Canada could learn a few things from America?

I lived in America for 20 years, and there are some things that I really do love about the place. I'm a huge fan of American college football, and flip cup is a wonderful right-of-passage of any college-aged American. They invented bourbon and taquitos, along with flight and the escalator (stairs that climb for you!). America gave us the best serial killers, and Tom Hanks! But even with all these wonderful inventions and Tom Hanks, I'm glad to return to Canada after 20 years, because even though I have two passports in my back pocket, I know which country I would really rather live in.

So when I saw the title of Neil MacDonald's latest editorial last week "Farewell, America, Canada could learn a few things from you" two things became apparent to me. 1. Neil MacDonald doesn't care about comma splices and 2. Neil's article made me want to ram my forehead into a brick wall. I was hoping for an article on how Canada could make it's own rotisserie gas station taco substitutes, or how we could market our serial killers better. I was ready to get on board, Neil, since we both recently returned to Canada, I thought we had a lot in common. Unfortunately what we do not have in common is what we think Canada could learn from "The Land of the Free."

Ben Affleck + Bill Gates = Batman

So as a citizen of both Canada and America, I find myself uniquely qualified to respond to your article, because it's been out a week and it's been jabbing at my brain like an ice-pick lobotomy that just won't quit. So without further ado, a point by point breakdown of what "Canada could Learn from 'The Land of Free.'"

Never a best price

But we have more trees....?

You know, you got me there Neil. Starting off strong here Neil. There is absolutely no reason why e-books are more expensive in Canada. Putting 1's and 0's through a wire costs the same in America as it does in Canada. There are no shipping costs to data, but still we find ourselves paying up to 40% higher prices for books whether material or not. And it's worse when you know the only reason for this is that publishers know that Canadians are willing to pay higher prices for books. You could also take this as proof that Canadians value the written word more so than our southern neighbors, but we also pay higher prices for energy, airfare, and food, so we must value all that stuff more too, I guess.


Beyond corporate hosing, there are shipping costs, taxes and tariffs, government regulations, and the fact that our minimum wage is $10.60 vs. America's $7.60 per hour. I kind of like that last part though. To me, being able to earn a living wage in a 1st world country is kind of cool, no matter how hard Walmart lobbies against it. You got me on the price thing though. Canada is getting gouged on the book front. And the cheeseburger front. I wonder if Neil's job gave him swanky American health coverage. Mine didn't, so I didn't have healthcare. Good thing I didn't get sick.

Accountability

Because Canada never holds anybody accountable.... ever.

Ok Neil, you're going a bit off the rails here. I followed American politics with a fine toothed comb from 2000-2014. I saw the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the bungling of Katrina, and the financial meltdown during the Bush administration, and I didn't see any accountability from any of it. I saw speculation, sure, but the worst that really happened was George W. Bush has to go into hiding to give his brother a shot at the White House. What about the multiple government shutdowns in the past 6 years, or the millions of dollars spent on pentagon projects the military doesn't want, while America's bridges and dams erode? What about the laughable internet infrastructure that Americans pay through the nose for? 

Canada is a nation that just spent $21 million dollars to find $1 million in questionable Senate expenses. In America's world of bought-and-paid for politics, staggeringly well-funded, anonymous donor Super PACs, and a revolving door between Congress and high-paying lobbyist positions, American politics probably finds the Canadian Senate scandal incredibly quaint. Cute even. 

Oh, and this!

Fun Fact: Americans approve of colonoscopies more than they approve of their own congress. *Real Clear Politics

That's a 15% approval rating for a body of government democratically elected to power, and that's an uptick from recent years. Yet, with the congressional approval rating hovering somewhere around head lice and carnies, they have a near 90% re-election rate. This is actually the opposite of accountability. If accountability existed in American politics, this would never happen, and neither would this...

This would be the equivalent of Mississippi going blue in America, which has the same probability of you gaining magical powers and being admitted into Hogwarts. *National Post

Democracy

Illinois 4th district, connected by a thin strip of highway median. Also, BY COMPLETE COINCIDENCE, outlines both the  Mexican and Puerto Rican communities, even though they're 8 blocks apart.

That's called gerrymandering, and it's one of the reasons why American politicians keep their jobs even though they're more hated than stubbed toes and whooping cough. Here's another fun fact: school districts are also based on this political tomfoolery, which results in a strange, modern-day de-facto type of segregation, with completely uneven district funding to boot! I know, because I taught at these schools in Atlanta. It's super weird. I've never actually taken a Canadian civics course, so I don't know if this practice is done in Canada, but I would bet my bottom dollar that America is the best at it, because America is totally pro, and Canadian political corruption is amateur hour compared to the big leagues.  By the way, I would love to tell you what the above shape looks like, but even my highly abstract and constantly confused mind can't recognize this as anything other than democratic malfeasance. Oh, and there's this!

Also, American parties have mascots, just like sports teams. Go TEAM!

That's 1000 millions. That's a billion dollars. I've never raised a billion dollars, but I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it without owing at least a couple of people favors. Don't worry though. What we're seeing here is freedom of speech through generous cash donations. The Supreme Court said so, which is like the Taco Supreme of the court system, if the court system were tacos. "And what are they getting for their money," you ask? A fabulous return on their investment, but don't take my word for it. Here's Vanderbilt University.

"Overall, the gain from participating in the contributions process translated to an average one-year increase in shareholder wealth across all of the firms analyzed of more than $106 billion, or about $154 million per year per firm."

$106 billion for a $1 billion investment? Of course I'm going to throw obscene amount of money at presidential candidates. It's my God* given right.

             *God in these terms refers only to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Also, very little of that money was ever spent on me, since I lived in Georgia, and my vote for president essentially didn't count. Yay Democracy!

Doing the Right Thing

Because everybody knows Bigfoot is a pinko hippy communist! Art by: Jason ODIN Heuser

Oh boy Neil. You've done did it now. I could agree with you on the "Best Price" thing. I thought the "Accountability" bit was shaky, but I kept with it. The "Democracy" part was funny, but I did vote in America, so there was that. But this? Look, I'm not one of those Guy Fawkes guys, and I don't recommend we overthrow the American Government or anything, but when you're comparing America to Canada, and say Canadians could learn about "Doing the right thing" from America, I'm really starting to think this whole article was sarcasm.

Ok Rory... Deep Breath. Here we go. Bought-and-paid for politics. Corporate written legislation. The Military Industrial Complex. For profit healthcare. For profit prisons. Mass incarceration of minorities and the poor. A generation swimming in student dept. Wealth inequality. Warrantless mass surveillance of citizens. Secret drone bases in Somalia. A "secret" prison in Cuba with a very loose definition of torture. Mass shootings. Outrageous gun laws. CEO vs worker compensation. Police militarization and no-knock raids. The war on drugs. Kids waiting in prison for years for a trial. A broken education system. Endless wars. Going to war without proper justification. A crumbling infrastructure. The two party system. The working poor. Lack of social mobility. No maternity leave. No vacation days. A new video of police shooting minorities weekly. Corporate owned media. American Exceptionalism (whatever that means). Did I miss anything?

Don't get me wrong. There are some great things about America too. As Neil said, cheeseburgers are cheaper. Also, yes, people clap in the airport when the troops come home, even though the VA is currently threatening to close hospitals because of lack of congressional funding. And, you're right, Canada does have it's shortfalls, but if I'm looking for advice on how to make our nation better, I'll take it from Finland, thank you very much.

I will also take all Finnish advice on wearing funny hats and tending to reindeer.

So let's turn Neil's article on it's head. Let's let Neil know what America could learn from us, it's friendly, northern Canadian neighbor. Leave your suggestions on what America could learn from us in the comments below.

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Richard Lorway Follow Me
Well, for one thing, we make better beer... and we ALWAYS have!
Matthew Butler Follow Me
That reminds me of this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E064kb3UnU
Richard Lorway Follow Me
Bingo! Thar ya go!
Karen Crouse Follow Me
We have more natural resources and great ski hills.
Mathew Georghiou Follow Me
How to make a donut ... wait, nope, they have Krispy Kream. How to drive in snow. Yup. How to set the A/C so it's not freezing inside (I'm looking at you Texas!) Entrepreneurship ... nope, not that one. We are more vacationee - is that a word or even a good thing? This is hard! Got it ... Best gameshow and prizes ever: Definition https://youtu.be/hdsQgy3m0ZQ?t=7s Best comedians, yup winner.
Richard Lorway Follow Me
Oh, and despite the Edison mythology, we invented the light bulb. Edison bought the patent from 2 guys in Montreal. And the paint roller. Ever painted a room by hand? Didn't think so!
Karen Crouse Follow Me
How about the Canadarm? Instant replay for Basketball, Hockey, and Lacrosse. And don't forget the jockeystrap hard cup that all the men and women wear playing sports. We all have a Snowblower and a snowmobile. Instant replay and pablum and trivial pursuit.
Richard Lorway Follow Me
We invented pablum?
Mathew Georghiou Follow Me
Yes, it's sometimes called the Government of NS.
Steven Rolls Follow Me
Richard, your comment made me think of one. We ruled in 80’s afterschool broadcasting. Beach Combers, Danger Bay, Degrassee, and of course... http://youtu.be/3CMAK0N3U8k
Richard Lorway Follow Me
I know I'm dating myself, but I was a fan of Relic. What can I say? Rugged individualist that he was. And the episode that Gordon Pinsent starred in was a classic. Great actor! Oh, and you left out the Forest Rangers and Razzle Dazzle. Now I'm really dating myself!
Mathew Georghiou Follow Me
Ahem ... the pretend-to-be Greek (but actually Italian) Nick Adonidas was the star of that show thank you :-)
Gwen Andrews Follow Me
Being liked overseas. People are so much happier when they understand you are Canadian, not American.
Rory Andrews My Post Follow Me
Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen an American flag on a backpack. I wonder why?
Christian Murphy Follow Me
This is scratching the surface of great Canadian inventions. Check this out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_inventions
Joe Ward Follow Me
Canada is smaller in population than California, though they get the edge on the rest of the individual states. We'd do better comparing ourselves to each one. In the US, there is a lot of diversity. Do we insist there is homogeneity between say Newfoundland and British Columbia? Larger markets are more efficient. Demand does some very interesting things. Perhaps, that's why their allegedly inferior beer is only 1/3 of the cost! I don't know the state of healthcare across Canada, but if it's anything similar to what we have here, gainfully employed career people would be well advised to take a tax break, move to the the USA, and invest their savings in an excellent healthcare insurance plan. They could get a doctor, get routine care, get important stuff taken care of quickly, and avoid losing their parents to c diff infection. I haven't figured out yet why Canadians get punched in the belly when it comes to Internet related stuff. But... Amazon's catalog sucks. Can't watch anything on the CBS website. Pandora is restricted. Netflix has a different selection. There are even differences between the USA and Canadian version of the iPhone/iPad app store. Bell Wireless deletes your voicemail after 7 days whether you hear them or not because it wants to upsell you. And as if your $700-$900 investment in a phone wasn't enough, they want you to pay extra to download your voicemail to your phone too. We pay an awful lot to have less available to us. Perhaps the global likability of Canada is greater than USA because they can blow stuff up, and we can't. Heck, I can't even seem to find fireworks that get off the ground around here. :P We adopt too much of a fan based mentality. But if we're going to go that route: Denmark. How do you like them apples? :P
Peter Sheehan Follow Me
We are too passive about business . Our governments ,especially municipal and provincial need to be more aggressive to compete with our USA competition . We have a far better range of tourist products than they have in Maine and Vermont and NH , also at lower prices , yet we can't attract people from New York city or Boston in any great numbers .
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
I have a pet peeve related to calling the United States by the name "America". This is something that is not well understood in Canada, perhaps because we do not identify as Americans. This is not the case in the rest of America (Central, North and South). I think my sensitivity to the issue comes from the time I lived in Latin America. In Spanish the country is always called Los Estatos Unidos (the united states). We are kind of stuck with the term "americans" even in Spanish (Americanos), but America is a continent or two, not a country. The great leader Simon Bolivar started the discussion centuries ago. I grew to relate to the point, leaving me with a bit of rage that the people of the great land of US would assume they could own the name America, and a smaller rage that we Canadians let them do it. I think the style sheet of the CBC favours America, and it pisses me off every time I hear it. We Cape Bretoners, many of us not really self identifying as Nova Scotians, might think a bit and start to understand the power of a name. End Rant.
Rory Andrews My Post Follow Me
It's important to note that when they first called the fledgling nation "The United States of America" they probably assumed they would someday take over the whole of it. But I do like how an entire hemisphere of the Earth is named after a guy that said to himself "Wait! This isn't Asia!" And an Italian at that. I don't mind people calling Americans Americans though. It just flows better than United Statians. And at the time of forming the United States, the country was a pretty radical idea that got a pretty radical name. Radical!
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
I don't know what happened to my reply. I tried to post from mobile... too old for mobile apparently. I had said... I have no problem calling "them" american because there is no other word. My sensitivity is related to calling their country american, which it isn't.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
Call it the United States, the USA, but it is not America. Also, they likely did assume they were going to get the entire hemisphere, and perhaps they did, and this is what is behind many Americans from Mexico to Chile not being very happy with their coopting of the term.
Rory Andrews My Post Follow Me
Meh. It's true that the term "American" is a bit inelegant, and maybe a little confusing, but not really. I've never heard anyone refer to themselves as an American like people from Europe refer to themselves as European. Most people know exactly what you're talking about when you say you're American. People only get offended because they believe it to be some jingoistic attitude of continental ownership. It's not though. It's just poor planning and linguistic inconsistency. People of the United States began referring to themselves as "American" shortly after the country was founded. It wasn't imposing The United States worldview then, and it isn't now.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
My original point admitted that this is the Canadian perspective, especially Canadians who have no connection with the rest of American. Once one explains that it is in fact inconsiderate of millions of people, perhaps there could be a little taking of consciousness and a little change?
Rory Andrews My Post Follow Me
Well if we're really trying to not offend anybody, why is the whole place named after a Italian to begin with? Seems pretty ethnocentric to me. Let's rename the whole place "Maka" after the Lakota word for "Earth." Or would that be inconsiderate to all the other indigenous cultures of The New World? Meh. I'm American, and I just say "Too bad!" and continue on with my life.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
are you "american" as in from the USA? or are you just kidding?
Rory Andrews My Post Follow Me
Naturalized American citizen. I dual-wield passports.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
Wonderful! Welcome! At my age (60) I got to meet some of our best citizens who came during the Viet Nam time, and many of them are even here in good old Cape Breton... nothing personal, but still I have to say, your "i'll continue with my life" made me think of a comparison. It was not that far from saying I am going to continue refusing to serve black people at my little cafe because racism is much more serious than that, and has roots that go back real far, and nothing I can do is really going to fix it so I am just going to keep on with my life! But seriously, you are not aware of how this all sounds to latin americans? I know it is just a little thing, but I lived in latin america, two different countries, for 14 years and as I said, it is my pet peeve, nothing personal. In Cuba I as the Gringa Canadiense. To them gringo was a term of endearment... it was yankee what was a swear word! and All white folk from western societies were gringos... gringo aleman... gringo sueco... etc.
Joe Ward Follow Me
Racial discrimination would be analogous to simply not having strong feelings about the recognized name of a nation over a period of 500+ years? I almost feel like Matt Damon is going to show up and post: "You have an issue with calling my country 'American'? Isn't that a little bit xenophobic... How do you like them apples?". I'm kidding! ;) If you think about it, they probably just didn't want to waste quill ink or more hand cramping on "The United States of America" when it could be conveniently shortened and most would contextually know exactly what they were talking about. In imagining that Canada had been called "The Northern Unified Kanatas of the Americas", we'd probably still end up with "Kanadians", "Canadians", or a contested used of "Americans" too. Especially since arthritic hand cramping seems to be an issue in the colder climates. I think language often evolves with a sense of efficiency or organic usage patterns among the population. Even the Oxford Dictionary now officially recognizes "twerk". And I don't think that is because a board of linguistic experts felt we needed to introduce a term to define semi squatting, bent over, sexualized shaking of the backend. Unless it was intended for bird watchers. While living in Puerto Rico, the most patriotic of the bunch recognized Americans with no issue whatsoever, spare the dislike for them having taken control of Puerto Rico in 1898. I'm still convinced this was more about the recipe for the perfect mofongo. Of greater concern was the not-so-uncommon "dislike" of Dominicans or other Puerto Ricans with darker skin than them (i.e. being more Euro-blooded was seen as superiority among many). As I kid, the only country I remember taking issue with regarding the name was Turkey. I just thought they weren't very creative. ;)
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
Ha! I totally agree with the Canadian perspective on this, for most Canadians, but outside of Canada, trust me, it is a serious thing. That is the only point I have been trying to make from the very beginning. Can we not broaden our horizons a tiny bit?
Joe Ward Follow Me
I was just kidding around for the most part. But in seriousness, I don't understand any of the argument for any sensitivity about it. Naming conventions evolve over time. I was serious about the aspects related to evolution of language, and the natural tendency for us to use short form, etc. Here I go again... but... if they decided to rename North America *Continenty McContinentface*, I'd think it was extremely silly... or immediately check to see if Mulcair was trying a non-conventional way of getting more website hits with his new campaign manager (Rob Calabrese)... but it would have very little impact on my life. Too many coffee today. Effect hasn't worn off yet! Ugh. As a quick side note, thinking out loud, American foreign policy is probably something our global citizens should be much more concerned with. Because whether the predator drones that often hit the wrong targets are sent by the Americans, or the {insert appropriate word for citizens of the United States of America in short form}, a miss is a really bad thing. Bad far beyond the sensitivity of geographic-based national naming conventions.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
Think of it from the point of view of those to know the works Simon Bolivar or Jose Marti.
Joe Ward Follow Me
To do that, I would have to study two figures from 150+ years ago in history to find out why they didn't like Americans. Since it's really not the term "American", but the national and foreign policies of America that are what people are actually concerned with in modern times, I'm not sure the effort would offer very good ROI. Of course, I could be mistaken. But there has to be a clear value proposition before accepting any offer to invest anything in life - including historical research effort and time. IMO, the United States of America and every country in the world is a very different place after 150 years have passed. And I think "American' is a recognized and accepted descriptive term the world over, whether people or nations happen to be allies, enemies, friends or foe. They know who they are and what continent they are a (middle) part of.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
One final time before I totally give up. I am not talking about American... although I did an auto correct mistake on that in one post, I am talking about AMERICA. not the country, the continent. One another point on having to study two figures from the past, or, you could just trust me?
Joe Ward Follow Me
Accepting someone else's opinion without understanding it is a very dangerous way to acquire new information. There are two continents: North America and South America. One of the largest and most highly populated countries within the continent of North America is the United States of America. And "America", in shortened form, has become a derived, accepted, and Internationally recognized identifier for it. Just as with: United States and USA. Other countries within both continents have chosen and derived their own names over time. I do trust that you're right, based on your studies, that Bolivar and Marti (and many of their followers) probably had issues with the country and a politically based argument against its naming conventions. Upon review of this discussion, however, I didn't see anything that presented strong evidence for why anyone would avoid using the term "America" to describe the United States of America in modern times.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
Well, As I said, I have totally given up. If respect for the rest of America is not enough, than it is just not important.
Joe Ward Follow Me
I don't think that recognizing a well established naming convention for a country over a period of about 500 years is a lack of respect for other nations that share the continent(s) and chose their own names. Their political policies can still be criticized even if we had never heard anyone say "America" before. And I'm guessing it wouldn't have quieted Bolivar or Marti's criticism - as I can't imagine that was their only (or most significant) complaint.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
This well established naming convention over a period of about 500 years, well that is a little exaggerated but not related to my point, is a convention that is not shared across America. Can you not believe that? It is not an opinion. It is a fact. It is my opinion that we should respect the rest of America, but it is a fact that they are known as the united states or los estatos unidos other than in the north.
Joe Ward Follow Me
I would find it difficult to believe (though not impossible) that anywhere in the world, at present, including within South American countries, that saying "Did you hear what just happened in America?" wouldn't lead to most listeners knowing that you were referring to the United States of the America. Of course, I don't have any data to support that hunch. Something like that isn't really fact based without some form of polling data or literary analysis to back it up. So I suspect it's more of a case study from personal connections in your travels? With that said, there are also different conventions in different languages. In Puerto Rico, where I lived for several years, my own personal case study would lead me to believe that they have no trouble identifying what you mean by America. Of course, it probably helps that they are a Commonwealth of America, and American citizens as a result of the United States invading.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
In latin america, where I lived for 14 years, you would not hear "did you hear what just happened in America". You would hear "Haz escuchado lo que ha pasado en los Estatos Unidos?". If, on the other hand you heard "Haz escuchado lo que ha pasado en América", you would not think of the United States, sorry... unless you were speaking English the whole time?
Joe Ward Follow Me
If they don't have an equivalent of the naming convention in their language, I guess they don't have much to worry about. If I asked a translator to take the following: "Did you hear what happened in America?" And she translated it to: "Haz escuchado lo que ha pasado en los Estatos Unidos?" I guess the proposed issue would solve itself in Spanish. But she wouldn't have been able to translate it so readily if she didn't recognize "America" as a globally recognized short form for the "United States of America".
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
Yep, I give up. You are obviously right.
Joe Ward Follow Me
Now "right"... there's a word with a meaning that is highly subject to debate. Ha ha. Very thought provoking chat. Enjoyed our back and forth. I just went off searching for existential views of language interpretation and ended up landing on Clinton's testimony: "it depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is" Ugh. Language is fun. Only in America. Have a great evening. :)
Joe Ward Follow Me
As a side note, while living there, I think I would have been inclined to say: "I'm living in the U.S." or "... the United States". Saying USA would make be feel like I was about to high five Walker Texas Ranger or John Rambo before jumping out of the plane, and saying "America" would force me to hear Sarah Palin or George W saying it. And that's almost the strongest argument of all not to want to say it ever again. :P
Gwen Andrews Follow Me
I tend to agree with you, Madeline. I live in Australia and most people here call the US "America". But at least they recognize that Canada is a different country. And I can relate to what you say about Latin American resentment, have worked with Latin and South Americans. Given the US tendency towards imperialism in "their" hemisphere, the other countries have a right to resent their appropriation of the term American.
Joe Ward Follow Me
I've also heard it said before in casual discussion, whether accurate or not, that Canadians were very welcomed in Australia, whereas Americans not so much. No idea if there is any truth to that or not.
Peter Sheehan Follow Me
Isn't Canada just as much a part of North America as is the USA ?? So we're just as entitled to say we are Americans too??? Maybe the media should stop using "America" and "Americans" when only referring to the USA , SO NOW the title to this forum is "What can Canada learn from the USA " or better still "What can the USA learn from Canada" , or maybe "Why should Ottawa and Halifax care about Cape Breton ??" Or "What Ottawa and Halifax can learn from Cape Breton "
Joe Ward Follow Me
If we wanted to speak accurately we can certainly call ourselves North Americans. We share the continent, and nobody has suggested otherwise. I'm not sure any Canadians really want to fight to be known as "also Americans" (or "we also live in America"), but I suppose they could hold a referendum to demand we be called "Canadian Americans" as our new country name. But I'm not sure that would go over too well.
Peter Sheehan Follow Me
I think we should redirect our effort to rebuilding the Cape Breton Liberation Army !! so we can get them trained to march on Halifax and Ottawa at Budget time !!!.
Joe Ward Follow Me
The "liberation" armies of the future are those most skilled at acquiring, processing, and sharing information - and using it all to compel transparency and accountability; and to ensure that voters' interests are always getting fairly represented.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
I have heard a rumour about a siting of the generals at a recent Incompetents Anonymous video taping... time will tell!
Dan Yakimchuk Follow Me
Stay tuned for some exciting news on the CBC-LA (Cape Breton Competents Liberation Army) introduced in Dr. StrangeJob’s blog entitled “From FUBAR to FU2”. https://drstrangejob.wordpress.com/2016/03/17/fubar-to-fu2/
Rory Andrews My Post Follow Me
The reason we don't identify with our continent is because Canada has never bombed El Salvador, and Belize has never invaded Jamaica. Whereas Europe is an deeply interconnected system of nations, with incredibly connected monarchies, governments and histories, North America just doesn't match that sense of shared identity. Also, why don't we call Germany "Duetschland", Japan "Nippon", or China "Zhonghua"? It's because in your language, you can call your country, or any other country, whatever you want. Zhonghua actually means "Middle Country." Some people could see that as offensive. The Earth is round. The middle of the Earth is an incredibly hot molten iron core. Why does China get to be the middle!? Good thing I don't really care, because China can call themselves whatever they want and it doesn't really bother me.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
The United States is English, by the way, and I am suggesting in this global 21st century that we start to identify with things greater than we do now... not as North America, but as America, the Americas. Also, I am not suggesting that they can't call themselves whatever they want, just that our consideration be broader than that when it comes to the term America.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me
Oh come on Joe... I have been very clear from the beginning that for me this is a matter of respect for the rest of America, and the taking of consciousness of the issue. I am not talking about Canadians wanting to be called Americans, I am talking about Canadians understanding that we live in a broader world. Warning, next I am going to tackle our insistence here on using the term West Indies when I was slapped for the as being racist in Ontario back in the 80's for heaven's sake.
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