More Thoughts about This Continent

Okay, so more thoughts have been tumbling around in my noggin since the last post about buying American or North American products. The thoughts land on both sides of the coin, errrr border, so I'll write them as such.

Remember, these are generalizations. And while I hate generalizations, sometimes you just can't talk about anything without them.

1) In my opinion, one reason why the whole "Buy American" campaign bothers Canadians is because it's another thing that shows how Americans only think about the U.S. That's how many Canadians feel: Americans are extremely nation-centered in that they don't even know anything about other countries, especially the neighboring country that shares a huge border, namely Canada. Yet Canada is the United States' biggest partner. Again, let me quote the U.S. Department of State Diplomacy in Action website: "The relationship between the United States and Canada is the closest and most extensive in the world." And they don't just partner in trade. The two countries also work closely together in defense arrangements, in military actions in Afghanistan, in environmental issues, in energy, and in investments.

2) Sometimes I am really bothered by this Canadian opinion of the United States because I find Canada/Canadians to be extremely self-promoting and self-centered. There are constantly advertisements and commercials stating that the product is 100% Canadian. There are many award ceremonies only for Canadian artists, yet if you look at the award ceremonies in the States, people from all over the world - Canada included - can win. We read a newspaper article once about a music competition in Austria. The author very clearly pointed out that a Canadian got fourth place which was higher than any American had ever placed. Was this the highest a Canadian had ever placed? We don't know but it was higher than any American had!

So what I'm saying is that it seems like Canadians can't believe how Americans don't realize they are so self-centered yet Canadians are blatantly so!

Enough. The purpose of the previous blog post was to make Americans aware of how nation-centered the U.S. can be. But now you've heard a lot more.