Why are Canadians so ignorant?

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Shayna

Hmmm. Firstly, I am a proud Canadian. I am not ignorant, rude or in any way anti-American. However, I'm going to be a little blunt in my answer to this question.

Firstly, America matters a great deal to Canada, but some Americans seems to think that without the US, we would be lost. In fact, it is the other way around. I would wager to say your Canadian 'friends' are right in their thinking in that regard.

Secondly, your arrogance is one of the reasons why we seem ignorant and rude to you. We do not like to be condescended to by people like you. Canada has a proud history, rich in culture, and most of us are tired of American arrogance. We're tired of being dragged into the US's foreign affairs (ie, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars), and we're tired of being 'punished' by your George W. Bush when we don't comply with his 'requests'.

Thirdly, don't call us Canucks. Your lack of respect is yet another reason why we seem 'ignorant' to you.

Melissa R

no, we are not ignorant people! interesting...i was recently travelling overseas and a woman from an EU country was going on about how americans are the rude ones, not canadians - without knowing where i was even from - she even mentioned how canadians are so much nicer - again, not knowing where i am from -- canadians have a much better reputation internationally

khrystenat

Perhaps they are just responding to your America is great attitude and are trying to get you to understand that America isn't the only great place on earth, that Canada is great also.

Your attitude towards us has a lot to do with how we speak and act towards you

nbr660

First of all I'm American, You cannot judge a country by the actions of a few young people. Canadians have pride in their country as much as I have pride in the USA and that is the way it will always be. I think you got on the web and started making acusations before you had all the facts. Canada's whole country has the population of New Jersey and that's it.
So Canadians are aware of what is what.

SteveN

Well, your question is certainly provocative and appeared to be an attempt to insult, but at least you tried to give a few points so I will try to respond from my perspective.

As a Canadian born and raised in Quebec, I have seen a few Americans come up to Canada with the expectation that the world revolves around them and that they should be served before anyone else, and in English of course. Oddly enough, the phrase "When in Rome..." did not seem to apply to them.

Now, again, this is a generalization, and is probably not indicative of ALL Americans. In fact, the people from Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and parts of New York State that I ran into were all for the most part very friendly, courteous, and respectful of me when I dealt with them both in Canada and back in their home states.

I guess a lot depends on where you grew up, and how you were raised. If you are a polite, soft-spoken person, with a friendly smile, you can usually expect the same in return. If you run into a loudmouth spewing foul language and demanding service (Canuck or Yank), you can expect the person to be irritated at you, albeit usually still professional.

Teens in general are more interested in how things affect their life in the immediate sense...What helps me here and now rather than how does a relationship help me in the long run is usually the attitude.

Oddly enough, you were saying that in UBC, half the people are of chinese, indian, or middle-eastern descent. I suspect that more than half of THAT half, if you asked them their nationality, they would say Canadian. That is because Canada is actually much more of a melting pot than USA nowadays with all the immigration that is happening.

So essentially, what you are saying is that the white anglo-saxon Canadians are the only ones who are ignorant and don't care about how much trade we do with USA? That seems rather racist to me, but also rather inaccurate. You are observing this attitude from a city on one end of the country which has experienced a large influx of asian immigrants. Perhaps it is prevalent in Vancouver or BC itself, and not reflective of the same attitude in Toronto, or Montreal, or Halifax? That I would not state as a fact, since I have not visited ALL of Canada to see for myself.

silksurreality

In my opinion, your question is a hasty generalization. How many Canadians appear ignorant to you? How few? 10-20 Canadians don't tell much about Canada; same with the US citizens or any other country.

About the impact of the economy, both countries depend on each other. It's not just Canada depending on America or some country X depends on country Y. For me, every nation needs another nation. So is the cliche, No man is an island.

Perhaps those 'ignorant' Canadians you met are just proud of their race and have a high regard for their country-something I think is normal if you have great love for your country. In fact, you yourself seems to be proud of being American. You show great pride about your country.

pinkpiglet126

As others have said, what a huge generalization. That's like saying why are Americans so ignorant?

I met one that wanted to know where to go skiing on snow in the middle of July. Americans are so dumb.

Get the point? And yes, I really did meet one that wanted to go skiing in the middle of summer. He drove up from the States with skis on his car looking for snow. oy

bg b

your post proves how ignorant and misinformed you are even though you are an university student.

Canadian and American economies are interwoven, USA need more Canadian natural resources than Canada needs American corporations.
As matter of the fact, American corporations are here because they make good bucks, not because they are charitable organizations.

Dizzy

I don't think that Canadians in general are ignorant of the US. I think as Canadians we don't like being considered identical to the US. We are a separate country with our own culture, history, etc. As Canadians, we don't want to be called Americans because we belong to a separate country.

nan4six

Someone should take his anti-nasty pill today. Funny thing is the majority of countries think Americans are rude and would much rather be in the company of Canadians. Try wearing a Roots jacket; or a Canadian flag on your luggage when travelling, you'll quickly see how special you are treated provided you don't open your mouth.

isotope2007

funny, on other questions you were bashing canada and saying you were visiting and Vancouver is freezing cold in the summer - and your use of the english language and your grammar makes me wonder how you got into UBC? It has standards for foreign students.

Heres an idea though, if you dont like it go back to the USA, we wont miss you, Asia provides a huge export market for us, so bye bye

Limestoner62

I'm sure that there are lots of Canadians that refuse to acknowledge that Canada's largest trading partner is the United States, but is that ignorance or just refusal to face facts. I'll bet that if you go on several US campus' you will find most US students don't know this either, and that would be ignorance.

Invisible =]

That's just a generalization. Not all Canadians are like that, maybe you just run into ones who think like that. Especially now when the hockey season is here, some, or a lot of people are just supporting our home team, I guess? As for the economy stuff, yea, some people are ignorant, some aren't. Nothing we can really do about it. They don't or won't know much unless they take economics, read the newspaper (business section) or something along those lines.

Eh, enough with procrastinating, I gotta study >_<

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