Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Epistle to Dumb Yanks - Part VII - Smart Yanks - Epilogue

This is the seventh, and last, entry in a series. I recommend reading the entire series from the beginning. To read the entire series click:

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI.
===============================
This series has taken me a long time to create and I doubt whether any of the dumb yanks will ever read it, so I'll just have to challenge them the next time I encounter their favourite meme, the one that set me off, namely that Canada's population hugs the American border, as if that's due to their magnetic attraction, or something. I have endeavored to show the history of Canada's population distribution, demonstrating that proximity to the US border, per se, is not now and never has been a factor.

But there is one more thing I want to discuss and I have intended, right from the beginning, to end the series with a message to the rest of you, the Smart Yanks. So here goes:

I am in great awe at the United States of America. Obviously, there are many more "Smart Yanks" than "Dumb Yanks", and the proof of that is in the multitude of great accomplishments, inventions, "firsts" of various kinds, and so on that you can claim as your own. (You can keep Hollywood.) You do great things in the world and your devotion to liberty is an inspiration to many, the world over, but you can be a bit arrogant at times, which I suppose is earned.

What separates the "Smart Yanks" from the "Dumb" ones is not your knowledge of Canada. I don't expect you to know all about Canada, although it would be nice if you did know more. No. What separates the "Smart Yanks" from the "Dumb" ones is their adherence to the wise maxim attributed to Mark Twain: "It is better to have people think you a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Dumb Yanks open their mouths (or peck away at their keyboards) and say really stupid things, leaving no doubt.

Most of the "Dumb Yanks" I've noticed making stupid, poorly informed comments about Canada are in the comments of right-leaning blogs, which is really a disappointment. If it were otherwise, I wouldn't care. They also tend to hang on to old resentments, such as Canada being a haven for so-called draft dodgers from the Vietnam war era. That was 35 to 40 years ago, folks. We've moved on. You should, too.

I don't read left-leaning blogs from either side of the border, but I do know that there are many Yanks with a left-leaning perspective who grossly over-romanticize Canada. No thanks. I guess, through your rosy-coloured glasses, you failed to notice that we sent more recent deserters - er- "war resistors" (puke) packing.

I prefer to live in the real world, and in the real world I am a loyal Canadian who loves her country, warts and all, and who knows something about Canadian history. So....defer to me, dammit.

You yanks do know that you got the warmer part of the continent, don't you?  I think that has a lot to do with our differences.  And with that in mind, let me end this rant with another map. This one shows the population distribution across the entire country. You'll notice the further north one goes the sparser the population. That's because a) it gets colder the farther north you go, and b) exceedingly large portions of the north are nothing but bedrock.  Google the Precambrian or Canadian Shield. It's solid rock and covers half of the damned country, in addition to being mostly very cold.  Other than forest, nothing grows there, so humans are not too abundant. You might want to compare that map with the one I linked to in the very first entry of this series.  It's the green part.

PS. I've also learned a few things myself in putting together this series.  One of the funniest was about "Fort Blunder". I'm still giggling.

Labels: , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home