To Kill an American or a Canadian ??

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AliEnvy

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Got this in an email today...we shouldn't really need it, but it's a good reminder.

To Kill an American or a Canadian ??

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American or Canadian, any American or Canadian.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American or Canadian is, so they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!! )

An American or Canadian is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American or Canadian may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans or Canadians.

An American or Canadian is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America or Canada than in Afghanistan . The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American or Canadian is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American or Canadian lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence (or in Canada, the Bill of Rights), which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

An American or Canadian is generous. Americans or Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans and Canadians came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. Americans and Canadians welcome the best of everything, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least. The national symbol of America, the Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in n fact are the people who built America.

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American or Canadian if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself.

Because Americans and Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom.
 
Ellay said:
Fair enough,

Thought Stalin was on the allies side during WW2 though.

Toward the end...not the beginning:wink:


he switched sides... :shh:
 
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While we're being technical, Canada doesn't have a Bill of Rights...we have a Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. :yes:
 
AliEnvy said:
While we're being technical, Canada doesn't have a Bill of Rights...we have a Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. :yes:

We most certainly do have a Bill of Rights.
 
"Because Americans and Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom."

:up:
 
Interesting article, but this is a chain letter. Notice that email is referenced, but no link is provided to an official news source.
 
ntalwar said:
Interesting article, but this is a chain letter. Notice that email is referenced, but no link is provided to an official news source.

Good eye! I think you're onto something. On second look, it does read like a catch-all kind of chain letter.

And this seems to confirm it: http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/aussiedentist.html

"...This essay was not written by "an Australian dentist," but by an associate law professor at Virginia's George Mason University. Titled "What is an American: A Primer," it was published in the National Review on September 25, 2001. The e-mail version differs from the original not only in attribution, but also contains several edits and editorial comments and omits the author's closing paragraphs."

It's still a great message, however...even if it's immersed in myth.

O Canada!

Umm...O WORLD AND ALL ITS PEOPLE!
 
AliEnvy said:


Which is why I posted it...I thought it was fairly obvious that it was a chain mail. :shrug:

The point is that the first two paragraphs are BS. Apparently there was no connection to Pakistan or an Australian dentist.
 
blueeyedgirl said:
No Australian dentist would write such malarkey! :D

Damn right.

The last line especially is a sack of untrue nationalistic crap. Americans are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom? I literally laughed out loud. Last I checked, other countries are considered to be more free, and as a New Zealander, I certainly don't get the impression that Americans are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom after the whole ANZUS fiasco. The American government, the elected representatives of the American people, sought to ignore New Zealand's sovereign freedoms and tell us what can and can't enter our territorial waters, and when we pointed out that's a breach of our human freedoms, the US acted in a completely juvenile manner and suspended its ANZUS treaty obligations to New Zealand!

I will not truly think well of the US (or at least the representatives it elects) until New Zealand receives a formal apology from the government of the United States for trying to infringe upon our sovereignty. Embodiment of human freedoms? That may wash with some people, but it won't wash with me.

/rant
 
Not too long ago I posted a query about the virtue of patriotism. This post and the replies speak to the issues I was raising in that post. Implicit in the "What is an American concept" is the idea that some countries (to be precise--two) are in a sense "owed " patriotism by the entire world.
 
Axver said:


Damn right.

The last line especially is a sack of untrue nationalistic crap. Americans are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom? I literally laughed out loud. Last I checked, other countries are considered to be more free, and as a New Zealander, I certainly don't get the impression that Americans are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom after the whole ANZUS fiasco. The American government, the elected representatives of the American people, sought to ignore New Zealand's sovereign freedoms and tell us what can and can't enter our territorial waters, and when we pointed out that's a breach of our human freedoms, the US acted in a completely juvenile manner and suspended its ANZUS treaty obligations to New Zealand!

I will not truly think well of the US (or at least the representatives it elects) until New Zealand receives a formal apology from the government of the United States for trying to infringe upon our sovereignty. Embodiment of human freedoms? That may wash with some people, but it won't wash with me.

/rant



why do you hate freedom?

:tsk:

and, come on now, the ANZUS treaty has worked out really rather well for you, hasn't it? all that money you don't have to spend to defend your coastline?
 
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Axver said:

The last line especially is a sack of untrue nationalistic crap. Americans are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom?

I wouldn't say it was untrue of the Canadians though. They've always been prepared to help out other nations with the minimum of fuss and never asking for anything in return.

As for America...I think we all have valid reasons to disagree with the idea that they selflessly help out all and sundry without asking for a thing in return but on the other hand, many of us do owe America real gratitude for actions they've done in the past.

I think the thing that annoys many of us though is that America doesn't let us forget that we owe them gratitude either.
 
okay, to be a bit serious, and to be honest, i think the whole point of the essay, and i understand that other nations are rightly going to feel a bit of resentment towards it, is that Americans and Canadians have no myth of origin. placing aside the First Nations/Native Americans (yes, a problematic concept, i know), both are nations of immigrants where the "idea" of what an American or Canadian is becomes attached to intangible qualities as opposed to race, ethnicty, or religion.

i'm never in my life going to be Chinese.

but any Chinese person can become 100% American or Canadian, no questions asked, and no sense of nationalism or "essence" that you get in most of Europe, as in, there's an "essential" Frenchman, or an "essential" German.

identity is far more self-defined and self-created in North America than it is in other parts of the world.

i really think that's all the guy was getting at, though i certainly agree that his phrasing and wording, especially at the end, is far too misty-eyed and too sentimental to be taken too seriously.
 
A powerful message. I think whilst America is mitigated in its freedoms somewhat, (as Asver pointed out) I do believe that relatively speaking, Americans and various other Western countries (especially Australia) are as close to the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom as we'll see. And compared to the people on the other side of the fence, that well and truely is the case.
 
Irvine511 said:

but any Chinese person can become 100% American or Canadian, no questions asked, and no sense of nationalism or "essence" that you get in most of Europe, as in, there's an "essential" Frenchman, or an "essential" German.

identity is far more self-defined and self-created in North America than it is in other parts of the world.

I mostly agree with this, except for the "100% American or Canadian, no questions asked" part. I think the perception of "American or Canadian" as being of European descent exists to some degree, although it's far better than in Europe.

For example, after a recent Winter Olympics, The Seattle Times published "American Beats Kwan" as a headline even though Kwan was born in the US.
 
ntalwar said:


I mostly agree with this, except for the "100% American or Canadian, no questions asked" part. I think the perception of "American or Canadian" as being of European descent exists to some degree, although it's far better than in Europe.

For example, after a recent Winter Olympics, The Seattle Times published "American Beats Kwan" as a headline even though Kwan was born in the US.


while i agree that the default race for an American is white -- though i'm not sure, as African-American culture seems to be wildly popular world-wide -- i don't think i understand the point with the headline. everyone knows that Kwan skates for the US ... i think she was beaten by a fellow teammate, so maybe it was just clumsy wording?

and, absolutely, prejudice and igorance and idiots abound everywhere, but i do think that North America does a good job of letting people create their own identities. perhaps this is true in Australia as well, i can't speak to that. but i do think this does stand apart from Europe -- as wonderful as Europe is -- and this is something Europe is currently grappling with, how to be European without "being" European.
 
Irvine511 said:


prejudice and igorance and idiots abound everywhere, but i do think that North America does a good job of letting people create their own identities.

Absolutely :up:

The chain letter speaks more about idealism than anything...I think we're in short supply of that these days.

Specifically about the US: I've certainly got problems with that country, along with most of the world. But if you dig a little deeper, there's a whole lot of intruing stuff going on there right now. Control of government is pretty much up for grabs with the midterm elections coming up. People are polarised on the issues like never before. But the backbone of the division, democracy, stands to get stronger when everything plays out.
 
Irvine511 said:
i think the whole point of the essa......is that Americans and Canadians have no myth of origin...... both are nations of immigrants where the "idea" of what an American or Canadian is becomes attached to intangible qualities as opposed to race, ethnicty, or religion.

That's how I read it as well.

Originally posted by angelordevil
The chain letter speaks more about idealism than anything...I think we're in short supply of that these days.

:up:
 
Irvine511 said:
okay, to be a bit serious, and to be honest, i think the whole point of the essay, and i understand that other nations are rightly going to feel a bit of resentment towards it, is that Americans and Canadians have no myth of origin. placing aside the First Nations/Native Americans (yes, a problematic concept, i know), both are nations of immigrants where the "idea" of what an American or Canadian is becomes attached to intangible qualities as opposed to race, ethnicty, or religion.

i'm never in my life going to be Chinese.

but any Chinese person can become 100% American or Canadian, no questions asked, and no sense of nationalism or "essence" that you get in most of Europe, as in, there's an "essential" Frenchman, or an "essential" German.

identity is far more self-defined and self-created in North America than it is in other parts of the world.

i really think that's all the guy was getting at, though i certainly agree that his phrasing and wording, especially at the end, is far too misty-eyed and too sentimental to be taken too seriously.

Good points, Irivine.

People in other parts of the world do tend to associate being American with being white (or possibly black). I certainly experience that living where I do. In fact, that the chain letter might have been addressing that very assumption.
 
Irvine511 said:



and, come on now, the ANZUS treaty has worked out really rather well for you, hasn't it? all that money you don't have to spend to defend your coastline?


:yes:

Its sad, really. Talk about mindless, baseless, and pretentious 'nationalistic crap'.
 
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