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A Canadian’s Perspective on US Actions

A longtime lies.com link-suggester, who turns out to be Canadian, engaged me in the following interesting email exchange this morning. With his permission, I’m running it here with his identifying information removed.

From: [email deleted]
Subject: A Note From Abroad
To: jbc@lies.com

Dear jbc:

Just wanted to give you a take on the “word on street” from abroad — in this case, Canada.

The general sense here is that the US has completely lost it. Not just in regards to Iraq, but across the board. This torture scandal has pretty much tied it.

Particularly telling is that even the rightmost-leaning of my friends, who previously (grudgingly) supported the US invasion of Iraq, have abandoned their positions. (And for the record, there weren’t very many of those people in the first place up here.)

And for the vast majority of “people on the street” in Canada, it looks for all the world like you guys have simply gone insane. No media outlets in Canada ever pushed a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda, which means that the whole supposed war rationale was a transparent sham from day one. (And we were already scratching our heads over the theft of the federal election!)

So here’s what we see: a rogue superpower, doing whatever it wants, answerable to no one (foreign or domestic), throwing dissenters at home and abroad in jail forever, flouting international law and its own laws on any whim, starting wars for fun and profit, alienating the world and even its closest allies, run by (at best) a mediocre intellect with a criminal background who blatantly stole the “election”. The populace of this rogue state is too cowed and terrified of being labelled as “unpatriotic” or singled out for punishment to speak up for their basic rights, more of which disappear — perhaps forever — every day.

There’s a word for this, and it’s not democracy. It’s despotism.

When the US is on its game, it is a shining example to the world. But when it slides down into despotism, it’s the scariest thing in the world.

And believe me, we are shared shitless of you guys.

Jesus, guys — if the US can slide into despotism, who the hell can’t?

(As always, please don’t publish my full name — I, too am scared of retribution.)

From: John Callender
To: [name and email deleted]
Subject: Re: A Note From Abroad

Could I run your letter as an item on the site, assuming I remove all identifying information from it?

From: [email deleted]
Subject: Re: A Note From Abroad
To: jbc@west.net

Of course, provided you agree to fix my typo of “supporters” to “supported” in the third para. (And any other typos you see.)

:)

Listen, I’ve re-read a couple of my letters to you recently, and they were pretty condescending and holier-than-thou. In retrospect, I really regret this.

You have to understand that many in Canada look to the US as a big brother — which is not so inaccurate. We do have the same parents — but where you guys are the rebels that stole the family Thunderbird and peeled off in a cloud of burned rubber, we are the quiet nerds that lived in the basement of the family home until we were 35.

This means that we have a unique perspective. When you exceed us — as you often do — we love you for it, since you’re family, and we’re rooting for you. Plus, like all little brothers, we secretly envy you.

And yet, when you go astray, we strangely feel guilty (guilt, by the way, is the Great Canadian Emotion(tm)), because we feel we should have been able to help you somehow. Plus we feel sad, since you are family, and we love you. And lastly, like all little brothers, we are worried about you.

But right now, it’s like we’ve just learned our big brother has ditched all his friends and gone on a crime spree, robbing banks and blowing people away. We love you, but we’re scared you’ll show up on our doorstep some night, drunk, with a gun on the seat of the old, idling Thunderbird, and demand that we join you.

I guess I’m saying we know we’re not superior to you. Quite the reverse — we will likely always play second fiddle to our big brother. But this raises the critical point I mentioned before — if our big brother can go bad, can’t we?

(Maybe you can wrap these two letters together somehow.)

This entry was posted by jbc on Tuesday, May 4th, 2004 at 12:12 pm and is filed under the_world. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

14 Responses to “A Canadian’s Perspective on US Actions”

  1. Adam C Says:
    May 4th, 2004 at 5:32 pm

    I think that pretty much sums up my feelings… I feel like a prisoner in my own country sometimes… I want to make a difference somehow. I see the same thing here in the states where people who I would consider pretty conservative are starting to doubt the Thief in Chief… Unfortunately… I don’t think that’s going to hurt him in the long run… I have little (if any) hope for a fair election this year… I think we’re in this for the long haul =o(

  2. Tom Buckner Says:
    May 5th, 2004 at 6:13 am

    A very few have understood for years that we were in the midst of a ‘starfish strategy’ in the United States. A starfish will open a clam by fastening its suction cups on both sides and pulling it open very slowly. The clam’s shell muscle will weaken eventually while the starfish keeps the pressure on (and doesn’t thire because it uses water pressure rather than just muscle power).

    What I mean is that fascists have been gathering power and money for decades and have finally become almost too strong to resist, having weakened all the usual checks and balances in this country.

    This indicates a ‘software flaw’ in the democratic design, but that’s for another day.

    Check out this book by Martin A. Lee: The Beast Reawakens: Fascism’s Resurgence from Hitler’s Spymasters to

    Today’s Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0415925460/104-5657789-2747135?v=glance

    Notice that the book is several years old and could use an update, but even as far back as the ’80’s we had a president who would lay a wreath at a Nazi SS cemetery (not really an accident; Reagan had friends who had friends who had friends in the SS).

    These far-right extremists really are the heirs of fascism (i.e. a coalition of the very rich, the military/police, and the dominant church). The formula has varied according to national flavor since Mussolini invented modern Fascism, but what we have under Bush fits it uncannily well. Fascism, on paper, was vanquished in World War Two (by liberals and commies, remember) but afterward it became The Political Philosophy That Dare Not Speak Its Name.

  3. a_stupid_box Says:
    May 5th, 2004 at 1:40 pm

    To my nameless Canadian friend (I say friend as I feel a sort of affinity, what with such similar views and propensity to speak in simile) I’d like to point out that while our nations may be brothers, we citizens are cousins.

    With that in mind, we wonder why we’re screaming, “HELP! OUR FATHER IS ABUSING US!” while our uncles, cousins, and grandparents are not only listening, but also watching and doing nothing.

    Yes, America is TERRIBLE right now, but every other nation in the world is just as bad for not doing something about it. It’s obvious that whomever stood up at the family dinner and said, “Okay, United States, that’s enough!” would have support both from the international scene as well as the majority of U.S. citizens.

    Bush claims to have ousted Saddam for abusing his people and neglecting their civil rights. Can’t someone fly that same standard and remove Bush from power?

  4. John Callender Says:
    May 5th, 2004 at 1:56 pm

    You think Canada should invade, and remove Bush from power by force?

  5. Adam Says:
    May 5th, 2004 at 2:57 pm

    The Canadians would be welcomed as liberators.

    :-)

  6. John Callender Says:
    May 5th, 2004 at 3:02 pm

    Heh. I’m putting in my order with the florist today!

  7. Things I've Seen Says:
    May 6th, 2004 at 4:00 am

    A Canadian writes
    I thought this letter on lies.com was pretty much on the money for how a lot of the world now sees America: So here’s what we see: a rogue superpower, doing whatever it wants, answerable to no one (foreign or…

  8. a_stupid_box Says:
    May 6th, 2004 at 10:50 am

    I don’t care _WHO_ does it, but I think someone should. Perhaps the U.N. should grow some balls and lead the charge.

  9. Anonymous Canadian Says:
    May 10th, 2004 at 9:57 am

    Hi, I’m the author of those e-mails.

    Just so you know, most of the rest of the world *has* told you guys off, many times, on everything from your sham election to your bizarre war. Do some googling of non-US media and you will find that the BBC and CBC (both public broadcasters, coincidentally) have been particularly vocal.

    Wonder why you haven’t seen coverage of it? I don’t. It’s because you guys lost any claim on having a free press years ago. As a Canadian, I have seen footage up here that you guys can only dream of seeing. Huge anti-war protests around the world. The image of charred Iraqi corpses holding white flags. Sickening pictures of graveyards of civilians killed by your military. Ever wonder why Bush doesn’t want your soldiers subject to the International Criminal Courts? Nobody in Canada does.

    As to the onus being upon the rest of the world to act, we’ve done all we can. A million people can assemble in London. Ineffective. Millions march and protest around the world. Ineffective. The UN publicly laughs at your transparently contrived pretense for an invasion. Ineffective. Face it, you are the superpower. We can do nothing.

    I don’t know the exact moment when the US stopped being free, but it happened. If you want that freedom back you will have to do it yourselves.

    And until you do, the rest of the world will just cower in the corner of the schoolyard, hoping we’re not next on the unstoppable bully’s hit list.

  10. hades_ibex Says:
    May 11th, 2004 at 1:33 am

    My Canadian friend, by your own admission, you have an inclination to be “holier-than-thou”. That trait has surfaced a little in your last message. And you were doing so well too. :)

  11. Anonymous Canadian Says:
    May 12th, 2004 at 9:57 am

    Being your friend right now is a dangerous proposition.

    Wasn’t this thread just lamenting the lack of outside intervention? Saying that it’s the responsibility of the rest of the world to stand up to you? But when I respond to that, saying that we have, I’m “holier than thou”?

    I’m not sure there is a full appreciation in the US of just how much world opinion has turned against you in the last week. And I’m not talking about in the middle east.

  12. Roger and Eric Says:
    November 10th, 2004 at 9:23 pm

    I am Eric. You are sick. I will destroy you with all of my might! So, John, know that I am sorry for your mental illness. However, know that I am stronger than you. Your filth must be cleansed! Oh, by the way, you sick bastards lost the election have you noticed? Slime in your own juices! Lo siento estupido.

  13. Patriot Says:
    January 11th, 2005 at 5:24 am

    Some points for you all to consider:
    1. Canada wasn’t hit on 9-11.
    2. “International law” is a myth, it doesn’t exist. It is whatever Western countries with signifigant populations of America-haters say it is. It is not binding, the UN is an irrelevent, obstelete organization that is corrupt to the core.
    3. Thus, neither Bush or Saddam or Osama can “violate international law” they can only use military power, something most French-speaking countries seem incapible of, hence the United State’s need to do it for them.

  14. Patriot Says:
    January 11th, 2005 at 11:41 am

    On your little brother analogy, I look at it this way:

    America is the older brother who grew up and decided to become a Marine. Canada is the little brother who hasn’t grown up but has decided to become a homosexual.

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