Wow.
I did a (to be honest) rather ordinary post on the US health care debacle and got some really heated comments -- the title of the piece is the very first such comment (I did notice the non-standard use of apostrophes).
Why on earth did people react so strongly?
I totally disagree with the comments that attack Canada and Canadians but I don't consider them racist (Canadians include just about every race) so I won't pull them.
But what is this loathing of Canada's health care system?
It must be pure ideology.
Our system isn't perfect and some reasonable people think adding a private component to the system would help (as in the UK). It may also be that Canada's system is too costly and as the population ages is unsustainable. But all that said, the system works pretty well and isn't really a basis for the vitriol in the comments.
The US system is wonderful if you have the right insurance or are wealthy. But it does cost much more than the Canadian system and doesn't seem to deliver materially better results overall. (Of course much of the cost comes from useless tort costs -- Canadian tort awards are lower and much more difficult to obtain which saves). And if you're poor or unemployed your medical care depends on charity.
So why the anger? Perhaps because the Canadian system is a socialism that works? Or perhaps, if not socialism, a welfare state that succeeds?
James Morton
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17 comments:
I saw that comment and was shocked. The hatred for us is unbelievable.
I think it's because some Americans consider themselves above the rest of the world. I've given thought in recent years that they claim to be the only land of true freedom. That's completely a lie. They seem to interpret "freedom" as free to use and abuse their citizens as long as the rich can get rich and the poor ...well whatever happens to the poor is simply weeding out the undesirables. This seriously seems to be the basis of their beliefs and values in the USA. When I hear any of them say "freedom" I now think "cold hearted, selfish, power and control hungry at any cost of human life". And they've founded and built a country on that. So to have their President suggest there may be a flaw in that belief system must be scaring the hell out of them. It's completely opposite to their reason for being.
Since we, Canadians, look out for each other and have systems in place to support everyone, they consider that a threat to their core beliefs. That's the only thing I can figure.
Plus there's the jealousy thing. I mean, we kept allegiance to the Queen. They didn't. And they continue to pay for their brash independence and cry of freedom at their own expense - banking failures, stunning lawsuits for everything under the sun, costly healthcare, poorly trained military (our military is better skilled and on the ground, often covers their butts apparently, now and throughout history). But give them their freedom and don't anyone dare expect them to look out for their neighbour in the poor area of town.
Seriously, this is the only thing I've been able to figure out trying to understand all the hate. And we're unfortunately right above them. So they can ignore the UK and France health systems etc. We're the people who tick them off the most because they can't ignore us or get away from us. We're interdependent enough that they can't pretend we don't exist. And it bugs them that we don't clamor to join them.
We made mistakes building our country too. But we didn't purposely ignore the well-being and common sense protections to create a just society. I imagine that ticks them off quite a bit.
Never underestimate Peace, Order and Good Government.
S
Thanks, I appreciate that. ;-)
American's, like myself, who are also Canadian by the way, are sick and tired of Canadians dictating how the USA should run things.
Canadians enjoy American culture, not the other way around.
The ignorance from Canadians and the Liberals make Americans like myself pissed off.
Canadians have simple minds.
Anything Canadian = GREAT,
while anything American = BAD.
This thinking is ignorant, simple, and outright bullshit.
Canadians have no rights.
None.
1. No right to protect your family. No right to bear arms. This is a simple right that saves people's lives. Not in Canada though. Marxist thinking. Not American.
2. You people cannot choose your Head of State. What kind of a country cannot even choose the Head of State? This leaves Canada with a P.M with zero accountability and allows him to force his M.P's to vote HIS WAY. Not very democratic is it? Barack Obama would have already passed his ill-fated reform if he was a P.M in Canada. No debate, no discussions, just whatever he would have wanted to force down people's throats. Not in America.
3. You Canadian's have no choice in judges, Crown Attorney's, Police Chief's, and Senator's to name a few. Without elections, there is no accountability to the people, only to the government who appointed them. Because of this, we see corrupt judges giving obscene sentences for the most grave crimes. An example for that would be last week when a corrupt(what else explains it)judge gave the fraud artist who stole 158 million 2 years? Never in the USA because the judge would be fired.
4. The Canadian military, although well trained, is so small that it cannot even protect Canada. Canada relies on American security. American's would never allow another country to protect her. This should be very embarrassing to Canadian's and to their pride. Very sad indeed.
5. American's see what the Human Right's Commission's are doing to non-Liberal thinkers.
American's do not want this. We believe in ultimate free speech. We would never allow government appointed individuals to dictate our freedoms.
6. American's understand that Liberals and other leftists have embraced radical Islam and Omar Khadr to be specific. When American's see Jack Layton and Liberal M.P's at rallies for Hizbolloh and Hamas, they wonder what the hell is going on. Why would M.P's from Canada be at a "terrorist" rally. You would never see an American politician at a terrorist rally.The left wing in Canada is anti-American to the core. It is part of their belief system that Canada is the best and America is the worst. America causes all the problems while Canada is a "light unto nation's". Gimme a break.
I could on and on and on all day long, but it's about time i let you know that the majority of American's think Canada is what it is.
An American reject.
7.
If the American (claiming to also be Canadian) posting is to be taken seriously, they would have to prove their Canadian citizenship. Because based on their entire comment, they have no idea about Canada,our systems, or how things work.
This anonymous yankee is hilarious. K whatever bud, you enjoy your "freedom" to give billions in profits to the health insurance industry, and we'll enjoy the extra 2 years we'll live,. Deal? What an idiot, lol
BTW in what way are Canadians imposing anything on America? You dragged us into your fight, not the other way around. Seems to me like your just another fox-news led sucker arguing against your best interests. Best of luck with that.
Americans are a very stupid, angry and arrogant people. The country is a moral and ethical wasteland.
In the words of Rufus Wainwright
"I'm so tired of you, America"
It's time we stop being nice these people. It gets us nowhere.
Canadians dictating to Americans who they should be, man that would only take an idiot on the other side of the border to be blind to the power relationship between these two countries.
They can keep their health care, I'm quite happy to have our system and work on improving where the problems lay.
The vitriolic letters are a symptom of a deeper problem. They represent what might be thought of as a new style of political debate, a sort of 'attack dog' style, that is relentlessly negative, and is not an attempt to argue, but rather, to dispirit and hurt the opposition.
It is widespread on the blogosphere, but can also be found in talk radio (the U.S. version more so than the Canadian, political news on U.S. television (especially Fox), and in the letters pages. We see elements of it here in New Brunswick as Conservative party supporters unleash hate-filled partisan attacks in the letters column, the online forums, and even sometimes newspaper opinion columns.
The purpose, as I said, isn't to debate; it's to bash. The idea is that people come to learn that any expression of certain types of views will be to invite this relentless personal attack, which over the long term will cause people to be more cautious about what they say, leaving the field open for people to recite the day's talking points for the right wing parties.
I'm a Canadian you little boy's.
I know the entire Canadian system.
Everything I said was the truth.
There were 5 comments after mine and not one could refute anything I said.
The truth hurts, and it hurts Canadian's to the core.
Enjoy.
"Americans are a very stupid, angry and arrogant people. The country is a moral and ethical wasteland.
In the words of Rufus Wainwright
"I'm so tired of you, America"
It's time we stop being nice these people. It gets us nowhere."
Haha Hehe.
Moral and ethical wasteland?
Is that why all you little loons flock to the USA for vacations every single year.
Actually, about 3 million Canadians visit my birth state of Florida every single God damn year.
Not to mention the other 49 states.
Why is that?
Explain.
I'm a Canadian you little boy's.
I won't argue with you, because I remember the old adage: Never argue with an idiot, they'll drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
@Downes has it right on. Especially in the last paragraph. It's an attempt to frame or prejudice issues to derail any information that doesn't support the desired conclusion. That stuff doesn't inform, it persuades. Every time I get a load of one-sided information that supports only one conclusion, I smell a rat. And the American media is loaded with that sort.
I've always liked Canada and Canadians, and try to remember to sing the Canadian National Anthem, "I'm a LumberJack" on the Queen's birthday.
If, before deciding what rights and liberties a little Candaian girl has, you have to ask who her parents and community are, it looks like racism to me, even if you call it multiculturalism.
If you prosecute and threaten the liberty of people for what they say, rather than what they do to others, it seems like political oppression to me, even if you call it hate speech.
Perhaps this isn't creeping tyranny, but on the other hand you can't call it the inheritance of Runnymeade.
I like to point out that the US National anthem, rather than boasting about our prowess, is a song about a battle we lost in a war we lost, and reminds us that liberty and freedom are not gifts from a government, but something that individuals have to create and hold on to on their own.
-another Dumb Okie
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