Alberta is a province of a country called Canada. I point that out for anyone who is over the top America-centric and is unaware of the country that is on the other side of America's northern border.
The reason I think the Canadian emailer is from Calgrary is he has an unique name, Brandon Uptigrove. In Facebook I stuck Brandon Uptigrove into the search window and two Brandon Uptigrove entries came up, one in Canada, one in Oklahoma.
It was via Brandon Uptigrove's email that I gleaned he was a Canadian. Below is what Brandon Uptigrove said in his email...
You can mock and jeer the over-patriotic Americans, but they're usually the first ones to jump in front of a bullet if it means preserving your freedom. I wish we had more men like that in Canada.
I have no idea what on my Eyes on Texas website caused Brandon Uptigrove to opine the above. Maybe it was my America's Team webpage which sort of mocks how the Dallas Cowboys seem to cling to the ancient myth that they are America's Team.
As for Brandon Uptigrove wishing Canada had more bullet loving men, well, I know America loves its wars, to the point that we hardly ever are without at least one, however, I believe that Canada was fighting in both World War I and World War II long before America joined those wars to bring them to a winning conclusion for the good guys.
I remember watching the show in one of the Canadian pavilions at Vancouver's Expo 86, a show that was devoted to Canadian history. A few of the names were vaguely familiar to me.
Suffice to say, Canada does not quite have a historic legacy that is on a par with America's. There is no Canadian version of Uncle Sam. No Canadian leader who resonates through time like Abraham Lincoln.
Canada has no Statue of Liberty, which seems odd, since it was the French who gave America the Statue of Liberty. It would seem only fair, since Canada has much stronger ties to France than America does, that the French would have given Quebec a Statue of Liberty.
The closest Canada has ever come to a Civil War was when Quebec was in heavy duty pout mode, thinking the French Canadians were being slighted. I think that Civil War was averted by agreeing to add French to every public Canadian pronouncement, which can be really annoying when you are at any Canadian event and have to hear everything twice, once in English, once in French.
Canada has had no equivalent of Elvis Presley. And then when a sort of Elvis type Canadian phenomenon happens, in the form of little Justin Bieber, Bieber moves to America, to Los Angeles, and by the time he is a world wide celebrity most of the world thinks he is American. I know I did til I learned otherwise.
And now the Canadians boo Justin when he returns to Canada acting way too American by dressing way too casually when meeting whoever it is who is Canada's current Prime Minister or Premier or whatever it is they call their president. I used to remember these type things and know who is the current leader of Canada and Mexico and all sorts of other countries.
Currently I think I can only name the leader of America, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Germany, Egypt, Israel, Syria and North Korea.
I am woefully ignorant.
1 comment:
When Texas secedes from the US, does that mean the Cowboys will move out of Texas to America? Perhaps we should send Jerry ahead to scout out possible future venues.
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