[b112]

I know you're joking, and fair enough, but I cannot let this comment stand ... joke or not. Canadians do not remotely ever think they are Americans, at all. Not even subconsciously.

I have a great respect for the US. Realistically, feel the US is family, and like family, I love and care for it. Yet at the same time, sometimes I shake my head, wonder what my sibling is doing, baffled... often concerned out of care for them, sometimes out of self interest. Yet I still care, and want the best for them.. even if pissed off, angry, or upset with that sibling.

There is so much shared history, coupled with so much bafflement.

I guess the best way to put it, is the relationship Canada has with the US is exceptionally nuanced, and this holds true for many Canadians.

[abdullahkhalids]

As an immigrant to Canada, I don't think Canadians think of themselves as Americans, but they are way too much affected by what is happening in the US.

I bet if you rated all countries in the world by how much common people know and spend time looking at the internal politics of neighboring countries, Canada would be easily top 5. On the other hand, most countries outside North/South America have thousands of years of shared history, unlike the 3-4 hundred ones by (non-native) Americans.

In my opinion, Canadian should stop with this obsession and engage more with local politics.

[alephnerd]

> but they are way too much affected by what is happening in the US

Same with Mexico, but Mexicans are nowhere near as addicted to American news (Spanish language or English language).

TBH, most people consume news as entertainment, and outside of Postmedia Network media, Canadian reporting is fairly bland and boring.

Also, having spent some of my youth in rural and urban BC, in most cases purely Canadian television media didn't even really exist - everyone would be watching either a reskin of an American channel (Family Channel aka Disney) or an American channel (CNN, PBS, Fox).

Sure you had CBC but it was filled with ads and never talked about local issues anyhow.

That said, Western Canada is for all intents and purposes the exact same as Washington/Montana/Alaska - almost everyone in BC, AB, and the territories has at least 1 close relative who's an American or immigrated to America, and the only difference was that signs were occasionally in French, BC Ferries had a tiny portrait of Queen Elizabeth tucked in a random corridor next to a portrait of Harper or Trudeau, and Costco served poutine and charged 2x for milk and goods compared to the one in Bellingham

[tchalla]

> In my opinion, Canadian should stop with this obsession and engage more with local politics.

In my opinion, this should be done by the entire world instead of obsessing over a no named senator said something scandalous on Twitter

[bigstrat2003]

Indeed. Not just other countries, either. Here in America we need to stop being hyper-fixated on the news cycle too. It's extremely unhealthy.

[kergonath]

Yes, this works for Europe as well.

[486sx33]

Canadians should be Canadian. Except that Trudeau has made it his mission to make Canada into the first “post-nationalist country”

So what is being a Canadian anymore ? It doesn’t really matter but they really should stop trying to illegal cross the northern border into the US

[rootusrootus]

No worries, many of us south of that border are baffled as well.

But it's not like you guys are completely normal ;-). For example, Confederate flags are actually a thing in Canada. That's wild to me.

[ben_w]

> For example, Confederate flags are actually a thing in Canada. That's wild to me.

Also seen one in Cambridge. And I don't mean Cambridge Massachusetts, I mean the original.

[prewett]

At least it's relatively culturally neutral in Cambridge, UK. Putting up a Confederate flag in Cambridge, MA feels like it would be risking property damage the next time the Progressive student mob gets a bee in their bonnet.

[vkou]

It's a shame that harmless political ideologies, like the belief that some people should be enslaved as chattel based on the colour of their skin aren't awarded the respect they deserve.

Next thing you know, people will start getting their knickers in a twist over someone flying a Daesh flag.

[b112]

Those aren't Confederate flags!

As my history teacher explained to me, back in the day, a small offshoot of Confederates had it with the war. They were weary. They were exhausted. And so, as many American hippies and conscientious objectors have done in the past, they decided to flee to Canada.

At this time however, they were worried about passing through Yankee territory, and also about their own troops shooting them for desertion. So, cleverly they modified their flag, and their uniforms, in subtle yet not quite discernible ways.

When approached, they would hold up their hands and describe at great length that the flag was much like the Ship of Theseus, each thread had been carefully replaced, and that their philosophical belief was that it therefore was not a Confederate flag. It may seem and look as such, but it as most certainly not! "What!", they would decry at such statements, "Are you ignorant louts! Have you no philosophical roots?", and so soldiers would feel great shame, and let them pass.

Thus after much hardship they managed to cross the border, settle down in a small town. I'm sure the flag you saw was probably only isolated to that one rural town though, but even so it just looked like a Confederate flag. It was instead copied from that other, unique flag.

[Cheer2171]

This is false. It makes no sense. It can't be found anywhere. It reads like a bad Monty Python sketch. I can't tell if you're joking or if your history teacher was.

[hughesjj]

> they would hold up their hands and describe at great length that the flag was much like the Ship of Theseus

Okay that got a good chuckle out of me lol. Quality shitpost, could have sprinkled some lost cause/daughters of the Confederacy gaslighting in there too

[alexb_]

There's a much simpler explanation, which is that there are racist Canadians.

[TeaBrain]

I think the Canadian living in the US that you responded to was close to the mark. Most Americans have little contact with Canadians and many think of Canada abstractly, but not very accurately, as a European-like country located above the US. Beyond this abstract idea, most Americans don't have any reason to think about Canada on a regular basis.

Also, Canadians may not think of themselves as Americans, but young Anglo-Canadians are products of American culture. I roomed in college with one for a year and nothing was distinctly non-American about him besides the accent.

[peab]

Almost the entire Canadian identity is based around the fact that they aren't american

[astrodust]

It's paradoxical. Like the famous I Am Canadian ad campaign being the product of a famous Canadian brewer...that was subsequently acquired by an American conglomerate.

Like how Tim Horton's, the quintessential Canadian institution, was bought by Burger King and remains "Canadian" if only for tax reasons.

[ClumsyPilot]

> that was subsequently acquired by an American conglomerate.

Many countries and cultures are struggling with the excessive power of American capital, it bring with it Us-style management and 'way of doing things'.

[switchbak]

This is 1000% correct. Canada is definitely not defined by "being American", or as Peter Zeihan would say: "passive-aggressively not-American".

Of course, when you're a small nation right next to the most powerful nation the world has ever seen, it's easy to have your media sphere be overwhelmed by the glut coming from south of the border. This is especially true as institutions like the CBC and NFB have come into increasing irrelevance while the internet replaces them. But this should not be misinterpreted as the country missing an identity or viewing itself as the same as the USA - that's simply not the case.

On a casual viewing, the similarity of external culture looks the same: we have the same shops, the same ugly modern strip malls, etc. We mostly look at talk somewhat the same, certainly in urban centers. But when you dive into the heart of our cultures, we had very different histories, and that's reflected in some big societal discrepancies. The USA is a bit of an outlier in a number of ways, and in many ways Canada resembles Scandinavian countries more than the USA.

[zeroCalories]

Canadian culture is a vague and vacuous hole with the strongest defining feature being their insistence that they're not Americans. Someone from the UK or Mexico is so uniquely different that these's never been any confusion, but Canadians are constantly coping over this. Reminds me of how Texas is always threatening to leave the country.

[randomdata]

> Canadians do not remotely ever think they are Americans, at all.

Nah. Canadians regularly see themselves as Americans with respect to political processes and laws. Presumably because of said American media consumption and believing what it portrays also applies to Canada.

[8jef]

Even dogs might think (dream) they are humans. Close encounters will do that.

https://mymodernmet.com/dogs-dream-about-humans/

[garrickvanburen]

The siblings metaphore is apt.

War Plan Red by Kevin Lippert suggests relations between the two countries is also similar to mutually annoyed suburban neighbors.

[8note]

Some examples of Canadians thinking they're Americans include the Convoy on the Canadian right larping as right wing Americans, and the "assault weapons ban" on the Canadian left larping as American Democrats.

Both of which aimed to solve for problems faced by Americans in America by doing something in Canada, when the same problems don't apply to Canada.

[switchbak]

Well to be fair, most of that LARPing is being done by our PM who likes to piggyback on the cache of big American news stories. That's seen by many of us as being ridiculous.

[voisin]

How about our Prime Minister LARPing as a Democrat and spending a ton of money on a school lunch program that as far as I can tell (being an avid consumer of news across the country’s political spectrum) no one has ever suggested was an issue north of the border? At a time when we are already ludicrously overspending, no less.