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?
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