Dear Paul,
On Tue, 17 Feb 1998, Paul Hunt wrote:
=%OIt was probably for the same reason that the French used to 'forget' to take
the
=%Omusic for the British National Anthem to the Grands Prix.
Oh, I think the French "forgot" for an entirely different reason. Those Marines
made a mistake- they would only do what they were ordered to do at any
rate. Besides, there is no history of animosity between Canada and the US
Unliike France and Britain (rivals to the death for most of recorded
history) The US and Canada have never, as independent nations, gone to
war with eachother and (although the feelings are probably not
reciprocated North of the border) the average American, if they think of
Canada at all, has a benign or positive view of the Great White North. The
most serious conflicts between the US and Canada are largely regional-
Northwestern and Eastern Fisheries disputes, etc. or sporting (hockey-
looks like we split with our teams in the Olympics). Of course the
NorthWest Passage dispute is ongoing, but I cannot see it as leading to
any serious rift between the two countries. If the Canadians were to fly
Old Glory upside down, people here would be P'O'ed and there'd be some
nasty letters to the papers in both countries, but that'd be the end of
it- also, remember that a given Canadian is more likely to have seen the
US flag flown than the average American is to have seen the Maple Leaf
flown.
Just looking at the sporting events, you can see a big difference between
Canada/US matches and US/Mexico. During the recent gold cup soccer match
between the US and Mexico for the cup, our guests from the South of the
border exhibited appalling bad manners after the game. You would never see
that against the US in Canada or against Canada here in the US (except
perhaps New York City- and that would not be because they were Canadian,
but just because they were there).
=%O
=%OPaulH
=%O
=%O
"Never ascribe to Malice that which can be explained by Ignorance"
John J. Peloquin
Molecular Biology &
Biochemistry
3205 BioSciences II
UC IRVINE
Irvine, CA 92697-3900
jpeloqui@uci.edu
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