Toronto the Intolerant (A Democrat fumes over Canadian anti-Americanism)

The Toronto Star ^ | October 15, 2003 | Jacqueline Swartz

[JoeSixPack1]

Demonrats have been preaching "Hate America" for decades. They got their wish. What's the problem?

[albertabound]

This is further compounded by the fact that unless these elitists are snivelling servants, they probably work for an Anerican owned Corporation.

[concerned about politics]

Bump

[quidnunc]

Voltage wrote: My parents had a cabin in Ontario, about 2 hours from their home in Minnesota. Lots of other Americans had cabins in the same area. They were well received, adding to the economy of an area that survived by tourism and timber. Over a 30 year period they saw more and more Anti-Americanism. It wasn't really hatred, rather it was based in one thing..ENVY. The reason was unspoken, but quite obvious.

The Lake of the Woods straddles the border, and parts of it are in both countries.

The Ontario game wardens arrest Americans fishing on the Canadian side if they are not staying at Canadian resorts even though they have valid Ontario fishing licenses.

That's the kind of people Cannadians are.

[concerned about politics]

Anti-Americanism is a fact of daily life for Americans living in Toronto.

And a daily life for those at who side with the DNC.
So, what else is new? How's your family?

[concerned about politics]

At meetings of Democrats Abroad, a group affiliated with the U.S. Democratic party, which tries to help register U.S. Democrats to vote absentee, I have seen people fuming at this basso continuo of insult and prejudice.

LOL. Hey Canada! Welcome to the club!

[concerned about politics]

Please do not fall into the trap of assuming Toronto liberal elitists represent Canadians in general. The majority of us love and respect Uncle Sam.

Yeh. America doesn't like the elitist democrats either. LOL. It sounds like the Canadian and American liberal elite are having a cat fight. Meeeeoooowwww. Hissssss.

[Billthedrill]

Some good points made on this thread.

One portion of this is simply a group-think phenomenon - an opinion or a set of opinions put on like a uniform in order to validate one's group membership. This happens a great deal on university campuses. And some of it is self-validating as well, as in "all the smart people I admire think this, hence I'll think this, hence I'm smart and admirable."

The sad part is that persons espousing this set of beliefs for this reason simultaneously cast their own self-image as independent-thinking and non-conformist. Largely, one supposes, because all the smart people do so...

[albertabound]

And so they should arrest fish poachers catching Canadian fish illegally. Catch your own fish.You can easily recognize a Canadian fish, he is the one huddled along the border trying to keep warm.

[Guvmint_Cheese]

I agree. Most Canadians I have met have been quite friendly and had no issue with the U.S. or Americans.

Now, perhaps we need to give these Toronto liberal elitists a bit of a break here. You gotta remember, many of them are probably still waiting for that shrink appointment they had to make two years ago due to their award-winning health care system to get their anti-depressant refills...

[Consort]

[Porterville]

I a communist fall in the woods, does it make a noise??? Do I care??? And if I stick my foot up a commies butt, can I kick it again???

[quidnunc]

Billthedrill wrote: Some good points made on this thread. One portion of this is simply a group-think phenomenon - an opinion or a set of opinions put on like a uniform in order to validate one's group membership. This happens a great deal on university campuses. And some of it is self-validating as well, as in "all the smart people I admire think this, hence I'll think this, hence I'm smart and admirable." The sad part is that persons espousing this set of beliefs for this reason simultaneously cast their own self-image as independent-thinking and non-conformist. Largely, one supposes, because all the smart people do so...

Paul Johnson, the British historian, makes a good point about anti-Americanism in the new American Spectator print edition.

I'll post it on this thread but it'll take a while for me to type it out.

[Tacis]

Of course, Canadian leftists will grate on American leftists! Candadians are WHINGERS. Whinging is British leftist behavior that passed to our leftist neighbors. Wingeing is what you call the constant Canadian bitching that they are underpaid and overworked. They look across the border and see the wealth and growth and want some.

And, since they are already anti-American leftists, they blame the disparity, not on their own failings, but on something, anything, American. The American leftist disagrees, not because he hates America any less, but because even he knows the power of hard work and individual motivation. French Cabadians and Western Canadians are nowhere near as bad (or as anti-American) as the lefties in Ontario.

[Billthedrill]

Good heavens - (1) Paul Johnson, (2) The New American Spectator...type faster! Type faster!!

[XRdsRev]

Canada, oh Canada. A beautiful country with many wonderful people.

Unfortunately for the last 200+ years it has been a shining beacon of mediocrity. Canada is not on most American's radar screen. Canada is barely on anybody's radar screen. Despite the bravery, hard work and intellect of it's citizens, Canada just has never really stood for anything. Even in WW1 & 2, Canada's participation was seen more as a duty to England, rather than a desire to further freedom.

I think it is a sad commentary about Canada, when it is best known for ice hockey and red clad mounted policemen.

Canada...so much potential......so little results.

[quidnunc]

Here's the cite I referenced previously:

"A new factor intervened in the 1990s when the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the demise of international Communism as an active force left the United States as the sole superpower and free enterprise, symbolized by the U.S. as the only ideology. Anti-Americanism, popular among the European left throughout the Cold War, together with its own self-hating version within the U.S., now entered a new and virulent phase powered by a sense of absolute despair. The Left now had no faith, no belief in a Utopian future, no allies to admire, no heroes and no causes to promote. In this negative mood, anti-Americanism, irrational, wholly destructive, violently emotional and protean in that it could easily be made to fit the circumstances of the movement, was the perfect formula to fill the Left’s vacuum of thought." – (Paul Johnson, “Street Fighting Men”, The American Spectator, October 2003)

[albertabound]

"Canada is barely on anybody's radar screen. Despite the bravery, hard work and intellect of it's citizens, Canada just has never really stood for anything. Even in WW1 & 2, Canada's participation was seen more as a duty to England, rather than a desire to further freedom"

Tell that to my Uncles and ancestors pushing up daisies over in Europe. Also, as your biggest trading partner, we must stand for something. Finally it was kind of nice not being a blip on your radar screen and judging by your comments, we still don't register.

[albertabound]

"Canada is barely on anybody's radar screen. Despite the bravery, hard work and intellect of it's citizens, Canada just has never really stood for anything. Even in WW1 & 2, Canada's participation was seen more as a duty to England, rather than a desire to further freedom"

Tell that to my Uncles and ancestors pushing up daisies over in Europe. Also, as your biggest trading partner, we must stand for something. Finally it was kind of nice not being a blip on your radar screen and judging by your comments, we still don't register.