somewhat skeptical that there are supposedly sane, rational, Canadians (even if they are liberals) who believe that Bush is evil or on the same level as Hitler. But I do have a brother-in-law who thinks that Bush is unable to read (yes, he really believes that to be true), and that is underlings must tell him everything he has to say. I know that most of these people, even if they libs, go about their daily tasks and produce a certain level of er production. How do they do it with the crazy beliefs they hold?
They do so because they will believe anything that fits their world view and never think to question it. Several weeks ago I saw the results of a study done where young people were asked if they would rather listen to newscasters give the news of the day from their own perspective or have only the facts of the stories presented so the people could form their own opinions. An overwhelming majority of these kids wanted to hear the opinionated report rather then have to decide what to think by sorting through the fats for themselves.
Is it any wonder that we are a nation of sheep?
I don't know.
All I can tell you is that the law of averages ensures that at least 50% of the people are below average.
It must be at least double that for Liberals!
He felt our underground society should come up with a secret handshake as a stealth means of identification. I realized that between him, Handsome Guy, and me, Bush had three fans in Canada, rebels all.
I love this guy. LOL On one hand it's sad this sould be the case of attitudes across the Globe, on the other hand there is great humor in a stealth society of Dubya fans. I know they exist in oppressed countries, the dictators know it as well.
Well, the "W" sign that we used in 2000 would be perfect ... it also stands for "3 W fans in Canada"!
Ive always found Canada boring and Canadians one inch short of being useless and French .
1. Hot Strippers.
2. Coffee Crisp.
3. Hot Strippers.
4. Cheap beer.
5. Hot strippers.
Not thre rest of the country.
Don't paintbrush the whole country because of the
Quebec Factor.......that ain't fair.
On the flipside I could say I always find Americans
arrogant and ignorant.
But I prefer not to say it....do you folla?
Take a trip to many parts of Canada and it would seem like Red America...I was in one of those areas this weekend...
Just curious ... where was that?
I got an Alliance T-shirt from them back before the Tory re-amalgamation.
eastern Ontario, west/southwest of Ottawa
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.