Two very interesting stories about Canada from our very own CBC

[submissivedave]

hehe... it's funny how sometimes some of us like to think we are so much different than Americans yet we are so integrated with America that some of our terminology and ideas are intermixed.

Another one I hear a lot is minorities referred to as Africian-American, Asian-American or whatever... even if they are Canadian! Though a weak justification I hear is that they meant North American.

I absolutely agree ...

I am Canadian but I need to refer to or use American terminology, ideas and ideology to express something ... that's just because that's what was taught in school in Canada.
You learn what the American Dream is, you learn what Manifest Destiny is ... but you have never heard of what the "Canadian Dream" is ...

Plus, when people talk about N.America, or the New World, they usually refer to America and Canada only as a "fringe" ...

You have to remember that Canada was part of the old school shit and that Canada gained indepedence through legal channels and negotiating with the Brits. On the other hand, the Americans won their independence through a revolution, a fight if you will. They were the ones who through the old school/European thing out the door and established their own ideology laying the foundation of the "self made man" which of course leads to the American Dream ...

 

[Don]

I wouldn't say Religion makes you "sick." That comment can be taken as ignorant or at least showing lack of respect for other cultures.

I take George Carlin's view of religion:

"People need religion like they need a lift in their shoe. If it makes them feel a little taller and happier about themselves, fine. But if you keep that lift in your shoe all the time, as you walk, jog, play sports, etc., you can wind up sore, or maybe even crippled...And, PLEEEEASE, let's not send folks to other countries to nail lifts onto the natives' feet! "

 

[Don]

I absolutely agree ...

I am Canadian but I need to refer to or use American terminology, ideas and ideology to express something ... that's just because that's what was taught in school in Canada.
You learn what the American Dream is, you learn what Manifest Destiny is ... but you have never heard of what the "Canadian Dream" is ...

Plus, when people talk about N.America, or the New World, they usually refer to America and Canada only as a "fringe" ...

yeah. Unfortunately being so close to such a dominant country, it is impossible not to absorb some of the culture and ideology and at the same time lose some identity. One good thing about Quebec is that it really adds to the uniqueness of Canada from America with the different language and all despite all the headaches of seperatists and such,.

 

[submissivedave]

In regards to religion:

Sorry, maybe its just a personal, biased opinion when I said "religion makes you sick" ...

Personally, I am not religious at all ... so that might of been one of the reasons why I said that ...

In regards to America:

I totally agree with what you said ... I think one of the best things that has ever happened to Canadian History is the feature by CBC called "Canada - A People's History" (which can be found here: http://history.cbc.ca/ )

I learned so fucking much from that series ... more then anything I had ever learned in any given classroom man ... we need more shit like this ...

 

[greentshirtman]

The American Dream is now dead, Big corporations have seen to that, it is now the Eastern European dream. You can make a fortune if you want to take a risk and work hard

 

[Don]

How much of a risk???

There is a reason why a lot of East Europeans still try to immigrate here.

 

[submissivedave]

In those countries, corruption is just rampant ... just like how Russia was (or possibly still is) and how the Russian mafia takes advantage of the vacuum created since the regime change.

This is also true for China. Corruption is China's number one enemy ... but then, corruption is everywhere ... its a very human thing I guess ...