FFWD Weekly
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| LETTER Re: Splice (June 25 issue) Thanks so much for the patriotism on page five of your June 25 issue. Just in time for Canada Day, we are treated to Robert Perry's woolly definition of Canadian identity ("To agree to disagree... to respect dissent, perhaps this is the real essence of Canada") and an exposé of that Neanderthal anti-Canada Web site south of the border. Regarding the Web site, are you flattered by the mere possibility that an American might have an opinion about Canada? You refer only obliquely to the prominent disclaimer that the site is satirical. Perhaps you do so because anti-Americanism in Canada is not satire, but an integral part of Canadian identity. Why must we continue to define Canada in negative terms (it is what America is not) instead of positive ones? Who cares what the US is? As far as Perry's quote is concerned, why not toss in endorsements for motherhood and love? "Perhaps" this is the essence of Canada? Perhaps?! Perhaps the essence of Canada is indecisiveness. Why, in 1998, is no one yet able to define Canada? The US quite clearly has known its essence since 1776. Oh, sorry, that's why we're so passive-aggressive toward them. If we are interested in pondering the state of Canadian identity a more apposite quote is, to paraphrase a Canadian publisher, "Canada is a land of uniform and unexamined opinion." For this we can thank Pierre Trudeau, the CBC... wait a minute, there goes that disempowering, knee-jerk reaction again. No, for this all Canadians are responsible. All the jingoism in the world won't change that. Happy Canada Day! Bill Pegues, |