Why do Canadians look down on Americans?

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Razdek said:
To us in the west Ontario has become a joke thanks to the Rob Ford scandal. We're just doing our thing making money on this side of the country.
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Eh, in our cities our mayor is just a spokesperson with a single vote in council.

They really don't have a lot of power
 
MagnitudePopPop said:
Yeah, no. Canada is as relevant and important as any country with a population this size could hope to be, look how many celebrities are actually Canadian, not to mention Canadian inventions and discoveries. America also has a habit of sticking it's nose in a lot of things, while Canadians might look down upon Americans, we don't outright hate them like a large portion of the world does, and no one in Iraq is saying "DEATH TO CANADA" right now. I for one prefer it this way.
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There are plenty of Canadian celebrities, you're right, although it's worth noting they almost all live and work in America, and achieved their level of success because of working in American media.

Canadian inventions and discoveries, I mean, I always find it laughable when Canadians exclaim proudly how we built the space arm, considering the entire rest of the spaceship was built by NASA, and then launched into space by NASA, which is a significantly greater achievement. It's a good example of Canadians being overly proud of their mediocrity.

Btw, I doubt very highly that al-Qaeda in Iraq (or in Yemen, or in Somalia, or anywhere else) totally overlook our presence in Afghanistan.
 
I don't think it so much a problem with Americans but rather the world for seeing them as sort of lesser-than Americans so they lash out. And try as they will most of the world cant differentiate the majority of them from Americans when they open their mouths. Look how many come to America and seemingly blend in. And I sort of think that is the reason Quebec is kind of anal about their language, where I hear it's practically French or get-out. BTW, I'm NOT Canadian.
 
crimzonflame said:
Canadians look down on Americans while massively consuming American culture and influence everyday of their lives. Without it life in Canada would be boring as fuck.
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Not really. Remember, three of the most popular sports in America originated in Canada (hockey, basketball, and also football before you guys ruined it by dropping a player and shrinking the field). There's lots of good Canadian entertainment, don't forget how many TV shows, movies, and video games are actually Canadian productions.
 
Lets face it canadians dont have much of an identity, and hating americans is the only thing that brings us together.
That isnt a bad thing though, would be pretty annoying if we saw the same kind of ultra patriotism that you see in the states.
 
Go backpacking in SE Asia, Central America, or Europe and you find out rather quickly that almost everyone looks down on Americans.

I have found that the people who disliked Americans the most on average were German.
 
Kyuur said:
I think a common view here is that Americans see their country as the center of the world, and don't know much (or care about) outside of it. There is also a stereotype of idiocy within the US (articles about 1 in 4 Americans not knowing the the Earth orbits the sun don't help).
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Poll any country and the results won't be much better. It's just a case of "lol America".

Maybe Americans see their country as the center of the world because it is the center of the world culture.
 
Razdek said:
Americans do this pretty good to themselves.
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My problem is the generalization made and the fact they simply ignore their country problems and focus on America as the "evil" country.


But like I said I hate when people look down on each other, America or not.
 
Konka said:
Poll any country and the results won't be much better. It's just a case of "lol America".

Maybe Americans see their country as the center of the world because it is the center of the world culture.
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Western world, yes. Asia, Africa? No. Australia maybe being the exception.
 
Loofy said:
Lets face it canadians dont have much of an identity, and hating americans is the only thing that brings us together.
That isnt a bad thing though, would be pretty annoying if we saw the same kind of ultra patriotism that you see in the states.
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Not having an identity is important for social growth. Besides the polite and niceness we try to convey.

We are Canada. We aren't all the same, and we're ok with that.
 
Kreed said:
This is a minor pet peeve of mine and I know what you meant, but Canadians are "Americans". Just like other South and Central American countries are part of America. It's things like US citizens calling themselves Americans that causes other countries like Canada to have these negative opinions.
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Smh. If you want to go on a semantic crusade like people that deny "race" is a thing because we are all homo sapiens then that's fine. But just understand
1)Pretty much the entire world understands one is talking about people from the USA when you say "Americans"
2)We're called that because our country is the United States of America. What else would you have people call us? US of Americans? Statesmen?
 
Kreed said:
This is a minor pet peeve of mine and I know what you meant, but Canadians are "Americans". Just like other South and Central American countries are part of America. It's things like US citizens calling themselves Americans that causes other countries like Canada to have these negative opinions.
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not this shit again.
 
Dali said:
Smh. If you want to go on a semantic crusade like people that deny "race" is a thing because we are all homo sapiens then that's fine. But just understand
1)Pretty much the entire world understands one is talking about people from the USA when you say "Americans"
2)We're called that because our country is the United States of America. What else would you have people call us? US of Americans? Statesmen?
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"U.S. American" is the proper way to do it.
 
Konka said:
Poll any country and the results won't be much better. It's just a case of "lol America".

Maybe Americans see their country as the center of the world because it is the center of the world culture.
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I disagree. Honestly I wouldn't be shocked if there was strong correlation between the belief that the sun revolves around the earth and creationism for unknown reasons.
 
Kyuur said:
I think a common view here is that Americans see their country as the center of the world, and don't know much (or care about) outside of it. There is also a stereotype of idiocy within the US (articles about 1 in 4 Americans not knowing the the Earth orbits the sun don't help).
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America is the center of the world.
 
I'm Canadian and I love my American neighbours. I guess the reason many Canadians would look down on Americans is our standard quality of life is a little higher.
 
crazyrabbits said:
There's no shame admitting when you're wrong. Making a blanket statement like that, you should have expected people to call you out on it.
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If you bothered to read the thread I had no problem admitting where I was wrong, but next time read the thread. people called me out of what they thought I said because I made a blanket statement that was easily misinterpreted. I was a little annoyed that I had already clarified my meaning to several people and you posted that. Like I said I have been all over Canada, I can go virtually anywhere in western Canada and not be able to buy bagged milk, I have gone to eastern Canada and not even seen bagged milk, I have gone to ontario and been able to buy non bagged milk.
 
RoadHazard said:
Haha, are you seriously suggesting that saying that other countries are just as free as America is "hate speech"? SMH.
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uhhh no thats not what hes saying. There are Hate Speech laws in most of the western world other than the US. So that is often used as a metric for "freedom". You can say almost anything you want in the US and suffer nothing, which is untrue for most of Europe.
 
I've always thought that Canada had it relatively easy in terms of having nice things. They are a largely racially homogenous culture with a smaller population than California spread out across a massive country filled with an easily exportable wealth of natural resources such as lumber, oil and mining to drive their economy. They're not expected to police global stability and essentially do not have to invest in a large military presence because they fall entirely under the American military umbrella (I am not denigrating their military, it has fantastic accomplishments, but for example their navy is less than half the size of Australia's and they have 30% more population than Australia). They have virtually no opponents in foreign policy because the US gets all of the focus in North America. About the worst thing Canada has to deal with is the weather and it's own politics.

So yes. Canada is a nice country. It has nice things. Having nice things makes it easy to look down on others. But it seems to me it's because they have it easy. Good on them.
 
Gustav said:
Western world, yes. Asia, Africa? No. Australia maybe being the exception.
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mcflyOS said:
There are plenty of Canadian celebrities, you're right, although it's worth noting they almost all live and work in America, and achieved their level of success because of working in American media.

Canadian inventions and discoveries, I mean, I always find it laughable when Canadians exclaim proudly how we built the space arm, considering the entire rest of the spaceship was built by NASA, and then launched into space by NASA, which is a significantly greater achievement. It's a good example of Canadians being overly proud of their mediocrity.

Btw, I doubt very highly that al-Qaeda in Iraq (or in Yemen, or in Somalia, or anywhere else) totally overlook our presence in Afghanistan.
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I'd hardly consider how well we do for a country of our size as 'mediocrity'.

Either way, Maple Syrup and the new BSG = Canada is awesome.
AbortedWalrusFetus said:
I've always thought that Canada had it relatively easy in terms of having nice things. They are a largely racially homogenous culture with a smaller population than California spread out across a massive country filled with an easily exportable wealth of natural resources such as lumber, oil and mining to drive their economy. They're not expected to police global stability and essentially do not have to invest in a large military presence because they fall entirely under the American military umbrella (I am not denigrating their military, it has fantastic accomplishments, but for example their navy is less than half the size of Australia's and they have 30% more population than Australia). They have virtually no opponents in foreign policy because the US gets all of the focus in North America. About the worst thing Canada has to deal with is the weather and it's own politics.

So yes. Canada is a nice country. It has nice things. Having nice things makes it easy to look down on others. But it seems to me it's because they have it easy. Good on them.
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The bolded = you're speaking out of your ass and have no idea what Canada is really like.

The US does far more policing than is 'expected'.
 
Angelus Errare said:
I disagree. Honestly I wouldn't be shocked if there was strong correlation between the belief that the sun revolves around the earth and creationism for unknown reasons.
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Of course there is. A strong one, at that. Creationism requires that you willingly completely ignore scientific evidence for loads of things, and focuses a lot on humanity and the Earth being the center of creation, so it doesn't seem too far of a leap to believe that Earth is the actual center of everything and that everything else revolves around it.
 
Loofy said:
Lets face it canadians dont have much of an identity, and hating americans is the only thing that brings us together.
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I've heard people say that before.

As a Canadian, I implore the Americans in this thread to not take this attitude seriously. "Hating you" is not something that defines our identity.

That said, a lot of our self-reflection as a country does revolve around identifying the differences between us and you. America's shadow is huge, and we've always shared a lot of similarities. The differences are naturally going to be emphasized in determining what defines us as a small country living next to a large and incredibly influential neighbour.

Trudeau say: it's like sleeping with elephant.

On the one hand, you guys cast a big shadow, and there's the constant threat of you rolling over in the bed. At the same time, we are sleeping together.... and the similarities between us run deep.
 
rpmurphy said:
Huh? Did you not read the differences between the various countries for criminalizing hate speech?
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Zyae said:
uhhh no thats not what hes saying. There are Hate Speech laws in most of the western world other than the US. So that is often used as a metric for "freedom". You can say almost anything you want in the US and suffer nothing, which is untrue for most of Europe.
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Oh, ok. The point flew over my head there, I'll admit that. But, well, I don't know if I think that more freedom to be awful to other human beings is really such a good way to measure "freedom" in general.
 
I once had a proffessor who said: "America is the country responsible for most of the things people in other countries use to make the world better".
 
AbortedWalrusFetus said:
I've always thought that Canada had it relatively easy in terms of having nice things. They are a largely racially homogenous culture with a smaller population than California spread out across a massive country filled with an easily exportable wealth of natural resources such as lumber, oil and mining to drive their economy. They're not expected to police global stability and essentially do not have to invest in a large military presence because they fall entirely under the American military umbrella (I am not denigrating their military, it has fantastic accomplishments, but for example their navy is less than half the size of Australia's and they have 30% more population than Australia). They have virtually no opponents in foreign policy because the US gets all of the focus in North America. About the worst thing Canada has to deal with is the weather and it's own politics.

So yes. Canada is a nice country. It has nice things. Having nice things makes it easy to look down on others. But it seems to me it's because they have it easy. Good on them.
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Hey, very nice and well reasoned post! Though I would point out that Canada is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world. There are something like 200 countries in the world at the moment (give or take), and Canada is in the top 20 for ethnic diversity, placing it in the 90th percentile or top 10 percent.

diverity-map-harvard2.jpg


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-most-and-least-ethnically-diverse-countries/
 
Kreed said:
This is a minor pet peeve of mine and I know what you meant, but Canadians are "Americans". Just like other South and Central American countries are part of America. It's things like US citizens calling themselves Americans that causes other countries like Canada to have these negative opinions.
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Never heard a Canadian call themselves American, sorry. Like it or not, people from 'the United States of America' are popularly referred to as Americans, both inside and outside the country.

I really don't know why this bothers anybody. I'm guessing its just that 'I don't like this person so everything they do bothers me' sort of phenomenon.
 
Dali said:
Smh. If you want to go on a semantic crusade like people that deny "race" is a thing because we are all homo sapiens then that's fine. But just understand
1)Pretty much the entire world understands one is talking about people from the USA when you say "Americans"
2)We're called that because our country is the United States of America. What else would you have people call us? US of Americans? Statesmen?
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What Gustav said. The OP himself even said "the US" in his post, which is fine as well. Of course I understand how the terminology works, I live in the US, but it still doesn't make it correct or very useful socially. However I'm not interested in going on a crusade vs just responding to the OP. If other GAFers have gone in length on that before that has nothing to do with me and I had no interest in going further than responding to the OP.

Funny that you brought up the "race" issue, because yes, that's another word that would have been better off not in our vocabularies when it comes to discussing ethnic groups. It's one of the reasons we constantly have these race threads on GAF with people not understanding how black/Obama's ethnicity/the one drop rule works, because as a social construct not much thought was put into it other than skin color.
 
RoadHazard said:
Oh, ok. The point flew over my head there, I'll admit that. But, well, I don't know if I think that more freedom to be awful to other human beings is really such a good way to measure "freedom" in general.
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The thing is though, the definition of "hate speech" varies in degree. Denigrating people of a particular race and Holocaust denial are not really the same thing, but both are criminalized in parts of Europe. Whereas in the US, federal laws banning either would be considered fundamentally unconstitutional.
 
Kreed said:
What Gustav said. The OP himself even said "the US" in his post, which is fine as well. Of course I understand how the terminology works, I live in the US, but it still doesn't make it correct or very useful socially. However I'm not interested in going on a crusade vs just responding to the OP. If other GAFers have gone in length on that before that has nothing to do with me and I had no interest in going further than responding to the OP.

Funny that you brought up the "race" issue, because yes, that's another word that would have been better off not in our vocabularies when it comes to discussing ethnic groups. It's one of the reasons we constantly have these race threads on GAF with people not understanding how black/Obama's ethnicity/the one drop rule works, because as a social construct not much thought was put into it other than skin color.
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What does any of this have to do with this topic...
 
Konka said:
Most of Asia is Japan, China and India. Yes the central asian soviet republics and Afghanistan are missing the Big Mac.
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Sorry, having the BigMac and a Starbucks is not a sign of huge US influence. Most Asians/Africans don't watch Game of Thrones, have iPhones, know who Kim Kardashian is or have heard the latest Lady Gaga record.
 
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