Why are people so unbelievabeley (mainly americans) so ignorant about there neighbor to the north, Canada?

Question

In my experience when I come across americans who live in the U.S. they know nothing about canada. Not all americans, but most. Do you have cellphones, marijuanas legal there right? black and white tv eh? are you democratic? cold up there eh? and its like august. do not take this offensive beacause this is not all people living in the u.s but most. also apparently americans i have come across seem to think that everyone wants to come to the u.s including canadians? Why is this? They make movies like the whole 9 yards filmed in montreal that show montreal as technologically advanced city and the opinion still remains. I don't understand. Do you?

Answer 1

Well Tucker Carlson compared Canada to the retarded cousin you have , that you just pat on the head but don't bother with.And we know where his career is going.

It's an age old question we as Can
have had about Americans since the War of 1812, where we, as the British, did defeat the Americans and they haven't really bothered with or probably forgiven us since. LOL

Many Americans are incredibly insular because they don't study any history or georgrapy except their own. They don't own passports generally and rarely travel , unless they're on the border states, outside of the US.

They don't pay attention to international news, rarely read anything but American media so what can you expect? Although it's irritating as hell, they know nothing about their biggest trading partner, they don't know about anywhere else either.

In some parts of Canada this is beginning to emulated as well, and that's not good.

To be a true world superpower, one needs to know about the world other than just your own nation and that's possibly why Americans are in as much trouble as they are with the rest of the world.

Answer 2

I know a number of people from Canada, so I at least have some knowledge of the country.

Unfortunately in America, the prevalent opinion of Americans is that America is the ONLY country that matters, or sometimes it seems like it's believed to be the only country that really exists. Learning about other countries/cultures/beliefs is something fading far into the past because it requires empathy and effort. America is thought to be THE BEST, with everything good coming only from America. It's so easy to forget how much other countries contribute to the world, especially ones that don't have the same massive firepower that makes America think that it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Ignorance and idiocy run rampant through the streets, especially as the propaganda machines turn out the "love it or leave it" policy (which makes me want to vomit... part of the rights of being an American is that you don't HAVE to love America...) as well as the "if you're not with us, you hate freedom" policy.

Basically, it's becoming an egocentric country who is selectively plugging its fingers into its ears and humming REAL LOUD when anything happens that proves they aren't the only other thing that matters. This includes Canada. I'd like to say I'm sorry you have to put up with it.

Answer 3

No your North American no longer American. u . s . does not incorporate Canada. eg Continent: North u . s . a ./ North American united states of america/ Nationality: Canada/ Canadian Continent: North u . s . a ./ North American united states of america/ Nationality: u . s ./ American Continent: North u . s . a ./ North American united states of america/ Nationality: Mexico/ Mexicans North u . s . a . & South u . s . a . together make the Americas aka 'New international' nevertheless its no longer one continent leaving the 'American' label for united states of america electorate in elementary terms interior the full Americas.

Answer 4

Why r canadians (not all but most) so ignorant of Americans? I have met some nice Canadians but I have met some ignorant ones as well so it doesn't matter where u go or who u talk to someone can always pick out the BAD with every country and culture

Answer 5

so what are you gonna do eh!!! its alright really we don't pay much attention to all that anyhow,we are not all that different anyhow our climate is not that different i think a large part of the problem is Canada itself you guys are alot more proud and i think for the most part we would command more respect if we wagged our flags alot more unfortunately most Canadians think they are proud to be Canadian and then turn around and watch scrubs or greys anatomy or c.si instead of the fabulous Canadian programming which offers similar shows(i admit to doing this myself)bottom line we could make our mark if we weren't always trying to live up to American standards and maybe if in school we learned more Canadian history instead of American our children wouldn't be so quick to cross the border...even our biggest stars who i admit always say they are proud to be Canadian choose to reside in the states because that's where the money is...you can defend us all you like i appreciate it but we made our beds we gotta lie in them...besides we still got it good here free health care
real freedom of speech we are far less censored than you guys
are and maple syrup we are doing OK besides its not all Americans that think that way just a couple people we can take em we have developed a thick skin living in you guys shadow

Answer 6

Thomas Jefferson said that the US should be like a house on a hill that everyone wishes to live in. That attitude has coloured the American attitude towards the rest of the world for centuries. Too bad isn't it that the house Jefferson spoke of wasn't built with windows. Don't be personally offended, my fellow Canadian, Americans are just as uninformed about the rest of the world. A recent survey of school kids in Texas showed that most of them didn't even know the name of the country that borders on Texas, (Mexico, can you believe it?).
It's just the way they are.

Answer 7

You say that it is most people that lives in the US that thinks like this right? Well, have you met most people? I don't believe so considering their are millions of us. I'm sick of everybody saying that we are ignorant to the rest of the world when its just not true. All of the people I know and are around know alot about the rest of the world, but some may act like a smartass and ask questions like you are saying just to piss somebody off....but they do that because there is such a big stereotype out there.

Oh, and I don't know anybody that thinks that everyone wants to come here...I think some think that people from Mexico wants to come here but can you blame us for thinking that? There are a ton of illegal immigrants here so get what you want from that.

Answer 8

"America is the best country in the world!" Not necessarily somethoing I agree or disagree with, but that's what many Americans are breainwashed into believing every day, by the media, teachers, etc. Because America's relationship with Canada is peaceful, the relationship is never shown in the media. Therefore, many people are stuck with a stereotypical version of what Canada must be like- "that's your pet beaver, eh?" It's just stereotyping; it will probably, sadly, never end.

Answer 9

Hey, it's too cold to come up there and investigate for ourselves! Now go grab yerself another beer and moose burger and get back to your ice fishing, eh?

Actually, Vancouver and Toronto great cities... Someone needs to CHILL OUT!! (isn't that ironic)

Answer 10

lol I totally agree with you! Have you ever seen Rick Mercer's Talking to Americans? hahahaha

Talking To Americans was a regular feature presented by Rick Mercer on the Canadian political satire show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. It was later spun off into a one-hour special that aired on April 1, 2001 on CBC Television.

It consisted of interviewing Americans on the street and convincing them to agree with ridiculous statements about their northern neighbour. The intent was to satirize perceived American ignorance of Canada. Examples included:

-persuading Americans to congratulate Canada on legalizing VCRs or adopting the twenty-four-hour day,
-various political controversies involving one or more Canadian states,
congratulating the Canadian government on building a dome over its "national igloo" (apparently a downsized version of the United States Capitol made out of ice) to protect it from global warming (one of the interview subjects so fooled was Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee),
-agreeing that the U.S. should bomb Saskatchewan or send ground troops into Gilles Duceppe,
-proposing the idea that a Canadian company actually had the mining rights to Mount Rushmore,
-congratulating Canada for officially joining North America,
-controversy around the reconstruction of the historic "Peter Mann's Bridge", named after "Prime Minister Peter Mann" (actually a pun on the name of Canadian journalist Peter Mansbridge),
-asking if Jean Chrétien-Pinochet should be charged with crimes against humanity,
-asking Harvard students and professors to sign a petition asking Canadians to discontinue the practice of abandoning the elderly on ice floes,
-congratulating Prime Minister Tim Horton on getting a double-double (a coffee with two creams and two sugars or, according to Mercer, 'support on both sides of Congress'),
-the coronation of Svend Robinson as King Svend I,
-wishing Canadians a "Happy Stockwell Day",
-congratulating Canadians on classifying Labrador Retrievers as elephants, to prevent them from being used for hard labour,
-tricking Americans that Canada did not have "high tech" things like airplanes, paved roads or FM radio.

check it out here:
http://home.comcast.net/~wwwstephen/americans/