Canadians The NEW Americans?!

Having travelled abroad several times when I was younger I actually did both. Once I wore a Canadian flag, and another time I did not. I found that wearing the flag provided much more stimulating conversation than not wearing the flag. I was met with both sides of the coin while sporting the maple leaf. One group of Americans in a hostel in France took offence to it, claiming I was trying to let everyone know I wasn\'t American. While an American couple in Denmark shared that they were considering putting Canadian flags on their bags because it was recomended in one of their travel books, especially when travelling to Middle Eastern countries (this was between 1997-2000). I have not done any significant overseas travel since then, but I imagine since Sept. 11, 2001, there is a much greater need to make a good first impression when visiting foreign countries. Perhaps this is a contributing factor to the increase in humble Canadian patriotism.

I may be wrong, but I don\'t seem to remember anybody getting upset about national pride being un-Canadian when we were cheering hockey wins at Salt Lake City, or raving about Joe Canadian\'s rant. I think this argument gets raised in a political/economic context more than anywhere else.

But IS putting a Canadian flag on your backpack the same brand of nationalism as you see in the U.S.? I say no. Putting a flag on your backpack is a way of distinguishing yourself from the U.S., and I submit that it doesn\'t therefore mean that you are jingoistic and ethnocentric. It means you are trying to say you are NOT a jingoistic and ethnocentric! I mean come on--how does putting a little flag patch on your backpack compare to actually INVADING other countries in the name of the defence of life, liberty, and the American way?

Our flag has meanings for a lot of people that are anything but jingoistic. In many places it can now mean \"peace\" since we didn\'t officially join the war on Iraq.

I sent this Saunders guy a letter telling him that he`s mentally colonized, and that his propaganda, along with sellouts like Mulroney, only make us want to wear the maple leaf even more! Just because Canadians are proud of our country doesn`t mean that we`re going to become a bunch of Hitlers. The question is: why can`t Americans travel the world wearing the stars and stripes? Why do Americans fear Canadians wearing the maple leaf? Sorry, USA, but you`ll NEVER annex CANADA! Our politicians may sell us out with NAFTA and other forms of US compliance, but we Canadians definitely OBJECT!!!

---
Dave Ruston

Uh-huh.

Yeah, but it\'s funny that Americans accuse us of being like them, objecting to that. (Although we\'re not.)

Susan, if you\'re still out there: did I give you extra work to do again, or did I set up the hyperlink properly? If I didn\'t, how again do I make it active, after copying the adress into a submission?

It's just flag envy. I never hear "Oh, that packpacker with the German flag on his backpack is so un-American." Well Duuuh.<p> They must have the mindset already that Canada is just a protectorate of the US, and that's our fault.<p> <p>---<br>"History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme" Mark Twain

yeah.

I don\'t think it was set up properly since I didn\'t see a link at all. If you\'re having trouble with HTML just copy and paste it into the form and leave it as plain text and I can do the rest.

I\'m pretty sure I included at least the adress in plain text.....I\'ll figure it out.

I really liked that Globe and Mail article. Saunders is right on in lots of ways. Hey, I am one of those big socialist Council of Canadian types (I give to them on a monthly basis) but I also think we need to calm down a bit (judging from the strong response to Saunders\' article here). We are diverging from the US and we are choosing our own course -- the signs are everywhere when you talk to Canadians. Just because some things are good for the US does not mean they are not good for Canada. Saunders\' article is humourous and contains many truths and I suspect you would find him in sympathy to many issues people in this forum are concerned about. Have a read of the National Post if you have some axes to grind.

First, I want to say that I like American people. But one thing that bothers me the most is how Americans get pissed at us for "waving" our flag when travelling. The last people on earth who should complain about "too much flag waving" are Americans. Am I wrong?