William Watson of the National Post wrote an editorial echoing (unwittingly) my sentiments of the past few days (actually its an undercurrent of my whole web site quite frankly).
In my case, I am greeted by lots of liberal backlash because I constantly question Canada’s government and liberal policies and compare it to the U.S, which drives liberals utterly mad. I wonder why.
Lately, one adoring commenter said I was a “self-hating” Canadian. Also that I “worshipped America”. One said “the degree to which you worship the US on your site tends to reveal that you really wish Canada was more like the US”. He says it like it was a negative. He then said I’m “franckly [sic] not very “humorous”,” and added the oft-repeated invitation to leave Canada. I deleted the hate emails and threats from various liberal-lefties—they’d take too much room on my hard drive.
Watson is writing about Liberal Prime Minister Paul (“we lead the world”) Martin‘s speech yesterday in which he waxed sickeningly poetic about Canada’s heroic support of the Asian tsunami victims. “To those countries and their citizens who are so much the subject of our prayers and our concern, we say simply that in Canada, you have the most caring of friends and strongest of allies,” the PM said with a straight face. It’s “The Canadian way,” he added. And yes, he said “prayers”. I wish.
[…] “The Canadian way.” It almost makes you want to throw up. The Canadian way, indeed. Never miss an opportunity for self-praise. Never pass up a chance to raise our own fragile self-esteem. Never fail to remind the world what wonderful people we are.
Does anybody read this stuff before the PM speaks it? “To those countries and their citizens who are so much the subject of our prayers and our concern, we say simply that in Canada, you have the most caring of friends and strongest of allies.” Are we more caring than the Swedes or Italians or Australians or the dozens of other peoples who have dug deep as we have and have actually managed to show up? Are we stronger allies than the Americans, who have 12,500 military personnel in the region, an aircraft carrier, field hospitals and helicopters?
It turns out helicopters—helicopters that can actually fly—are useful things in a disaster. Even Bangladesh has sent helicopters and, of all things, two C-130 transports. Military aircraft are a shameful extravagance for such a poor country. But for a country like Canada that aspires to be a player in the world, the soft power of good intentions and eloquent resolutions is not enough. The hard power of helicopters is what people really need.
[…] Is there a more self-conscious country than contemporary Canada? There’s nothing we don’t do without worrying about what it means for our Canadianness. Do you suppose the Prime Minister of Sweden justified help because “that is the Swedish way”? Does Jacques Chirac have to justify aid on the grounds that it exemplifies “the French way”? […]
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