I opened up a bit of a political discourse a few months ago when none of the Canadian students in my American Lit. class would raise their hands for me.  A lot of my American {and some Canadian} readers were surprised that the overall opinion of Canadian college students was a bit…hostile…toward the United States.  I received a lot of baffled comments on that post, like…

…To think that no one will raise their hand for us bothers me….

…Why such hatred for America? I don’t really get into politics, it sorta confuses me. Do Americans have a hatred for Canada?…

…Wow, I being a dual Canadian/US citizen find that a little offensive that only one person in an American Lit class would have positive feelings towards the US…

…Why the hate…

…So much for our “friends” to the north…

…I don’t know why people hate us so much…it seems like we are the good guys…

…We’ve always heard that our country is the “greatest on earth.” Maybe it really isn’t…

After publishing the post, and reading the subsequent comments, I wanted to explain the issue more clearly.  People seemed confused about the negative opinion toward America, and I thought some clarification was in order.  However, I realised it would be difficult to do without offending either country’s citizens, and basically put it on hold until further notice.

Well, further notice is here:  Thanks to the Fox television show, Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld, I don’t have to worry about explaining it anymore.  Mr. Gutfeld covered it for me, when he attempted to satirize Canada’s military in a recent episode of his 3 a.m. “news” show:

It’s an atrocious attempt at hilarity, and a failed attempt at that.  Why?  Because it makes fun of military and makes light of the soldiers’ daily sacrifices.  This is such an ignorant attempt to garner laughs—I felt sick the first time I watched it, and every time since.

Why do Canadians feel hostility toward the United States? I should think it’s becoming obvious.

I frequent a Canadian blog called SmartCanucks.ca, and when this segment was published on the blog, I knew it was going to cause a stir.  In case you don’t have time to read the post and its comments, here are just a few of the reactions:

…Americans are so brainwashed and stupid it is not funny…

…Is it any wonder the world really doesn’t like Americans…

…Americans like this are the reason people all over the world think they are loud, obnoxious boors…

…It is no wonder the rest of the world is now cringing and reaching for the nausea pills when the US crows about how great it is…

Now, I’m not a sentimental girl by any stretch of the imagination, but in reading these comments, I literally cried—as in, tears were shed.  Tears were shed on behalf of so many Americans who are good, educated souls, but nevertheless are stigmatized as arrogant and rude.  Tears were shed for the soldiers who were made a mockery—is there any shame in admitting that times have been hard on a country; that they simply don’t have the resources to continue down the war path?  I cried for the fact that I am living in the midst of this turmoil; I am proud of my country, but not necessarily proud of certain fellow Americans.  I cried for the fact that I cannot change any of it—not the ignorance of a small percentage of Americans, nor the hurt they cause the rest of the world.

Evidently, such a fuss was raised about the segment that Mr. Gutfeld issued a public apology, saying it was “in no way an attempt to make light of troop efforts.”  I don’t know what else it could have been, Mr. Gutfeld, except perhaps a public display of ignorance and idiocy, and a poor reflection of American sympathies.

Canadians can take a joke—don’t think they’re a bunch of stuffed-shirts.  {Have you seen Strange Brew?}  Just for the record, here’s a better—no, brilliant—way to make fun of Canada {the fact that Jeremy Hotz is Canadian certainly helps}:

If you’re in a hurry, just watch the last minute of this and the first minute of the next one…

But if you can spare 20 minutes, I highly recommend the entire show.

He’s joking about the Canadian army’s relative neutrality on the national scene, which is not necessarily a bad position to take.  Greg Gutfeld, on the other hand, mocks the country’s lack of resources to maintain their military strategy, which is a low blow.

Anyway, all I’m saying it that it’s been done before, and to a much cleverer degree.  If Mr. Gutfeld was really struggling to think of something funny (as he surely is [if he even has a job anymore]), he could try any of these 10 jokes about Canada—they’re all better than the senseless garbage he’s come up with thus far.

And, just for the record, I’m pretty sure the blonde in the first movie is chomping gum, like a cow chewing cud, on national television.

Paltry ratings and 3 a.m. air time are no excuses…that’s just tacky.

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