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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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 Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 12:28 am Post subject: |
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| BJWD wrote: |
Someone please explain to me how one can be proud of the place where you happen to have been born. Isn't this a bit arbitrary?
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I'm not a big flag-waver, but Canada is part of me, just as I am part of it. It shaped me, and now I am its incarnation and its ambassador.
It's a little like family pride. I take joy in the accomplishments of my parents and sisters. I'm happy to be associated with them. My victories are their victories and so on.
One thing I'm not keen on is genealogy. I don't feel a part of what happened generations ago. I don't know those people who share my name and a few diluted strands of DNA. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 12:32 am Post subject: |
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| The Lemon wrote: |
| BJWD wrote: |
| the_beaver wrote: |
| Nationalism is stupid. |
Agreed. Nationalism is the opiate of the really dumb.
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It's in a tight race with sports. That whole section of the newspaper is just a void. I'd rather read the phone book.
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Someone please explain to me how one can be proud of the place where you happen to have been born. Isn't this a bit arbitrary?
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Even dumber when the person claiming the pride has never left the country:
"Canada is the best country in the world!"
"USA Numba One!!"
- Have these people visited Sweden just to make sure? Who knows, maybe they'd find Singapore the bomb.
Again, I blame the sports-fan mentality, rooting for the home team without putting any actual thought into it.
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| The athletic team from my general geographic area is better than the athletic team from your general geographic area. |
Exactly. |
The sports fan mentality is a great point. People cheer, scream and sometimes riot because "we won" when really they had nothing to do with the actual game, other than having a zip code from an appropriate area.
It is the same with nationalism. People talk of all the good that their country "x" has done, and talk of the pride they feel due to it and yet haven't contributed one iota to what they are proud of, less paying taxes. |
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The Lemon
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 12:36 am Post subject: |
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| kermo wrote: |
| It's a little like family pride. I take joy in the accomplishments of my parents and sisters. I'm happy to be associated with them. My victories are their victories and so on. |
Seriously? You identify with the guy who's driving his Chevy in St Stephen, NB and works in the pulp mill more than you do with the guy who's driving his Chevy in Calais, ME, just across the river, and works in a pulp mill?
Canadians have far more in common with the Americans they live within an hour's drive of than they do with their fellow Canadians three or more provinces east or west of them. The border isn't completely meaningless, but it's far less important than the nationalists on both sides of the border want you to believe. |
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DRAMA OVERKILL
Joined: 12 Apr 2005
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 12:43 am Post subject: |
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| Maybe I'm being irrational here, but hey, it's July 1 st and I must say... I am proud to be Canadian... Happy Canada Day!!! |
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kermo
Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Location: Eating eggs, with a comb, out of a shoe.
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 12:59 am Post subject: |
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| The Lemon wrote: |
| kermo wrote: |
| It's a little like family pride. I take joy in the accomplishments of my parents and sisters. I'm happy to be associated with them. My victories are their victories and so on. |
Seriously? You identify with the guy who's driving his Chevy in St Stephen, NB and works in the pulp mill more than you do with the guy who's driving his Chevy in Calais, ME, just across the river, and works in a pulp mill?
Canadians have far more in common with the Americans they live within an hour's drive of than they do with their fellow Canadians three or more provinces east or west of them. The border isn't completely meaningless, but it's far less important than the nationalists on both sides of the border want you to believe. |
The pride I take in Canada is a lot less intense than in my family, but I feel a vague affinity with a fellow Canuck.
The guy in St Stephen probably grew up watching Mr. Dress-up, while the fellow in Calais would be more into Captain Kangaroo. The CBC has given us a shared history, in a way. In a deeper sense, we have our own national stories which shape the way we feel about ourselves.
Take for instance Neil Postman's notion of "narrative" in education. We share a narrative through our media, and through our school systems. This summary is taken from a book review "The End of Education" from scottlondon.com:
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| For education to be meaningful, Postman contends, young people, their parents, and their teachers must have a common narrative. Narratives are essential because they provide a sense of personal identity, a sense of community life, a basis for moral conduct, and explanations of that which cannot be known. The idea of public education requires not only shared narratives, but also the absence of narratives that lead to alienation and divisiveness. "What makes public schools public," writes Postman, "is not so much that the schools have common goals but that the students have common gods." As Thomas Jefferson, Horace Mann, John Dewey and other great educators understood, public schools do not serve a public so much as create a public. But in order to do that they depend on the existence of shared narratives and the capacity of such narratives to provide an inspired reason for schooling. |
I've thought a lot about Canadian identity this past year, and I've learned more about it by talking to Americans, Indians, Koreans and Australians than in 25 years of living there. There are subtle differences in attitude, language and etiquette that aren't immediately evident unless they are presented in contrast.
I was amazed at the words that Canadians share in common, even many provinces apart, that Americans are oblivious to. I think there's more binding us together than you suspect. |
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stumptown
Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Location: Paju: Wife beating capital of Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:21 am Post subject: |
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| zappadelta wrote: |
| I am very proud to not be Canadian. |
Hats off to that one |
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Wrench
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:24 am Post subject: |
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I'm proud why shouldn't I be.. My house is on Van Island and I have a very full piggy bank.
Well being proud of your heritage is important. For all those saying they are not proud I hope you never comeback to Canada and use the luxuries granted to Canadian citizens. |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 2:37 am Post subject: |
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| Wrench wrote: |
| Well being proud of your heritage is important. |
I call bull shit on that one. |
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Grotto
Joined: 21 Mar 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:00 am Post subject: |
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Didnt take long for the asses to come out of the woodwork and turn this into a bash Canada thread.
zappa I am proud that you are not Canadian as well  |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:01 am Post subject: |
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Happy Canada Day from the International Peace Garden!!!
I love my country. |
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stumptown
Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Location: Paju: Wife beating capital of Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:03 am Post subject: |
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| Grotto wrote: |
Didnt take long for the asses to come out of the woodwork and turn this into a bash Canada thread.
zappa I am proud that you are not Canadian as well |
It's not that, it's just that here in Korea , there seems to be an us vs. them attitude (from my experiences) with Americans and Canadians. |
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:31 am Post subject: |
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| Grotto wrote: |
| Didnt take long for the asses to come out of the woodwork and turn this into a bash Canada thread. |
Who's bashing Canada? We're basing nationalism. |
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Badmojo
Joined: 07 Mar 2004
Location: I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:33 am Post subject: |
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I believe Canada is a great country. Is it the greatest? Who knows and who cares? All I know is that I could have done a lot worse. We're 138 today, happy birthday to us.
Last edited by Badmojo on Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:34 am; edited 1 time in total |
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stumptown
Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Location: Paju: Wife beating capital of Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:33 am Post subject: |
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Basing nationalism on what? The right to claim your country is superior?
Just joking. Thankfully Korea is devoid of nationalism. |
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khyber
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Compunction Junction
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:40 am Post subject: |
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When I'm in canada, I celebrate my country by not really doing anything but hitting my glass and water friend, having a great barbque and swill some alexander keiths.
brings a tear to my eye.
here, I don't feel any real pride in canada. Sure it's a fine country and it has a lot of values i agree with, but there are other places in the world i would also fit well in.
I am just GRATEFUL to be in a place as good as canada is (for better and worse). |
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