From: alain@elevia.uniforum.qc.ca (W.A.Simon)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,can.politics,soc.culture.canada,alt.kaldis.bumf
Subject: Re: Yet further tripe from...
Summary: Hello TeodorK, long time we have not insulted each other
Date: 8 Oct 92 16:55:17 GMT

In <Oct.6.09.04.27.1992.11402@romulus.rutgers.edu>
kaldis@romulus.rutgers.edu (Theodore A. Kaldis)
steps on his dick again:

> In article <1992Sep30.160855.16375@cs.sfu.ca>
> troy@cs.sfu.ca (Troy Brooks) writes:
> > What a bunch of crap.  Save this jingoism for someone who shares your
> > narrow minded prejudices.
> The truth hurts, huh?  Canadians have been called "history's couch
> potatoes" by a prominent _Canadian_ writer (who's certainly in
> position to know), and not without good reason.  Canadians seem all
> too readily willing to go along with whatever idea is currently in
> vogue with the liberal "intelligentsia", regardless of how much it
> infringes on personal liberty.

	The tar brush has a pretty broad tip.  I have travelled
	accross this land of ours many times and I am yet to
	come back unsurprised by the people I met.  In a country
	this size, with injections from so many cultures, it is
	difficult to speak/write about The Canadian People as if
	it were one large homogeneous entity.  Actually, this is
	our greatest problem: Canada is a virtual reality.  It only
	exists in the minds of those who want to believe in it.
	And, unsurprisingly enough, their respective VR's do not
	coincide.  Just look at the referendum in progress.  There
	is a YES side, and there are 13,976 NO sides.

	As to the perceived political correctness, I find it quite
	universal in all societies.  We tend to lean more to the
	pinko lunatic fringe, but this is a passing fad.  I can't
	say the US are exempt from the PC disease.   In fact, the
	current administration has turned it into a permanent witch
	hunt against all kinds of people.  Outside Islam, the US is
	today the most PC infected country in the world. 

> Homosexuality is an aberration.  There, I have just broken the law in
> Canada -- just by expressing this (easily provable) idea.

	You have broken no law.  You have certainly made yourself
	a target for all kinds of accusations and epithets; "stupid"
	and "immature" come to mind, but I am sure we could improve
	on this...  I personnally tend to think homosexuality is a
	disorder of the mind/body, but I can find no solid argument
	for or against my point of view; certainly no easy proof as
	you hinted.  But I definitely do not think that, even if it
	were so, it justifies hating and insulting them.  Canada
	protects (in words at least) homosexuals from harassment and
	discrimination, it doesn't forbid the expression of contrary
	opinions.  At least not so far.

> >> They are a fairly homogeneous group ethnically, politically and
> >> economically.
> This isn't quite true, particularly in Montreal or Toronto.  Moreover,
> the dominant culture of Quebec is something quite different than that
> of the rest of Canada.

	So, you are not completely brain dead after all.

> >> Comparisons of their culture, or any other culture to that of the U.S.
> >> is erroneous.
> This is absolutely true when you are comparing the U.S. with english-
> speaking Canada.  U.S. culture is based upon the complete repudiation
> of the idea of having a government based on monarchy and class
> privilege, while many Canadians (particularly older ones) still revere
> the English crown.

	US culture is - like Canada's - based on whatever happens
	to please the shakers and movers.  But Canada's shakers and
	movers live in L.A., N.Y., Rio, Amsterdam and Paris.

	Politically, the US has a good Constitution because it
	enumerates basic, fundamental, unviolable principles
	whereupon all laws are based (except under Republican
	administrations).  In Canada, we are trying to design
	a Constitution, from the bottom up, by writing articles
	of procedure and exception handling clauses, without ever
	laying down the guiding principles.  The Monarchy is
	just a peripheral issue.  If it went the way of the dodo
	nobody would notice.

> >> Our ancestors did not come to this land to live like the serfs of
> >> [ ... ]
> > Actually, I think Bill Murray said it best in 'Stripes': "We're
> > [ ... ]
> As if Bill Murray is a respected commentator on U.S. culture.  What
> [ ... ]
> so legally.  So keep your sour grapes to yourself.

	The original Americans were biggots, narrow minded,
	stiff necked, pain in the butt who got kicked out
	of England because their puritanism was beginning
	to smell.  I won't hold it against you because I know
	that, since those days, a lot of new blood has enriched
	this great country of yours.  BTW, were your ancestors
	stiff necked narrow minded Albanian Stalinists or did
	you just happen to mutate?

	I hope we continue this entertaining dialog soon.


--
 Alain
Xref: sparky talk.politics.misc:52471 talk.abortion:43064 alt.sex:33180