We Really Are a Brainwashed Bunch

Probably one of the most negative aspects of liberalism in this country, and it’s actually hypocrisy on the part of many liberals, is the belief that Canada is somehow a significant player and leader in the world. There is an aura of smug, self-importance that emanates from these people, especially when they are talking about Americans.

How is it hypocritical? Well, since much of it is rooted in their hatred for the arrogance and self-importance on the part of the Americans, it’s interesting that they basically exist in the same sort of construct which they detest so much; “I’m Canadian, therefore I’m superior” is no more respectable than “I’m American, therefore I’m superior.” These are people, who have failed to heed the advice of the old proverb, that, hatred will make you like your enemy.

But it gets worse, much worse. We as Canadians are not only convinced we are superior to Americans, but we have convinced ourselves of a myriad of other fatuous things. For example: you can bet that most Canadians aged 18 to 30, and I say this with confidence, would tell you that Canada’s the world’s biggest contributor to peacekeeping. But unfortunately, this is a truth, as with many other Canadian truths, which once was, but no longer is.

We are a country, which found ourselves scouring, introspecting, and looking for meaning. In our search for our “identity” we allowed ourselves to be lulled into a myth; a myth, where Canada stands atop the world in morality, where everything that makes us different from the United States is what makes us better, and where we believe that we are making a difference, even when we’re not.

This most recent tragedy in Asia is perhaps one of the most telling signs of our blindfolded belief that we are making a difference. On talk radio shows, Canadians calling in, assuming that somehow, Canada was at the forefront and the Americans weren’t doing anything. How smug. How unbelievable, that somebody would just assume such a horrible thing.

While Bill Graham and company were getting the accountants to work to figure out how to disperse $4 million in aid, the Americans were already on-scene, with military equipment, providing damage assessment and search and rescue.

While the accountants in Ottawa are still working through the bureaucracy, the US had already dispersed $500,000 in immediate assistance, with an additional $14 million on the way. Yet, Canadians have become so smug and self-important, that some of us have the gall to just assume, that because we are Canada, we are doing more.

For a nation that is supposedly the world’s biggest peace broker, it’s interesting that we have less peacekeepers actively deployed than any other nation in the G8. In fact, the number is below 2,000 (I think it’s around 1,200).

We are a smug, self-important nation, which has convinced ourselves of our moral superiority, when really we should be ashamed.

George W. Bush has pledged about as much in money in African AIDS relief, for medicine and other programs, as we spend on our entire peacekeeping corps. Yet, we view ourselves as god’s gift to the world.

This year, the United States will disperse about $47 billion in foreign aid, while Canada will disperse about $3 billion. But the US is larger than Canada right? Well, there are ten times as many Americans, and let’s first convert $3 billion Canadian to US dollars for a fair comparison (at 80 cents on the dollar): that’s $2.4 billion. And multiplied by ten, our total contribution is nearly half--$24 billion—per capita, than the Americans donate in direct foreign assistance. How’s that for your moral high ground?

Its things like this that really make me hate dislike liberals in this country. They don’t actually execute on the things they supposedly stand for, they only believe they do.