I'm Afraid of Americans
I live in a Canadian city that is below the 50th parallel, the guide generally used to distinguish the United States from Canada. My town has a nice climate, beautiful sites, a great history and some old, old people. But every summer we are flooded with a plague. Every summer Victoria is overrun with tourists. It is not all the tourists I mind, in fact I quite enjoy the Europeans, Asians, Australians, etc to be quite general, but what I deplore is the American tourists who come to my town. Now, I am not a Nationalist by any means, but i am proud to be a Canadian, simply by default compared to the rest of North America. The Americans, generally, are loud, ignorant, overbearing, impolite, overweight morons. There are of course tens of thousands of exceptions, however for the most part this generalization is true. The typical American tourist comes up to Canada and treats it as if it were a satellite colony, which is to say that they do not respect us as a country. They do this in many ways, not the least of which is spending their money up here as if it were a universal currency. They are also typically ignorant of not only other cultures but also their own, meanwhile continuing a blatantly superior attitude, which must be tough when your gut is that of a pregnant woman's and you and your "boy" have matching baseball hats which make reference to some sort of "meat barn". And above all of this are their manners. The typical American is the most demanding of all the creatures ever known; as well he is the most lazy and self-indulged. It is this attitude which is the reason everyone in almost every country regards the American as a tool. The average Yank will not acknowledge this out of pure self defense, the Average American truly thinks that the Emperor is wearing clothes, when in fact everyone else knows he is not.
When the typical American looks upon Canada it is all too often with a look of blatant superiority. When an American comes to Victoria, more often than not they spend their currency as if it were the national wager, when in fact we do of course have our own money and their money should not be accepted here. By accepting their money in our country, we are 1) damaging our economy, 2) lowering our own pride, and 3) allowing their notion of Canada's lack of identity to continue. If a Canadian were to go down to the United States, even to a border town, they would not accept our currency, and rightfully so. We are in another country and should respect them, and by spending their money we better their economy, as such a restriction would ours. When they came up here they would have to buy Canadian money. Let us suppose that they bought too much money, very often they would want to spend the remainder of the money before they go home, thus more money for our economy. Now, what if they didn't have enough? They would have to go to a local currency exchange or bank, get more Canadian money at a high exchange rate at our benefit, and at the end of the trip would still want to spend the rest of their money. And besides those points, local stores would not have the process of exchanging to go through, thus saving time and money. Some say that Americans would stop coming here if we made them spend our currency, when such is certainly not the situation. The tourists come up here for the exchange rate, which would still benefit them. But still more important than our economy is our pride. By accepting American money we in turn accept inferiority, for as one of the very few country which gladly accepts foreign currency it demolishes our national pride, something severely lacking in our country. It also in turn boosts the already bloated American ego, because they think that they can do whatever they please and never really understand that Canada is a separate country. I have actually had people get mad at me for giving them Canadian change!
Beside the previous point, the typical American tourist also holds a blatantly superior attitude, despite having a largely inferior culture. That is right, inferior. The United States is of course superior militarily, economically, and they won the media with which we use everyday. But tell me which of these facts benefits the average American? Neither the average Canadian or American has any threat of military attack, if anything the US has a greater chance of being attacked because of it's muscle. The American war machine is a definite drawback to the typical American. The US military reduces their population, costs tax money, creates enemies, and participates in atrocities daily; the American citizen benefits little from these. The economic advantage does benefit some Americans, but very few. The poverty rates as well as the unemployment rates are higher in the United States; the economic domination only benefits the rich. The industrial edge isn't even a subject because again, the only ones who benefit are the rich and the military; it offers nothing to the typical citizen. The US has more poverty, higher illiteracy, lower minimum wage, more pollution, more disease, more enemies, poorer education, lower IQ, more censorship, and more crime. The USA is the only country in the "civilized" world with no organized health care system; every other first and 70% of second world countries have had health care for over a decade. Ever wonder why such a high percentage of athletes, celebrities, musicians or writers in the American media are Canadian? Of course there are more American people amongst these lists, but considering the population differences the numbers are incredible! These points considered, excluding the fact that we have barely scratched the surface, make it tough to argue for American superiority. What good is economic superiority if only a choice few benefit and the rest are left for naught?
"The true test of a civilization is, not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops but the kind of man that the country turns out." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
This opinion is the same the world over as Americans are the least respected of all peoples in most parts of the world. In most parts of Asia, Americans are told to tell people that they are British or Canadian simply so they aren't accosted. The United States has contributed very little but war and technological devastation to the world since it's discovery in 1492 or so, depending on your opinion of the year that country was found.
"America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization."- Georges Clemenceau
The general amount of class among the American people is also regarded as incredibly low. From their mannerisms, to their dialect, to even their beliefs the American culture is generally held with the lowest levels of respect. The stereotypical tourist whom we see in Victoria is a bloated, lazy, loud, ignorant man wearing a baseball cap. In fact the American population is the most overweight the world has ever known. Never in existence as we know it has a nation been so out of shape physically and mentally. In
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut the British and German soldiers look down their noses at the level of dignity held by the Americans, as is the case in nearly every other piece of literature, fiction or not, about the world wars. At sporting events the Americans are the only ones who would have disrespect enough to scream during the singing of their own anthem, let alone any other country's. The typical American is crass at best, not meaning to resort to slander but the notion is the popular one held across the globe. And without meaning to say that the Australian, Canadian, British or other countries are saintly, but from the American lifestyle alone thousands die daily, directly or otherwise."More die in the United States of too much food than too little." -John Kenneth Gailbraith; The Affluent Society
In fact, every year the United States destroys thousand of acres of crops for financial reasons, a crime far greater than any financial reasons could ever justify. The resources from the USA alone could feed the world easily, as could Canada, Russia, China or Australia, but the USA has more arable land than any one else, as well as more technology and skilled farmers. But instead much of the American food supply comes from Africa or South America because it is easier and cheaper for them. The American population has a tight grip on the rest of the world's health, almost entirely an aversive one. This is brought upon by the typical laziness which the
American Indoctrination system has created. Not to say that we Canadians are perfect, but the bad habits we do posses can be directly linked to American vices, brought about consentfully or otherwise.
Now I do of course realize that not every American is like this, or even at fault for this, nor am I saying that everyone else in the world is innocent, but I maintain that many of the world's major problems can be attributed to American sloth. Modern wars, over progressive technology, corporate governments, fast food, starvation, doctrinization, and pollution are to a large part aided by the USA, whether one wants to admit it or not. The average American, upon reading this, should refrain from anger and think about it. How many Americans know basic geography, politics, or history? Of course there are many who are very intelligent and willing, and I am not saying even the most ignorant American is not capable, simply that their system is not capable of treating it's own people as one should be treated, be it health care, education, economics, or politics, let alone anyone else in the world. The American people must tell the Emperor that he is not wearing any clothes if they hope to climb above the aforementioned points and truly be part of a great country.