On May 15, 2:43 am, Eric F. Richards wrote:
"ve3..." wrote:
Believe me that thisCanadiancould insult you so bad that you would
end up curled up in a corner in a fetal position sucking your thumb.
But I think you are a peacemaker so I would never do it. Best Regards.

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NAS...r?pagename=ham...

It's lonely being pro-American in Canada -- and sometimes at a dinner
party, after a good ration of wine, slightly dangerous.

But why should it be so?

The friendliest city I've ever walked in -- and I've visited scores on
five continents -- is New York. The most pristine beach I've ever
stood on is in Florida. The best food I've ever eaten -- sorry Italy,
France! -- is in California's Sonoma Valley.

Still, you won't hear many people admit that.

No, we love to hate America -- and Americans.

We sniff that our medical system is superior to theirs, then sneak
down to their world-class clinics when we fall sick.

We call ourselves peacemakers and Americans warmongers -- but do the
math on peacekeeping assignments and the United States comes out
ahead. It picks up 26 per cent of the annual $5 billion budget for UN
Peacekeeping, and despite the fact it's slightly distracted by the war
in Iraq, it currently has twice as many UN peacekeepers in the field
as Canada.

Meanwhile, we sniff our disdain for Hollywood movies, though we attend
them in droves (as we should, they make some of the best) -- while
completely ignoring our own.

And as author, journalist and Carleton University professorAndrewCohenpoints out in his intelligently argued and entertaining new
book, TheUnfinishedCanadian(McClelland & Stewart, $29.99), which
delivers both amusing and incredible insight into theCanadianpsyche,
we're not afraid to attack Americans -- not only when we're wrong, but
when we know we're wrong.

Consider former Prime Minister Paul Martin's 2005 election campaign
"chiding" of the US over its commitment to the Kyoto accord.

"The United States lacked 'a global conscience' for reneging on its
obligations under Kyoto," he said, though America's emissions have
risen 13 per cent since 1990 while ours are up 24 per cent.

"Rebuking the Americans on Kyoto -- fully aware that Canada's record
was even worse than America's -- was trafficking in hyperbole and
hypocrisy,"Cohennotes. So why do it? Anti-Americanism wins votes.

And we think their politicians are pathetic?

How about our snobbery that we're multiculturalists and bilingual
("Quoi?" dit le Quebec!) -- and they're not. Consider,Cohenasks,
that of the 41 million Hispanics in the United States, 31 million
speak Spanish at home, and that automatic tellers in major cities
provide instructions in Spanish and English, as ours do in English and
French. Or that "in 1973, 78 per cent of students in public schools
were white, and 22 per cent were minorities while in 2004, 57 per cent
were white and 43 per cent were minorities." Or how about this: A 2005
Ipsos-Reid poll reported: "When asked whether people from diverse
backgrounds would be better off if they became more like the majority,
44 per cent of Canadians said yes in contrast to 38 per cent of
Americans."

"Is this a melting pot?"Cohenasks rhetorically. Say no more.

Here's another: They're fat and we're fit! Ahem.Cohenreports half of
Americans are fat, while a third of Canadians are. And, alarmingly, he
says: "The rate of growth in obesity is about the same on both sides
of the border." And I've interviewedCanadianobesity experts who say
our adult obesity rate is already at the halfway mark, and that 37 per
cent of our children are also overweight. So who's calling whom fat?

While myth bashing quickly gets the point across,Cohen'schapter on
the AmericanCanadian(the others he analyzes are the Hybrid,
Observed, Unconscious, Casual, Capital, Chameleon and Future
Canadians) also makes a strong analytical case that suggests our
values are converging with those of Americans.

In the end, the American-Canadian"watches American movies and
television, wears American jeans, listens to American music, reads
American books and magazines.

"He drinks coffee at Starbucks, eats hamburgers at McDonald's and ice
cream at Ben and Jerry's,"Cohennotes. "He aspires to the American
Dream, whether it is represented by minivan or an SUV, and the
greatest obstacle to achieving it isn't desire but money."

Oh yeah, they're better at creating wealth -- which they use to feed
the world, promote democracy and human rights, and defend the free
world -- than we are. Now there's a difference we can be proud of.

In short,Cohenpoints out: "If Canadians were really anti-American,
we would have to denounce ourselves, or everything about our country
and our place in it."

So how does he define us? "We are contradictory, inconsistent and,
yes, occasionally hypocritical."

In short, we're not so different from Americans as we may like to
believe. And those of us who value the freedoms that attract refugees
and immigrants the world over think that's a good thing.

Vive l'Amerique libre!

Dianne Rinehart is a Toronto-based writer.

Unfortunately, it's true we resemble Americans too much; Canadians are
indeed a nation of polluters and fatty mcbutterpants but I for one am
not cheering. As regards beaches and beachside homes, some of the
ugliest developments I have ever seen are in Florida.

Just heard Cohen on the CBC talking a little too rapidly for his own
good. I distinctly heard him say that we Canadians are not "crawling
around a rain forest". Who is?