While you never hear anyone say bad about Canada, there is certainly a history of general thoughtlessness or outright antipathy towards Canadians on the part the United States as a whole.
And...
However, for most Canadians these may be secondary to the sort of unconcious cultural arrogance evidenced by the U.S. You say you never hear anyone say anything bad about Canada, and I'm sure you don't hear anything on a daily basis. However, WE never hear Americans say anything good about Canada that isn't slightly patronizing or ironic - in the mass media, at least. Canada is America's amusing and slightly retarded little brother. Right-wing political pundits say much worse things, but then, they hate everyone.
Sure, quantify with 'at least', but that really doesn't change the words preceding.
Those are two, but there are more. I don't know if you're projecting an unconscious bias, or if, like all of us are apt to do, just not wording things quite like you're meaning to.
Really. I, for example, do NOT have a grudge against Americans as individuals, nor even as an institution. I am explaining why some Canadians DO, and why a culture of cynicism has built up here.
I am NOT saying that it is right. Not at all.
How exactly do we combat cynicism when someone's saying, "Americans look at us like we're retards," and not saying, "American media has a pretty ugly set of biases, but don't often reflect the views of most of their nation?" Which is the truth. There's a reason why FOX News and CNN have such diametrically opposed views. There's a reason why Americans lean towards one or the other, usually whichever one comes closer to their own viewpoints. Many, many, many of us watch BBC World News now in lieu of our own bloody media -- in fact, it runs several times a day down here because of demand.
Not even in our own culture is there a definite, middle-of-the-road media outlet we can agree on. We do the best with what we're given. Trying to claim that any station's programming reflects American attitude is a seriously agonizing generalization -- we have a ton of stations and have to pick the best we can find out of the whole nasty mess. I'll allow that maybe you just misworded that statement, but in its current form, it struck me as being thoroughly unkind to a nation that is far from perfect, but not nearly so ignorant as we might have been in the past.
As I said, a ton of Noggin's programming is international. A whole crapload of us watch the Beeb. We'd watch the CBC, but most of us don't get it. I know a bunch of Americans who watched your election's debates in lieu of our own, when we could find them televised.
Most of all, my two best friends live in your country. Rach is a Canadian. Anna is an immigrant from the USSR who came here after a terribly dire time in her own nation of origin, and who schools in Manitoba, and plans on making her life there.
Finally, when one of my other friends, another Russian who still lives there was talking about where to move? I told her to move to Canada. Not because I don't love the US, or at least, what the ideal of the US is based on, but because *I* think Canada has so much going for it, in so many ways, that I can heartily recommend it for people who want to build a good life. Not without its flaws, but a great nation besides.
Personally, I think that view goes a lot further than cynicism, on both sides of the border.
no subject
And...
However, for most Canadians these may be secondary to the sort of unconcious cultural arrogance evidenced by the U.S. You say you never hear anyone say anything bad about Canada, and I'm sure you don't hear anything on a daily basis. However, WE never hear Americans say anything good about Canada that isn't slightly patronizing or ironic - in the mass media, at least. Canada is America's amusing and slightly retarded little brother. Right-wing political pundits say much worse things, but then, they hate everyone.
Sure, quantify with 'at least', but that really doesn't change the words preceding.
Those are two, but there are more. I don't know if you're projecting an unconscious bias, or if, like all of us are apt to do, just not wording things quite like you're meaning to.
Really. I, for example, do NOT have a grudge against Americans as individuals, nor even as an institution. I am explaining why some Canadians DO, and why a culture of cynicism has built up here.
I am NOT saying that it is right. Not at all.
How exactly do we combat cynicism when someone's saying, "Americans look at us like we're retards," and not saying, "American media has a pretty ugly set of biases, but don't often reflect the views of most of their nation?" Which is the truth. There's a reason why FOX News and CNN have such diametrically opposed views. There's a reason why Americans lean towards one or the other, usually whichever one comes closer to their own viewpoints. Many, many, many of us watch BBC World News now in lieu of our own bloody media -- in fact, it runs several times a day down here because of demand.
Not even in our own culture is there a definite, middle-of-the-road media outlet we can agree on. We do the best with what we're given. Trying to claim that any station's programming reflects American attitude is a seriously agonizing generalization -- we have a ton of stations and have to pick the best we can find out of the whole nasty mess. I'll allow that maybe you just misworded that statement, but in its current form, it struck me as being thoroughly unkind to a nation that is far from perfect, but not nearly so ignorant as we might have been in the past.
As I said, a ton of Noggin's programming is international. A whole crapload of us watch the Beeb. We'd watch the CBC, but most of us don't get it. I know a bunch of Americans who watched your election's debates in lieu of our own, when we could find them televised.
Most of all, my two best friends live in your country. Rach is a Canadian. Anna is an immigrant from the USSR who came here after a terribly dire time in her own nation of origin, and who schools in Manitoba, and plans on making her life there.
Finally, when one of my other friends, another Russian who still lives there was talking about where to move? I told her to move to Canada. Not because I don't love the US, or at least, what the ideal of the US is based on, but because *I* think Canada has so much going for it, in so many ways, that I can heartily recommend it for people who want to build a good life. Not without its flaws, but a great nation besides.
Personally, I think that view goes a lot further than cynicism, on both sides of the border.