Posted on 10/12/2004 12:23:34 PM PDT by quidnunc
Canada, in Lloyd Axworthy's famous distinction, wields enormous "soft power," in contrast to America with its old-fashioned "hard power." If you say so, Lloyd. But it seems to me the real distinction is more profound between hard culture and soft culture.
That shrewd analyst of demographic and political trends, Michael Barone, recently published a book called Hard America, Soft America: Competition vs. Coddling and the Battle for the Nation's Future. It's hard to imagine anyone writing a book called Hard Canada, Soft Canada; that question got settled a generation ago. We're not the only ones, of course a book called Hard Europe, Soft Europe would be equally improbable.
"Soft power" is wielded by soft cultures, usually because they lack the will to muster hard power. Can you remain a soft power for long? Maybe a generation or two. But a soft culture will, by its very nature, be unlikely to find the strength to stand up to a sustained assault by blunter, cruder forces. To take a small example: On the night of September 11, 2001, a gang of Muslim youths rampaged through the streets of Bradford, England, celebrating Islam's glorious victory over the Great Satan. They pounded on the hoods or, to use the quaint locution of British English, bonnets of cars, hammered the doors and demanded the drivers join them in their chants of "Osama bin Laden is a great man."
Try that in Texas, and the guy will reach into his glove box and blow your head off. In Vermont, too. But in Britain you're not allowed to own a gun or even (to all intents and purposes) resist assault. So the unfortunate burghers of Bradford went home cowed and terrified, and the Muslim gangs went swaggering off
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at westernstandard.ca ...
I held similar feelings about America when Clinton was President. Canada/America relations would further deteriorate under a Kerry Administration. I pray for GWB every night after I put my jammies on.
Mark Steyn on muslim crime:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0802/steyn1.asp
And in Australia: Tim Priest writes
http://www.hvk.org/articles/0104/64.html
Re:
" Why have a military when you know the USA will save your butts for free? "
What the hell you tawkin' about...free ??
Canada sent Mark Steyn down to New Hampshire to help keep America from falling into the same morass that befell the Great White North after absorbing 40000 Yankee draft dodgers !!
That was the biggest slug of so-called 'educated' immigrants ever to enter Canada at one go, and Mark is down there to make sure it doesn't happen again .
Geez...ya do some people a favour, and they bite yer ass !
Oh, please, not again! When Europe once again degenerates into a pest-hole (as they invevitably do), I hope and pray that our future leaders have the good sense to stay the hell out of it, and leave the Euros to their fate in dhimmitude.
If Canada goes belly-up, the country will disintegrate, with some provinces petitioning the US for statehood, and others deciding to go it alone.
This is a gross exaggeration. Study the history of the Mardi Gras Riot of 2001 in Seattle. There rampaging thugs beat and robbed dozens of individuals, beating one to death, and sexually molested many others, all while their big tough American neighbors stood by and did nothing. You could probably find similar examples in every state in the union. All the West if infected with the same sickness including the U.S.
The problem was that roving bands of blacks randomly attacked individuals and small groups, and some whites did fight back.
The one man that died was injured intervening to help a woman who was being assaulted.
The peoblem was that though the police were in the area, they were under orders not to intervene, so people who might reasonably have expected to be protected were victimized before they knew they were on their own.
Thanks for posting the full article. Quidnunc takes some perverse pleasure in excerpting Steyn articles. Few of us appreciate his efforts.
re:
" Quidnunc takes some perverse pleasure in excerpting Steyn articles. Few of us appreciate his efforts. "
C'mon pal...a Steyn excerpt is better than a whole lotta Fisk anyday.
Steyn articles are found in a number of papers which have different access priveleges. In most cases registration is no big deal. You get good value from a few mouse clicks and some hunt 'n peck.
Asking politely lets a poster know that it's not imposing on bandwidth here to post the entire article.
I don't like needless excerpts especially when they're done precisely to irritate people here. I have offered quidnunc to ping me when he finds a Steyn article that he morally won't post in its entirety. Nope. Won't do it. Oh, he'll make exceptions for posts that he thinks are "important", but not Steyn articles. He's determined to find them first and excerpt them just to be a pain in the ass.
re:
"Oh, he'll make exceptions for posts that he thinks are "important", but not Steyn articles. "
That IS goddamn irritating !!
Thanks for the FULL posting, friend! :-)
Mark Steyn is right on. This type of attitude will never change as long as they continue to re-elect socialist governments.
Mark Steyn does have a home in New Hampshire but he is a Canadian citizen. He commutes between NH and Canada and has mentioned it often. That's appropriate for this article as it shows he's had the opportunity to experience both health care systems.
California is more important in the world today, than Canada.
Bigger population, bigger economy.
Exeptions lie ahead, perhaps. For instance, Alberta contains GREATER hydrocarbon reserves, than Saudi Arabia. Oil Shale and Tar Sands.
Being our next door neighbor, good to stay fairly close.
Actually, he lives in New Hampshire.
Leaving exactly zero sane men in Canada. Save the Canadian FReepers, of course...
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