A non story, overplayed, eh?
: Page 1 of the New York Times today reports that Canada and the U.S. are different.
Well, let’s put that above the fold!
The story is essentially insulting to Canadians; it acts as if they used to be just like us, and we know how much they like hearing that.
The story is more insulting to Americans, for it portrays us as a bunch of right-wing religious conservatives. Hey, I’ve been kicked out of more churches than most people have attended.
The story is insulting to its readers, assuming we can’t get a joke:
“Being attached to America these days is like being in a pen with a wounded bull,” Rick Mercer, Canada’s leading political satirist, said at a recent show in Toronto. “Between the pot smoking and the gay marriage, quite frankly it’s a wonder there is not a giant deck of cards out there with all our faces on it.”
Mr. Mercer acknowledged in an interview that he was overstating the case for laughs…
Oh, thanks for telling us that. We were all too frigging dim to figure out that he was engaging in exaggeration. Oh, those deceitful Canadians!
The story is old news: Robertson Davies, the essential Canadian author, always said that Canada had less in common with American than with Scandinavia and I agreed with him.
The story is thus way overplayed.
But what’s most disturbing is that it continues this media meme: Europe v. America, Europe as a touchpoint for social sensibility: “A more distinctive Canadian identity
