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national identity

Rustam said:
"Patriotizm is dignity of scoundrel" Oscar Lao
I don't remember where i read it. From personal experience, this is true :).
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How dare you! :D No, my insistence on writing England whenever possible is definitely a response to the politically-correct brigade who insist that people should write Britain.
 
This is all very nice, but where were you guys on Valentine's Day, huh? You wait ages for an admirer and then two come along at once. :D Right, I'm off to do something that defines me as English (and sad) - I'm going to go and watch Eastenders, before Jenn's thread gets totally hijacked. No fighting whilst I'm gone, guys! :)
 
Rustam said:
"Patriotizm is dignity of scoundrel" Oscar Lao
I don't remember where i read it. From personal experience, this is true :).
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I thought the quote was:

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." --Samuel Johnson, 1709-84
 
Halo said:
How dare you! :D No, my insistence on writing England whenever possible is definitely a response to the politically-correct brigade who insist that people should write Britain.
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Same here :p - I always write England rather than Britain. I'm not at all patriotic though - when watching football, 99% of the time i'll support whoever is playing against England :rolleyes: The only time I do support them is in horse events (eventing/show jumping)
 
As far as sports loyalty, my hub is English, and we all root for Jenson Button in Formula One. He did great last year. Yay! Brrrrooooooom!
 
Halo said:
No fighting whilst I'm gone, guys! :)
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If lady ask :)

novella said:
I thought the quote was:

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." --Samuel Johnson, 1709-84
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I translated it from russian into english in spite of the fact that it was translated into russian from english once. So i can be mistaken in accuracy. But i thought that it was Oscar Lao or they are different idioms.
 
Rustam said:
If lady ask :)



I translated it from russian into english in spite of the fact that it was translated into russian from english once. So i can be mistaken in accuracy. But i thought that it was Oscar Lao or they are different idioms.
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It's possible that Oscar Lao was quoting Sam Johnson, I guess. Johnson's is a well-known, oft-cited quote.
 
jenn, I've never understood the angst about having a Canadian identity. I think we are what we are and it's not necessary to have something unique to set us apart. I'm glad to be Canadian, but I think the multicultural diversity these days makes it hard to point and say "that's a Canadian". Once you try to define it, there's a danger that you marginalize and exclude what falls outside the definition.

This comes from personal experience. My family came to Canada in the mid 1880s and both sets of grandparents came as teenagers, so I'd say I'm as Canadian as anyone. But here's the rub - I'm not white. All my life, I was asked how I could speak such good English, why I didn't have an accent, where I "really" came from, etc. (I won't bore you with the outright bigoted comments). When I started working as a community health nurse, I'd make appointments over the phone before making home visits. Well, I can't count the number of times people were absolutely flabbergasted when my non-white face showed up at their door. Granted, this happened awhile ago and most blatantly when I lived in Ontario, but you get my drift. So the bottom line, for me, is that I don't believe there is one Canadian identity. We're too diverse a bunch and I'm okay with that.

Just my 2cents.

ell
 
ell,
i agree. i think it is interesting that canadians are always looking for that thing that is going to set them apart. something that you can point to and go this is a canadian trait. i feel that most of this anxiety comes into play when we are trying to demonstrate how we are not american instead of how we are canadian. as i think about this more and more, i realize this seems to be something that gets played out in the media and is probably not the concern of most canadians. perhaps our media outlets have inferiority complexes.
 
Let me ask you Canadians this, and I'm not being a smartass American or suggesting anything. I'm just asking a question based on my personal ignorance of Canada if I must put it bluntly...

What exactly has Canada done to contribute to the world in the last 100 years.

Has Canada ever really taken a stance against some of the attrocities that have happened in the world that America (right or wrong) has gotten involved in? It appears Canada tags along with America on some issues, but I'm not aware of anything Canada has done on it's own.

Does Canada ever really stand up for something and do things that change the overall landscape of the world?
 
Motokid said:
Does Canada ever really stand up for something and do things that change the overall landscape of the world?
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oh yes. my god, we gave the world celine dion!!!!
sorry typical canandian self depricating humour.
this is a good question and one i don't know the anwer too, but i will find out. off the top of my head i believe our military as rule plays a peace keeping role and support of countries in need. this alone makes their efforts impressive, but what makes it more impressive is that the men and women in the canadian military volunteer(and i am quoting rick mercer here) to leave one of the best places on earth to go to some of the worst places on earth, and our gov't does little to back them up.

i will get back to you. :)
 
Let me help.

Here are a few Canadian inventions:

the telephone
the electron microscope
STOL (short takeoff and landing) aircraft--more important than you think
the lightbulb (1st patent, today's is basically the same)
washing machine
zipper

basketball
hockey
la crosse

insulin treatment
whole load of technology to do with heart surgery and care


Those are just a few. Also, Java, Lucite, Superman . . .

Also, Canadian had very heavy participation and casualties in WWI. It was a very rough war for them with huge sacrifices. And in WWII, they took in thousands of English orphans. And on 9/11, they took in all the aircraft bound for the US, landing most of them at Gander, NF, and the people of that town took everyone into their homes, fed them for days, and were very kind.
 
thanks novella,
also i would add 2 very important canadians who have had enormous impact on the world. david suzuki whose continuing work as an environmentalist inspires many and terry fox, who almost made it across canada, running while literally dying of cancer. his foundation spends millions on the ongoing research for the cure for cancer.
 
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