Canadian Patriotism Linked with Americanophobia

This is what Canadian Patriotism is for the every day Americanophobic Canadian (found here).

Well, I ran across this article on the same page that discussed the myths of patriotism in both Canada and America. What some of us believe patriotism to be not only differs from country to country, but what we believe it to be (contrary to popular belief) is not really “patriotism”, but rather what we want patriotism to be. Simply, most people use the word “patriotic”  and “unpatriotic” as a convenient means to threaten, intimidate, succeed with an agenda or to bully others. Not surprisingly, my own definition of patriotism is not all too different from what can be found in the aforementioned article.

My definition of patriotism can be found in my glossary.

Q: What is Patriotism?

A: Most Americanophobes will tell you that Patriotism is defined as unconditionally accepting its leader and every crooked thing that a government may do. But I beg to differ. Patriotism for me is being able to say that you’re proud of where you were born and have the willingness to defend your country from verbal slander or violent attacks. True Patriotism also believes in free speech in that if we disagree with what our government is doing, we will question it. Patriots don’t always approve blindly of every decision made by our administration. Patriotism also believes that you can be a progressive-minded liberal and still be a patriot. Patriotism is ALWAYS optimistic, believes in change, and sees room for improvement when needed. If Patriotism doesn’t speak up and tries to make changes, then our ancestors that died for this freedom, died for nothing.

In the article, “Canada’s Patriotic Imperative“, patriotism as is should be is discussed below:

“…we have to realize that really loving this country means working to improve it. Patriotism isn’t about painting your face red and white, or wearing a flag pin, or shouting “We’re number one” and telling the rest of the world to kiss off while silently hoping against hope that the Stanley Cup will make its way north of the border next year. Patriotism is about action, not show, and it happens at the community level every day…

[snip]

…patriotism is as much about criticism and at times anger as it is about pride and tradition; and it’s much more about humility and openness and learning than it is about anything else.”

My observations of American Radical Conservatives and Canadian Americanophobia on Patriotism:

—>In the US, too many right-wingers believe patriotism to be silently and blindly accepting authority: both the government and the bible.

—>For Americanophobic Canadians, patriotism is not being American or anything like them. In this article written by an American who lived in Canada, it would appear as if change in Canada = fear of becoming “American”. Ewwwww!

Nor should Canadian patriotism be simple anti-Americanism. Anti-Americanism is so common in Canada that it tends to go unnoticed. Not that there’s anything wrong with being against American foreign policy or the current presidential administration, but dismissing an entire nation of individuals simply to differentiate ourselves from them is both uncouth and disingenuous. There’s so much more to being a Canadian, to the national identity we incorporate into our personal identities, than the popular Joe Canadian rant ever suggested.

Interestingly enough, Canadian Americanophobes and Radical Conservatives in the US are quite similar in that (for the most part), both groups don’t believe in change. They both hate liberals. Both groups hold on to traditional values with every cell of their bodies. The pariahs in society believe in the future through change in those matters that need improvement. The pariahs in Canada are called “American” whereas the pariahs in the US are called, “unAmerican”. These characterizations are ridiculously unreasonable and selfish.

Feel free to read more of what I’ve written about patriotism here.