Rick Perry Thinks Canada Is Not A Foreign Country

[JoeTheJuggler]

In the Seattle area, we get CBC on our cable line up and no one mentions that it is from a foreign country.

Apart from that first "C", that is.

 

[bikerdruid]

So we're just misunderestimating Perry?

yes, that's it.
perry is truly 'on the bit', and sorely misunderstood.

 

[theprestige]

So we're just misunderestimating Perry?

Actually, I don't think anybody is misunderestimating Perry in this instance. I think his meaning is both clear and true. I also think that some of us are pretending to misunderestimate Perry, though I'm unable to discern any meaningful or useful reason to do so.

 

[SezMe]

theprestige, do you really think Perry was purposely making the distinction that you are making in this thread? What percent of his audience do you think would recognize and agree with that distinction?

 

[epepke]

Well, some don't.

It seemed pretty unified when I was in Nova Scotta. Even the car ads on TV would say "...the best deals in North America" as if the division was not there.

In the Seattle area, we get CBC on our cable line up and no one mentions that it is from a foreign country.

It used to be that locally people in Spokane would accept Canadian coins along with American coins.

Yep.

Canada's a nice place. I like it. I like most of the people, most of the time, and Canada is perfectly fine, and even better than a lot of places in the US. However, they get rather squirrely on occasion, most of which come up in these political discussions.

Canadians invest a great deal in Not Being Americans. There's a kind of obsessive denial, for no particular reason, except that it isn't true and that it galls Canadians.

This doesn't fool many Europeans, by the way, who find it a bit of a joke. Especially when Canadians make it a point to wear maple leafs somewhere so that they can say I Am Not An American. It's ridiculous, and it enables specific algorithms to make Canadians pay more for trivia than anybody else, including Americans.

Plus there's the fact that Canadians and Americans are so economically intertwined that it isn't funny. Even without NAFTA, border crossings between the US and Canada account for more currency transfers than all other US borders combined.

It's a bit like my current home town of Orlando, Florida. Orlando is so set on developing an identity separate from the 500 pound gorilla of Disney and the 200 pound orangutan of Universal Studios. Back when Church Street Station existed, this might have been plausible, but those days are all over. Fortunately, The Woodshed bought and preserved the boot-blacking stand at Rosie O'Grady's, but that's a mere remnant.

Orlando doesn't exist in any meaningful way apart from Disney and Universal. Do not think for a nanosecond that I am proud of this. Nor think that people in the US are proud of their hegemony. But it is what it is, as they say. Nor does the current government of Canada, which makes the government of the US seem positively liberal, in cheerful defiance of what Canadians have been pissing and moaning about for years, help.

 

[bikerdruid]

Yep.

Canada's a nice place. I like it. I like most of the people, most of the time, and Canada is perfectly fine, and even better than a lot of places in the US. However, they get rather squirrely on occasion, most of which come up in these political discussions. Canadians invest a great deal in Not Being Americans. There's a kind of obsessive denial, for no particular reason, except that it isn't true and that it galls Canadians. This doesn't fool many Europeans, by the way, who find it a bit of a joke. Especially when Canadians make it a point to wear maple leafs somewhere so that they can say I Am Not An American. It's ridiculous, and it enables specific algorithms to make Canadians pay more for trivia than anybody else, including Americans. Plus there's the fact that Canadians and Americans are so economically intertwined that it isn't funny. Even without NAFTA, border crossings between the US and Canada account for more currency transfers than all other US borders combined.
It's a bit like my current home town of Orlando, Florida. Orlando is so set on developing an identity separate from the 500 pound gorilla of Disney and the 200 pound orangutan of Universal Studios. Back when Church Street Station existed, this might have been plausible, but those days are all over. Fortunately, The Woodshed bought and preserved the boot-blacking stand at Rosie O'Grady's, but that's a mere remnant. Orlando doesn't exist in any meaningful way apart from Disney and Universal. Do not think for a nanosecond that I am proud of this. Nor think that people in the US are proud of their hegemony. But it is what it is, as they say. Nor does the current government of Canada, which makes the government of the US seem positively liberal, in cheerful defiance of what Canadians have been pissing and moaning about for years, help.

NOT

 

[Pardalis]

Canadians invest a great deal in Not Being Americans. There's a kind of obsessive denial, for no particular reason, except that it isn't true and that it galls Canadians.

Exactly. Our PM recently has been on a binge trying to sell us monarchy, from receiving the Prince whatshisname to Canada to giving the order to put up the Queen's portrait in every embassy. Because without monarchy, Canada is indistinguishable from the US

And next year they'll be commemorating the war of 1812, yes you heard it correctly, the war of 1812, the skirmish nobody remembers or cares about, just to be sure to make Canadians remember they are not Americans.

We Québécois don't have this problem, we have a culture of our own, and a history of our own. We don't need to constantly try to find ways to remind ourselves that we are distinct, because we are.

 

[SezMe]

Even without NAFTA, border crossings between the US and Canada account for more currency transfers than all other US borders combined.

How many other borders do we have? Or are you counting every other inane territory we claim to own?

 

[theprestige]

We Québécois don't have this problem, we have a culture of our own, and a history of our own. We don't need to constantly try to find ways to remind ourselves that we are distinct, because we are.

So Québécois are to Canadians what Canadians are to Americans?

 

[bikerdruid]

So Québécois are to Canadians what Canadians are to Americans?

no.
quebec is very much a part of canada.
quebeckers are canadian citizens.
quebeckers enjoy all the priviledges of being canadian.
quebeckers are subjects of the queen, like all other canucks.
(whether pardalis likes it, or not.)

canadians are not americans.

 

[Pardalis]

I'm starting to think the only reason Canada wants to keep Québec is because it sets them apart from the US.

 

[bikerdruid]

I'm starting to think the only reason Canada wants to keep Québec is because it sets them apart from the US.

as canada's spoiled child, quebec enjoys more benefits than any other province.

 

[theprestige]

theprestige, do you really think Perry was purposely making the distinction that you are making in this thread?

I think Perry was purposely making a distinction between the relationship the US has with Canada, and the relationship the US has with other nations.

I think it's a valid distinction, I think it's a valid point to make, and I think the word "foreign" does a perfectly cromulent job of it.

I reject BD's argument that a sovreign nation must necessarily be a foreign nation, and I present the US-Canada relationship as my counter-example.

What percent of his audience do you think would recognize and agree with that distinction?

A) How would I know? B) Why does it matter?

 

[bikerdruid]

I think Perry was purposely making a distinction between the relationship the US has with Canada, and the relationship the US has with other nations.

I think it's a valid distinction, I think it's a valid point to make, and I think the word "foreign" does a perfectly cromulent job of it.

I reject BD's argument that a sovreign nation must necessarily be a foreign nation, and I present the US-Canada relationship as my counter-example.



A) How would I know? B) Why does it matter?

canada is both a sovereign nation, and foreign to the united states
when you are able to enter canada without a passport, tell us that canada is not a foreign nation....
until then, you are talking through your hat.

 

[SezMe]

B) Why does it matter?

It matters because if his audience is unable to understand the subtle parsing of his comment that you are making then whether you are right or wrong is completely irrelevant. I think not a one of them would get your distinction. Effective communication requires using words and concepts the audience grasps. Perry didn't....or, rather, his statement didn't effectively portray the idea you are trying to attach to his words.

 

[Jrrarglblarg]

America's asshat.

I think it would be more logical to apply this phrase to Texas.

 

[theprestige]

It matters because if his audience is unable to understand the subtle parsing of his comment that you are making then whether you are right or wrong is completely irrelevant. I think not a one of them would get your distinction. Effective communication requires using words and concepts the audience grasps. Perry didn't....or, rather, his statement didn't effectively portray the idea you are trying to attach to his words.

The idea that we have a very close relationship with Canada, and should prefer to get our oil from there instead of elsewhere? That's not really a difficult idea that requires any subtle parsing.

Not only that, but even if 100% of the audience thought Perry meant that Canada is the 57th state of the union, it wouldn't make any difference at all to his point. And in fact, from the OP, the audience seemed to grasp his point just fine:

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/12/28/rick-perry-thinks-canada-is-not-a-foreign-country/
“Every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil that we don’t have to buy from a foreign source,” Mr. Perry said in Clarinda, earning a loud round of enthusiastic applause."

 

[Corsair 115]

We Québécois don't have this problem, we have a culture of our own, and a history of our own. We don't need to constantly try to find ways to remind ourselves that we are distinct, because we are.

Well, except for the Constitution that is, since quite a few of those in Quebec want the whole "distinct society" thing explicitly enshrined in it.

 

[lomiller]

We Québécois don't have this problem, we have a culture of our own, and a history of our own. We don't need to constantly try to find ways to remind ourselves that we are distinct, because we are.

Quebec is the only part of Canada so insecure about it's language and culture that it needs laws to force people to take part in that culture.

Oh and history is history, having ones "own history" is typical a bad thing...

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

Plus there's the fact that Canadians and Americans are so economically intertwined that it isn't funny. Even without NAFTA, border crossings between the US and Canada account for more currency transfers than all other US borders combined.

Along the line with what Sez Me asked. Are you referring to Canada and Mexico or things like wire transfers from London to NYC as well?

I think it would be more logical to apply this phrase to Texas.

Wrong. Oklahoma is Texas' asshat.