Things I'm tired of

[Higgly]

I missed the point because you were talking about sporting events. Say what you mean and mean what you say! Booing a country at sporting events just doesn't get you any results. What incident in particular are you referring to? Enquiring minds want to know.

[bush_cheney2004]

I missed the point because you were talking about sporting events. Say what you mean and mean what you say! Booing a country at sporting events just doesn't get you any results. What incident in particular are you referring to? Enquiring minds want to know.

OK..if I must...here is the breakdown in smaller pieces:

1) Booing at sporting events is mostly superficial, but varies to a degree with international tensions.

http://etheridge.ca/articles/anthem.html

2) On a larger scale, Canadian domestic and foreign policy draws anger from the same froot loops Americans "at war" with the "right" or "left". They go nuts over the annual seal hunt, same gender marriage, First Nations abuses, etc.

3) Internationally, Canada has to face the music for government and business policies that invoke flag burnings or other forms of protest. It cannot escape criticism by claiming "America made us do it".

So there is lots of "booing" to be had...even for Canada.

[Higgly]

OK. The seal hunt thing I grant you. But flag burning. Hey come on. You aren't a real country until somone has burned your flag. Who gives a damn? It's like getting upset when some ambassador misses a tea party.

[bush_cheney2004]

OK. The seal hunt thing I grant you. But flag burning. Hey come on. You aren't a real country until somone has burned your flag. Who gives a damn? It's like getting upset when some ambassador misses a tea party.

Apparently enough give a damn to burn the flags, while others are naive enough to think Canada hasn't earned it. My theory is that many Canadians are very uncomfortable in that box, while Americans are quite use to it. That's why I get noise about "hating Canada" when stripping away the "feel-good" veneer.

[Higgly]

See if I ever concede a point to you again. Who gives a damn if a flag is burned? Really now.

[August1991]

See if I ever concede a point to you again. Who gives a damn if a flag is burned? Really now.

As Mark Steyn has often noted, you never see anybody burning a Canadian flag because there'd be no point: it doesn't really represent anything, or does it?

I'm a Canadian and one day, during the Kosovo war, I switched on the TV and there were some fellows jumping up and down in Belgrade burning the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack. Big deal, seen it a million times. But then to my astonishment, some of those excitable Serbs produced a Maple Leaf from somewhere and started torching that. Don't ask me why — we had a small contribution to the Kosovo bombing campaign but evidently it was enough to arouse the ire of Slobo's boys. I've never been so proud to be Canadian in years. I turned the sound up to see if they were yelling ''Death to the Little Satan!'' But you can't have everything.

That's the point: A flag has to be worth torching. When a flag gets burned, that's not a sign of its weakness but of its strength. If you can't stand the heat of your burning flag, get out of the superpower business. It's the left that believes the state can regulate everyone into thought-compliance. The right should understand that the battle of ideas is won out in the open.

Mark Steyn

[Guest American Woman]

American Woman I can understand you being tired of people making negative generalizations about ALL Americans. Muslims feel the same way when they hear people always refer to Islam as terrorist and violent and comments that seemt o suggest all Muslims are violent.

Me as a Jew, I am absolutelty tired of people making negative generalizations about all Jews and then claiming they are only criticizing specific Israeli policies.

I totally understand Muslims and Jews being tired of the generalizations you mention, too; generalizations that aren't any more true than the ones being thrown at me, as an American.

Let's face it-humans by nature take a world they find chaotic and try give shape and meaning to it by labeling things with definitions and assumptions or categories. Our cognitive processing seems to start off as soon as we come out of the womb processing what we see, hear, feel, perceive in compartments of explanation or categorization.

The problem is our minds were also designed to engage in logic and objective analysis and yet we all seem to lapse into subjective name calling, labeling, stereotyping, what-ever you want to call it.

The point is, none of us gets upset when the generalizations and assumptions are positive, its when they are negative we get pissed off.

A positive generalization is no problem, that's true, although sometimes I do correct positive generalizations if they are wrong. But, as you said, it's not upsetting. I really don't understand the generalizations, though; I don't understand why otherwise seemingly intelligent people resort to insults by generalization and/or name calling. It is, of course, stereotyping, but it goes beyond that, really, and what makes it even more annoying is the 'holier than thou' attitude so many seem to have as they make their insulting generalizations/judgements.

Of course you have the right to be tired or annoyed when someone things they can simply assume what you are, what you believe and how you think, simply because you are a Yankee Doodle Dandy.

So of course I can understand you being tired with it. It is kind of annoying after awhile.

I was feeling particularly tired of it when I started this thread and I do find myself being annoyed by it more and more often, because I am tired of it. The two go hand in hand. I do appreciate the responses and hearing other peoples' views and similar generalizations that they (you) have to deal with.

I guess I could tell you things about what annoys me about people who make negative assumptions about me simply because I am Canadian, but Canadians don't do that LOL! We are too polite and just laugh and say Canadian things like "oh don't be silly".... "pish posh"...."hah hah joke's on me.."...and

my favourite..."wait before you seperate let me give you a pension for life".

Tell me, tell me! Break down that politeness barrier and spill your guts. I want to know what you are tired of as a Canadian.

Here is my final point. Don't worry. Some of us will still buy you a beer. But it has to be Canadian not that watered down crap your people call beer. ((oops I slurred you sorry)

Sounds good! I'll happily accept that beer, even if it is Canadian. You all will have to make allowances for me when I get tipsy off of just a couple of them, though, as I'm used to drinking (U.S.) Michelob Ultra, which is probably as close to water as beer can get.

Also please understand many of us have a very serious problem with Gary Bettman and it has caused a lot of group trauma. Hey a country that created Halle Berry, Holly Hunter, Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Nader, Babe Ruth, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, Harry Truman, Pinball Clemons is o.k. by me.

I had to Google Gary Bettman. Does that make me 'really American?' lol

Thanks for the response and your thoughts; I appreciate it, and look forward to hearing what annoying assumptions people make about you simply because you are Canadian. (Were you trying to tell me that you're annoyed by being stereotyped as polite?-- Cuz you'll be happy to know I don't stereotype Canadians that way. But there's got to be more annoying generalizations than that!)

[Guest American Woman]

A lot of Canadians I know don't generalize like this. My father's generation did (WWII) because they were ticked off that they were fighting in the war for years before the US entered and then had to endure movies showing the US as the heroes. He hated John Wayne in particular who never served a day in his life. My father really hated John Wayne and sometimes wondered out loud if he was a Nazi just because it was the cruelest thing he could think of to say.

Of course and then we have Rick Mercer, who is an idiot.

Sorry, but the level of gun ownership down there is scarey. Ordinarily sane people will pull out their Glocks at the oddest time and say they have to have them in case a bad guy shows up. Now that's scarey.

I have friends and business contacts who are Americans. They seem to believe more or less the same things I do. Many of them were big George Buch supporters at one time and now are embarrassed even to mention his name. These are highly educated and intelligent people who feel that they have been lied to. When Richard Nixon did it, they got mad. This time they are more disheartened because they feel they have been used when they were at their most vulnerable.

I think we have to differentiate the US government from the US people. The government is in fact, as far as I am able to tell, a completely different animal than the average Amercian.

Differentiating governments and people is something we all need to do regarding everyone in this world. And you're right. The American government is a "completely different animal than the average American." I think that's a really good way of putting it.

I think this is a good observation -- "This time they are more disheartened because they feel they have been used when they were at their most vulnerable." Without getting into the issue of whether it was right or wrong to support Bush/the Iraq war, I think that's really true, regarding so many people. Americans did feel vulnerable after 9-11.

About your father's feelings towards Americans/WWII -- I get the impression that a lot of Canadians feel that way about WWII. I'm not a John Wayne fan, nor am I a fan of the type of "hero" movies that he starred in, but I can understand why your father would find that so annoying. Would you say movies like "Saving Private Ryan" are in the same catagory?

As for the level of gun ownership -- I honestly don't think the average American gives it much thought on a day to day basis. People just aren't pulling out their Glocks and going nuts, randomly shooting people whoever happens to tick them off. I do think the level of gun violence in America is too high, but I also don't think it should instill fear in people who are just going about their lives. Of course there are the horrible situations where a disturbed person lets loose in heartbreaking incidnets such as Columbine and the University of Virginia, but that's not unique to America. And as trite as it is, I also agree with the statement "when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." We do have our share of nuts who think they need a gun to defend themselves, but we have more rational people who feel that way. I have to wonder, too, if in some cities it's true. Knowing a household might have a gun would be a deterrent to breaking and entering, for example.

I do believe in gun control/registration, and I don't think people need to own semi-automatic rifles, etc. I do think someone could go on a rampage with a hunting rifle, too. But I don't think the U.S. is the scary place that so many people seem to think it is.

[bush_cheney2004]

...As for the level of gun ownership -- I honestly don't think the average American gives it much thought on a day to day basis. People just aren't pulling out their Glocks and going nuts, randomly shooting people whoever happens to tick them off. I do think the level of gun violence in America is too high, but I also don't think it should instill fear in people who are just going about their lives....

Actually, Canada has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the world (mostly long guns), and have not escaped their share of shooting massacres. Such lead to the noble experiment with a $1 - 2 billion Gun Registry, which the CPC hopes to scrap.

[Guest American Woman]

Actually, Canada has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the world (mostly long guns), and have not escaped their share of shooting massacres. Such lead to the noble experiment with a $1 - 2 billion Gun Registry, which the CPC hopes to scrap.

I agree with a gun registry; I think gun owners should register their guns.

Canada is known for hunting, so I'm sure there are a lot of rifle owners, which can be tampered with and turned into cut-off shotguns, if I'm not mistaken. I'm not that familiar with what a cut-off shotgun is, but I recall some Brits telling me a couple of years ago that England was having a cut-off shotgun/car-jacking problem, which surprised me.

[Higgly]

As Mark Steyn has often noted, you never see anybody burning a Canadian flag because there'd be no point: it doesn't really represent anything, or does it?

Mark Steyn

Mark Steyn. I love it. We're on the lunatic fringe now. Couldn't you find a quote from the Toronto Sun or the Western Report? By the way, did you know that Conrad Black is innocent and Barbra Amiel is a hot babe? Just wondering.

[kp186]

As a Canadian I'm tired of...

* Our so-called 'leaders' waiting until just before an election to do anything.

* Canadians gleefully bashing the U.S. while we can't even build our own car and the Koreans can.

* Canadians who think hockey 'defines' our nation. It's a pointless, meaningless sport. Get used to that.

* The same-sex marriage debate. There are more important things going on.

* Canadian politicians whose answer to every crisis is to put a tax on something rather than come up with viable solutions.

* Sitting on about half the natural resources in the world and not owning any of them.

* Our government's weak and laughable action on global warming. Actually, this goes for all governments.

* Our weak and laughable criminal justice system.

* The sonic booms created by our medical and nursing school graduates moving to the U.S.

* Bills involving pay raises for MP's and MPP's defying the laws of physics by moving through the House faster than the speed of light.

* Our military pilots flying planes from other countries when we used to build the best in the world.

* Winter. 'Nuff said.

[M.Dancer]

I'm tired of meaningless phrases like:

• Pre-order Harry Potter
  
• Turn your loose change into cash
  

How do you pre-order? When you pre-order, aren't you ordering? Can I pre-return something?

Why would I want to my loose change into cash (sign on a coin sorting machine that charges a percentage)? Isn't change already cash? As a matter of fact, isn't it already cold hard cash?

[Rue]

Actually having travelled a bit I find it very hard to criticize what I have in Canada after seeing what others don't outside Canada.

I mean KP did a good job. Me I would criticize our environmental policies, also oe inability to settle the aboriginal claims and get our relations with our native peoples fair and straight once and for all, and like KP says our bloody complacency at allowing everyone to come into the country and buy up all our natural resources or the fact that Canadians are loath to invest in their own country....but its the kind of criticism said with appreciation that its precisely only this I criticize.

My only real heavy duty criticism is this trait I believe many Canadians have that we are entitled to what we now have.

What do I mean? Well I was at the CNE. I went over to the armed forces exhibit. I was listening to a young man on the phone saying " I am over at the military thing...you know the military thing-um what you call it like the people with guns and stuff". This was a guy who looked in his late twenties wearing a beret and he had hair chin with no mustache. Probably a University of Toronto student! He wasn't stoned enough to be from Mt. Allison or Trent and certainly not drunk enough to be from Queen's or Waterloo. Could have even been heaven forbid I say it...a CBC employee.

I fear many of us born in the country and take all it offers for granted have no idea the price being paid to allow us to be so soft and complacent. You know like having to carry guns n stuff.

Edited September 6, 2007 by Rue

[moderateamericain]

These are some of the things I'm tired of as an American:

1) I'm tired of Americans being thrown all in one lump as Bush supporters, war wongers, bullies, etc.

Pure Ignorance on anyone who thinks that

2) I'm tired of apolgizing for my government, as if it's my fault that the Bush administration is doing what it's doing.

Dont apologize, we FREELY elected them

3) I'm tired of the Bush Administration, and have been ever since Iraq.

Its not the bush administration your tired of its war, which i cant blame you

4) I'm tired of Americans being viewed as stupid. We are no less knowledgable than any other nation.

yeah considering were one of the most literate countries in the world

5) I'm tired of the comparison's between Canada and the United States, as if we're in some kind of competition to prove which is better; and I'm tired of the ugliness on both sides as a result of this kind of thinking.

the competition was over about 1860

6) I'm tired of the U.S. being thought of as a nation of gun-toting crazies, making it unsafe to walk the streets.

I own 5 guns lol

7) I'm tired of the U.S. being thought of a bunch of religious fanatics.

no more so than anyother country

8) I'm tired of hearing how ammoral and materialistic Americans are. I'd say Americans, as individuals, are some of the most giving people in the world.

we feed and cloth half the worlds population, there like spoiled children sometimes. Europeans are far more materialistic than we are. Its like the kettle calling the pot black

Any comments? Any other Americans agree with me? What about the Canadians?-- What are you tired of?

[Guest American Woman]

3) I'm tired of the Bush Administration, and have been ever since Iraq.

Its not the bush administration your tired of its war, which i cant blame you

I'm just as tired of the Bush Administration as I am the war, moderateamericain. The next election can't come up fast enough for me. It's something I've been waiting for ever since the American public actually elected Bush to a second term.

[sharkman]

Those tired of the Bush admin now know what it was like to be tired under Clinton's reign of skirt chasing and wag the dog government policies.

[bush_cheney2004]

Those tired of the Bush admin now know what it was like to be tired under Clinton's reign of skirt chasing and wag the dog government policies.

True enough....the oh so weary (tired) can always be found regardless of ruling party or which flavor of war is being served. The funny part is that many bleeding hearts turned Congress over to the Democrats, only to find that not a damn thing changed wrt "the war".

[Guest coot]

Yes, those who are offended by soldiers dying every day so the president can save face have nothing on those who were offended by their own obsession with a grown man's sex life.

[Guest American Woman]

Yes, those who are offended by soldiers dying every day so the president can save face have nothing on those who were offended by their own obsession with a grown man's sex life.

Well said!

I can't believe anyone would compare the two and think they have a point.

[margrace]

Those tired of the Bush admin now know what it was like to be tired under Clinton's reign of skirt chasing and wag the dog government policies.

What is this? I am afraid I find most men are into skirt chasing more less so don't just pick on the presidents. You know the old saying "Boys will be boys"

[daniel]

What is this? I am afraid I find most men are into skirt chasing more less so don't just pick on the presidents. You know the old saying "Boys will be boys"

With Clinton, the Americans and the rest of the world can roll their eyes and laugh. With Bush, you can't do the same otherwise you'd be laughing at the dead.

Edited October 6, 2007 by daniel

[Canadian Blue]

Bush has to be one of the greatest presidents ever, look at his approval ratings, 64% of American's approve of the job that he's not doing.

[Guest American Woman]

Bush has only a 31% job approval rating, with a 69 per cent approval from Republicans, which I guess is a pretty low rating within one's party.

Bush's approval rating drops to lowest level yet

Edited October 6, 2007 by American Woman

[ScottSA]

Bush will probably go down to history alongside Lincoln and Roosevelt when serious historians, who actually know what they're talking about, and who don't have Bush Derangement Syndrome, review his presidency.