Comments on: Almost 30 years later, and I still don’t belong

By: My Blog Includes Other People’s Comments Sections — The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:09:59 +0000

[...] There’s some spill-over debate going on in David Janes’ blog, Ranting and Roaring, in this article where he responds to my article about the election and others respond to that really popular article I wrote yesterday. [...]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 29 May 2004 04:42:00 +0000

hey now… we don’t want him either.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 19:51:00 +0000

So many kind, reasonable, and open-minded people here – people not panicking for the fact that one person can have more than one mind and more than one heart or soul. Reading a discussion thread like this one inspires hope that our world is a good place after all and can get even better – in Canada and elsewhere.
Jossi, from Germany

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 18:49:00 +0000

Link posted….
My Canada includes Accordion Guy!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 11:03:00 +0000

I’ve added your button to my blog page. I hope you don’t mind.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/rfmcdpei/436979.html

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 07:45:00 +0000

I’m sure Natives in Canada have a similar opinion. Canada was a great place to live until a bunch of dumbass British and French people showed up and brought disease, alcohol and white bread.
People like this should come to Japan where ‘gaijin’ meaning outside person are not so welcome.
There are bars in Hokkaido that only serve Japanese and the last time I moved it took a week to see if I could live there or not because I’m of British decent. Nothing gets rid of rascism faster than experiencing it yourself.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 06:04:00 +0000

First of all, Greg, I have to say that going from the War of 1812 to Cancon regulations is a hell of a leap – there’s a big difference between the brute realities of war in the Napoleonic age and cultural legislation meant to please special interests. Invasion is a reality in the first, a metaphor in the second.
As for Manifest Destiny, I don’t buy the argument that it’s the imperial monster at the heart of American motives. Expressed in 19th century terms, that’s what it sounds like, but it’s hardly the foundation of modern America – to state that it is seems like fishing.
I find it hard to call an immigrant country “Imperial” for some reason – for whatever entanglements America has gotten into, wisely or not, it’s been invaded more by outsiders than it’s invaded anyone else, continuously and for its whole history. America, like Canada, is built on a fluid identity, so pulling out Manifest Destiny in an attempt to define it is like saying that the British North America Act or the Family Compact is all you need to know about Canada.
America is not, and has not been for many generations, our enemy. I find attempts to insinuate that enmity and mistrust defines our relationship sort of absurd – perhaps we’d stand a better chance of defining Canada in the long run if the whole project didn’t begin with “Well, we sure aren’t America.”
Blindfold someone and drop them on the main intersection of any major Canadian or American city (except L.A. or New York – practically countries on their own), and the differences would seem minimal. You can’t say the same thing about two other neighbouring countries anywhere else in the world.
I admire American patriotism, that sense of belief in the American project above all else. The world comes to America – you don’t find Americans emigrating in massive numbers to go elsewhere. Surely this is a sign that they’ve got something essential right? I wish that Canadians could do the same thing without referring to America – usually in sniggering or derogatory terms. It makes us look like children.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 04:47:00 +0000

I must say, “unthinking” is likely the wrong word, but I was struggling to express the difference in the two types of patriotism. It seems to me that there is a knee jerk reaction in the US, towards the idea that “the country is right”. For example, a not insignificant portion of the US population originally backed the War in Iraq, not because of any of the initial conditions surrounding it, but rather, because the president had chosen this course. I am not sure if this clarifies what I meant originally, but the term “unthinking” was not intended as a derogatory remark. My mother was American and a large portion of my extended family is as well. The subject of the difference in the types patriotism, is one much discussed at family dinner tables.
One thing I think is important as a matter of context is to realize that almost since its inception, Canada’s national Identity, has been informed by a large, and expansionistic neighbour to the south. Manifest Destiny is something that leaves little room for doubt as to a country

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 03:59:00 +0000

Two comments, the first is more of a question:
Which contribution of someone

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 03:53:00 +0000

Rant away, Rick. As long as it’s reasonable, it’s welcome here; that’s what this space is for.
I don’t buy into the “blame whitey / blame America” thing either — after all, I have roots in County Cork, Ireland and blonde-haired blue-eyed blood kin in Dayton, Ohio. Not to mention this cute Jewish girlfriend in Boston. Ferris Bueller is my role model — I get along with everybody, save for crusty high school principals.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 03:45:00 +0000

Greg – why do you think American patriotism is “unthinking”? Why does America’s robust and – though no one seems to like admittting it – intensely inclusive patriotism inevitably move Canadians to act like our own version – impossible to define as it seems to be – is so much better? Why are we obsessed with counting coup against the U.S.? Why does is always sound so pathetically insecure to me?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 03:33:00 +0000

Comments like those from ESR really bother me. You see, my uncles, fought in WW2, My great uncles, in WW1, my father joined an organization to help support the war effort even though he wasn’t old enough to fight. They were willing to lay down their lives for their country. The thing is, they were Germans. They served in the Luftwaffe, the SS and the Hitler Youth. They fought for people who believed that nationalism had one face, one history and one race. You know it strikes me as great irony that such people invoke the memory of those who fought against these views in support of them.
To me as a first generation Canadian, what makes this country great, is even though my parents were at war with those of my neighbours, we have the same chance to grow, learn and prosper. One of the greatest sources of pride I have in the city of Toronto, is the ethnic diversity it holds, not the watered down melting pot diversity, but the vibrant mosaic that lets me hear, see, smell, taste and touch the history and diversity of those who surround me. It is an essential part of the fabric that makes up Canada, and in my own experience it is from this diversity, that a quiet, resolved national pride arises, while it is not the flag waving unthinking patriotism of the United States, it is every bit as strong, and quite possibly more resilient.
Never doubt for one moment that my Canada includes Accordion Guy.
–Greg

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 03:10:00 +0000

It’s probably close to it.
I think people living in Canada’s most metropolitan areas sometimes get a skewed impression of the extent of ethnic diversity (or at least, that of visible minorities) in the rest of country. Outside of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, it still remains a very “white” country. According to the 2001 Census, less than 14% of the total population identified itself as a visible minority.
With respect to military service, I wonder how many Canadians are aware that Prime Minister Mackenzie King vigorously blocked Chinese Canadians from entering the Canadian Armed Forces during WWII for the very reason that he feared it would legitimize their claim to full franchise as citizens (which until that time precluded them from certain land/business ownership, professional occupations, immigration and mobility (eg. head tax – Chinese Exclusion Acts, right to vote in provincial and federal elections etc.).
Mackenzie King only relented under pressure from Great Britain, which required ethnic Asians from the Commonwealth for Special Operation Executive (SOE) – saboteurs, spies, and commandos who could move behind enemy lines and more readily mix in with native rebel groups in the Pacific campaign.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 01:42:00 +0000

Man, you deserve some kind of most-valuable-player award. Probably more, but nothing less. Maybe a most-valuable-accordion-player subprize, too.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 01:20:00 +0000

Oh, and I’m going to tell people about Spah-dee-nah. I always wondered where the name came from…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 01:19:00 +0000

Awesome post =)
Ironically, people often think I am Canadian, even though I’m really not. I’m not even a resident, I’m just here on a study permit.
But I’ve had random people all over the world assume I am Canadian, from old Chinese tourists in Germany (”Hello! You must be Canadian!”) to actual honest to goodness Canadians IN Toronto at a Dutch party where I was dressed in the Dutch national colours. He said “Are you really Dutch? But then you were BORN in Canada, right?”
My impression of Canadians is that they’re funny, intelligent and friendly, and usually born in Asia.
So you’re very, very Canadian =D

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 00:31:00 +0000

Joey, I’m not going to pile on to the lovefest here because, well, I just don’t do that sort of thing. You know by now, I think, that My Canada Includes yadda yadda yadda so let’s just exchange a manly handshake and avoid that whole hugging thing, dude.
So let me just try to defend ESR’s rant for what it is – an intensely emotional, defensive reaction to watching the contribution of your ancestors denigrated either purposefully or by implication. You got mad when some prick assumed you weren’t Canadian? This guy got mad when he heard one person too many invoke the “white=evil” stereotype.
For all I know some of the folks here are guilt of just that – I’ve been reading a lot of “Evil Fundamentalist Amerikkka” tripe here so far, and I don’t think the ESR even mentioned the U.S. I just don’t have time for that sort of thing anymore, so let’s just skip it, please?
Hey – as a 40-year old 3rd gen Canadian of Irish descent, I can say that the old Canada didn’t treat my people too well. The old Toronto, full of Orange Lodges, certainly didn’t. And I’m old enough to remember when pizza was exotic food, wine was procured like prescription drugs, and you could fire a cannon down a major street on Sundays. I don’t miss the old Presbyterian/Methodist/Anglican version of Canada at all, but it’s our past, and a lot of people draw their roots from it.
And they

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2004 00:11:00 +0000

I am born Romanian, raised French and on my way to becoming a proud Canadian! I also wrote a similar post earlier this month and your button’s found his right place on my weblog! Cheers, Irina.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 26 May 2004 23:05:00 +0000

ESR obviously hasn’t seen AG”s desk – the only guy I know that has a patio umbrella with an honest-to-goodness bright red maple leaf on a white background on it shading his cubicle.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 26 May 2004 21:56:00 +0000

Hear, hear, Michael! I raise a pint of Guinness to you!