October 22, 2003 Right Hook Ct Opinions ¢ the other press © Anti-Americanism Part two: A Canadian Sickness J.J. McCullough OP Columnist In my last column, I attempted to discuss the nature of anti-Americanism, a destructive and often fanatical ideology based on a mindless hatred of all things American. As I wrote, modern anti-Americanism is largely tied to leftist resentment over America’s victo- ries in the Cold War, and the subsequent collapse of global socialism. Though I believe radical leftist ideol- ogy is the primary cause of the most vicious strains of anti-Americanism, there are also other sources. In the case of our own country, anti-Americanism is much more than a political view, it is a deep-seated cultural bias that has become an institutionalized part of the collective “Canadian identity.” When we think about “what makes Canada, Canada” what we are really thinking about is, “what makes Canada not the United States.” After all, we are both North American, British-founded, industrial- ized, western democracies with an English-speaking white majority, and diverse minority of immigrants from a vast array of ethnic, religious, and racial groups. Both our nations are, in effect, a “community of communities,” as Joe Clark once said—vast nations with many diverse peoples, traditions, and cultures. The US and Canada are in fact now more alike than any other two nations in the world. So what makes us different? Canadians are very insecure about their so- called “national identity” for one important reason: for all practical intents and purposes Canadians and Americans are exactly the same. Insecurity over this fundamental, underlying reality has in turn prompted Canadian “culture” to define itself by being as viciously anti-American as possible. By hating Americans, we become less like them, or so the logic goes. Nothing brings this country together like a good round of American-bashing. One needs only to look at some of the most popular Canadian television sensations for examples of this. That stupid Molson’s Beer commercial in which “Joe Canada” hys- terically screams about how he “doesn’t live in an igloo” was a huge hit with Canadians, who love to smother themselves in the belief that all Americans are idiotic morons who know absolutely nothing about Canada. Rick Mercer’s equally idiotic Talking to Canadians CBC special further promoted this “stupid Americans” stereotype through carefully edited inter- views with supposedly random “off the street” Americans. The special was one of the most watched programs in Canadian television history. What do both of these media hits tell us about Canada other than our country is a bitter, jealous nation whose only source of joy comes from tirelessly beating up on our closest neighbour and ally? Canadian anti-Americanism goes far beyond the media. Canada’s government has been fundamentally shaped by anti-Americanism ever since our nation’s forefathers stupidly chose to maintain allegiance to a brutal colonial government, rather than the demo- cratic cause of the American Revolution. Over the years, Canada has established a long histo- ry of stupidly refusing to “go along” with the Americans, even when they were unquestionably in the right. From the Cuban Missile Crisis to the recent Iraq War, Canada always prides itself on taking the opposite side of the United States in foreign affairs, even when the “opposite side” puts Canada in camp with dictators like Fidel Castro, or more recently, Saddam Hussein. The Chrétien Administration has been without a doubt the most openly anti-American Canadian gov- ernment since the days of Diefenbaker. It seems like almost every single action of our federal government is formulated by first looking at what the US is doing, and then demanding Canada do the exact opposite, lest our nation’s “sovereignty” be compromised. Thus, when the US vowed to take revenge on the nutcase Islamic fundamentalists that killed 3,000 of their peo- ple (and several dozen Canadians), Chrétien waffled uncontrollably on whether or not Canada would also deploy troops. On the one hand, fundamentalists just killed several thousand people. On the other hand, if they hate Americans they can’t be all bad. This logic was repeated by the Prime Minister in a now infamous CBC interview on the first anniversary of 9/11 in which he waxed philosophically about how the attacks were more or less the fault of the US, since it was far too rich and successful (conveniently ignoring the fact that the 11 hijackers came from some of the Middle East’s richest families). Our = government’s___institutionalized —_anti- Americanism was indirectly responsible for the deaths of the two Canadian peacekeepers two weeks ago. Rather than purchase an American-made, armoured Hummer that would actually protect our soldiers, the Chrétien government chose instead to buy a horribly deficient Jeep, solely on the grounds that it was made in Canada. The Jeep would eventually prove to be the two soldier’s coffin when it was blown up by an Afghani bomb, but nevermind! At least those filthy Americans didn’t make a penny from it! Clearly even our soldiers’ lives can be compromised in favour of gestures of Anti-American Canadian “nationalism.” The United States is the Chrétien government's most convenient scapegoat, for it allows all criticism of the government to be diverged to our southern neighbour. For example, the Canadian Softwood Lumber crisis is constantly presented as being entirely the fault of the US (and to be sure, protectonist American politicians do deserve a lot of the blame) while Chrétien’s own incompetent trade policies are completely ignored. What the Liberals have done, in essence, is to prop- agandize Canadians into believing that all left-wing Liberal party policies are patriotic Canadian ideas, and all right-wing/conservative counter-arguments are the insane ramblings of traitors who want to “sell out” and “Americanize” the country. Thus, Canadians are taught that our horribly flawed healthcare system that leaves patients literally dying in waiting rooms is fun- damentally superior to any traitorous “two-tier” pro- posals by those right-wing whackos in Alberta. After all, two-tier healthcare is what they do in the US, and surely nothing they do can ever be acceptable. Spending a billion dollars on a gun registry that no one obeys is equally worthwhile, for it shows that unlike those Americans, our brilliant government is actually cracking down on gun violence! Wow, thanks Chrétien! Hey, how about if we legalize Marijuana next? That will certainly show those Americans. Make no mistake, America is a nation plagued by many serious problems, but so is Canada. Americans will move to solve their nations’ problems in the same way they always have, by careful analysis of the facts and evaluating the possible solutions. Canada, on the other hand, will likely continue to ignore its own problems, and bask in a smug satisfaction that no matter how bad things get, “at least we're not Americans.” If Canada is ever to evolve as a country, and progress out of the Liberal party’s swamp of failed leftist policies, our nation will have to learn to put the ugly relic of anti-Americanism behind us, and accept and embrace our many similarities with our southern neighbor. Canada and the US are allies, not competi- tors. Now, more than ever, it is important to acknowl- edge this. Exploration knowledge discovery research http://www. filibustercartoons.com http://www.otherpress.ca Space prisons yBnol|ngqw ‘ir Aq uooye9g Page 7