My America

[Xenephex]

Originally Posted by Taxi [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The only place i could see myself living in the states is NYC or california, maybe Colorado as i think its one of the progressive places in the US. But having visited NYC in 2009 and seen how segregated it still is, i still prefer Montreal. You have to live here to appreciate it, NYC pretends to be a melting pot while everyone stays segregated in their own neighboorhoods.

My friend is of vietnamese origin, raised in Montreal and living in NYC. He says each time he comes back to Montreal its like a 1000 pound weight off his shoulders, because he says in NYC even the asians are segregated between themselves, cambodian Laotian, etc... and there is lots of racism there.

Single-payer healthcare system like someone mentioned, the list is long why i prefer living in Montreal rather than in the states.

I dont mean to turn this into a USA vs Canada flamefest but its another proof of your rose-tinted glasses, you thinking everyone obviously would prefer to live in the US rather than in their own country of origin.

Not to say i hate everything American right? Or else i wouldnt have listed democracy now!, wouldnt listen to american music, etc etc etc... The fact that i have to specify that im not "anti-american" is kind of telling of whats the atmosphere right now in the US, like you have to babytalk americans into reality. Or just slam them in the face with it, which is what i did in my first post.

I thought that what was annoying in your post is the misinformed naiveté of it, the HOO-RAH wrestling match USA USA USA! vibe to it, which is why i chose the slamming option.

I'm the one who brought up Canada, and it was intended as a joke, but if you want to go there... let's get real about it.

I grew up more or less at the latitude of Montreal; we had no racial problems where I lived either. Of course we only had one race. The nearest black people at that time were about 100 miles due south and playing football for Vince Lombardi. Oddly enough, I currently live just outside Atlanta in a small town that has been identified as one of the most ethnically diverse small towns on the planet.

In a town of around 7,000, students at the local high school were born in 54 different countries and nearly half the population is foreign born. I find this immensely satisfying, because this is a country built on (and made great by) immigration and diversity. Yes, every wave of immigrants has been met with resentment and mis-understanding; that is a part of our history too, but in the end they have always been absorbed into the great melting pot and made this a better place.

There's is no denying that this country has done some bad things, both in the past and recently. Above all, slavery and the subsequent decades of Jim Crow and segregation are an enormous shame virtually unmatched by any other civilized country. And we have sometimes behaved heavy handedly and ignorantly in our foreign affairs.

But, we have done good things as well. We have fought ably and at great sacrifice in two world wars and, as the phrase goes, never asked for more land than was sufficient to bury our dead. And our dead are buried in great numbers in places like Normandy.

Alongside, it should be noted, many Canadians, who fought as ably and in disproportionate numbers in both those wars. But, the history of the first of those wars (from Canada's perspective) highlights something about your country that ought to give you pause. Because as much criticism as can be rightfully laid at the feet of the U.S. in regards to our racial and ethnic difficulties, you still have to wonder at the long history of a country who really only ever had two significant ethnic groups.

Two groups who are as closely related as almost any pair of distinct countries (remember the Normans); two nationalities separated orginally only by a narrow channel and who have had considerable interaction with each other since Europe became civilized.

And yet those two groups, in comparison to the multitude of cultures in the U.S. have been unable to get along for the majority of the country's history and still maintain considerable enmity on some issues. The vast majority of your population is of European descent and the overwhelming majority of that is still from France or the British isles, and you still have trouble getting along. Explain that please, especially in light of your criticism of the U.S.

You can choose to participate or not participate in foreign conflicts and have been able to remain free from any concerns about foreign military intervention in your country in no small part because of the presence of a large and very powerful nation immediately to your south, with which you have a rock solid relationship. Who the hell is going to attack Canada when they know they will face the wrath of the U.S. in response?

You derive considerable benefit from your geographical location in terms of our culture and your extremely favored status as a trading partner, and face few of the pressures on the international front that we do.

And you feel free to sit up there with your one Vietnamese neighbor (I couldn't throw a rock from my house without risking hitting a Vietnamese or a Somalian) and judge us. Judge away, my friend; nobody here is going to stop you, but hold off on the frickin' fascist accusations and accompanying rhetoric. We've done a little too much on that front to deserve that one.