Canadians are too patriotic ...

[razorjak]

Because of course it's only okay for USA FLAGS to be everywhere.

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=e7dd46c8-4495-4cdc-919c-d58ad8fa7b9c

Comments

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

In one sentence, you've just demonstrated exactly why most Canadians do not want to be taken for an American.

[angel-renewed.livejournal.com]

I travel. I travel a lot. Therefore, I see this a LOT and the attitude that begets it is insulting. The insinuation (these people make) that ALL Americans are stupid, ignorant, sots and to be avoided at all costs is just as senseless as the stereotype that many Americans have that all Candians are back bacon eating hockey fans who use 'eh' as a noun, verb, and adverb.

Besides, half the student backpackers that are guilty of the above are no more culturally aware than most student Americans I run into. Case in point: The *adamently* Canadian student I had to lead through Bethlehem a few years back. He was wandering off into a Palestinian riot and had no idea what 'that flag' they were waving was. It was the Palestinian flag.

[kest]

And *that's* probably the same thing the people surveyed are actually complaining about.

[hel_ana]

Yes, but...

to assume that it's an "insinuation (these people make) that ALL Americans are stupid, ignorant, sots and to be avoided at all costs" is to ignore two things:

1) Anecdotally, Canadians travelling especially in north western Europe who identify themselves as such have gotten a very positive response. Not because they're "not American", but for historical reasons.. there's a reason that my grandparents went back to Belgium and the Netherlands every five years for as long as I've been alive, and how they never managed to pay for anything when they were there.

2) Frankly, as someone who's a ninth gen Canadian, I'm damned proud of my country. It has nothing to do with liking or not liking the USA, or any other country on the planet. It has to do with *how I feel about my country*.

In my perception as a canadian, based on my experience, it's a far more complex issue than "not being american".

[angel-renewed.livejournal.com]

It's not an assumption I'm making here. This was the reason given by the people in question to me. There answer was that they put the patches on their backpacks so that people will 'not mistake them for Americans'. They don't want to be considered Americans because people (again their words) "people hate Americans". I'm not saying that's true in every case, but in the people I have met that has been the reason. Honestly, it's just plain stupid to think that some patch will save you from terrorism in the Middle East, because being white means being a target. As for Northern Europe...eh...I haven't seen Candians treated any differently, but most I've met are younger. The Dutch primarily dislike the Brits. They like pretty much everyone else.

Incidentally, I don't like Americans who plaster the damn flag all over the place, either. Patriotism on overkill is annoying no matter *what* the country.