On October 7, 2007 I posted a commentary on my Blog entitled Proud to be a Canadian??? in response to a piece of sophomoric rubbish generated for worldwide consumption on the Internet. It’s purpose was to denigrate Americans and up the flag for Canadians at whatever expense by citing ad nauseum a bunch of half truths, outright lies and absurdities about so called Canadian inventions, accomplishments, etc that included everything from the Zamboni to Smarties. The article was sent to me by a dear Canadian Friend who was as non-plussed as I. I had positive responses to my commentary until I received an anonymous reply on July 9, 2008 as follows. I took the liberty to correct the misspellings.“Assuming your facts are accurate, it looks like there is not much for a patriotic Canadian like me to me proud about in terms of invention and their impact on society. However seeing as though the title of this article questions the legitimacy of Canadian pride, then there is much to be argued.
I’ll keep this plain and simple; the thing about being Canadian that makes me proud is being able to say that almost everywhere I go on this vast planet of ours, I am greeted with smiles and open arms. Since there is not many physical differences between Canadians and Americans, I am often mistaken for an American while in a foreign environment. If not for the Canadian flag that I bear proudly on my shirt or backpack, then I would most likely be seen as an enemy or a target to hate upon. Yes, Americans have much to be proud about as you guys were on the forefront of the industrial revolution, have maintained superpower status for quite sometime, and, of course, have the right to bear arms.
In the end, being able to proclaim that I am a Canadian on every corner of the Earth without being the subject of hate is more that enough for me to be proud about.”
It’s regrettable that the author of this piece chose to remain anonymous and apparently failed to read the context with which my post was written. I usually don’t respond but I happen to have many dear Canadian Friends and cherish those relationships and my close lifelong association with Canada. By the way, the tartan you see heading this piece is the proud Maple Leaf Tartan of Canada.
This back handed slap at America’s stand against world wide terrorism was equally offensive. In addition, for this so-called proud citizen of Canada to summarily concede (tongue in cheek or not) that there is nothing about Canada save to be able to be befriended by the Community of Man without being killed is the ultimate cop out. Canadians have distinguished themselves in many arenas and their accomplishments are legion. They have a right to stand proud!
Canadian Guy Cramer, President/CEO of HyperStealth Biotechnology Corp made a great point about inventions and the attribution conundrum in 2007 when he stated that, “With the Internet we find any Joe can write a story and their incorrect interpretation of history can make its way into the general population if the story is picked up by other sources and used as reference for further stories or articles. We also find prior to the internet, claims of historical significance of one nation could be unheard of in another country. Thus you will get two or more nations claiming to have done something first.”
The big lesson here is that when you see something that doesn’t seem to jive with reality or just deserves some additional scrutiny, don’t hesitate to go to snopes.com or poke around and do some independent investigation on your own. The truth is generally just a click away.
Don’t let some false sense of pride diminish your ability to always seek out and embrace the truth.
It’s nice to know that in some circles that the United States is so highly regarded for their part in the Industrial Revolution which commenced in Great Britain in the 1700’s and spread to North America in the 19th century. It’s also gratifying to be a major superpower (?) and of course, embrace that old standby - the right to bear arms.
Think I’ll go and in a Kum Ba Yah spirit count my bullets.
Aye,
Ned Buxton
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