Americans vs. Canadians

Sorry to be the one to spill the beans, but for as many years as I’ve been living in Canada, Canadians have been bashing Americans. Some don’t & that’s great, but for the most part they do.

I don’t think Americans bash Canadians, I get the feeling that they think we are like little pets. “Oh they are sooo cute.” LOL

I agree with some of their points of view, but others I don’t:

1. Americans aren’t very cultured.

   Compared to Canadians, Americans have only one culture, THEIR OWN.

   Now of course this all depends on where you live in both countries, but having lived in the Toronto area since 1984, the amount of culture that is there I’m sure outweighs what is in the States.

   If you ask the majority of Canadians if they have left their city or Province they will say “yes”. If you ask the same question of Americans, the majority of them I’m sure will say “no”, because I’ve heard it many times before.

   The only ones who travel seem to be people in the military, sales people, some entrepreneurs & politicians.

   I don’t think this has anything to do with having money either because Canadians are not richer then Americans, but they seem to explore more.

2. Who is smarter?

   Well of course Canadians think they are. Hands down I’ve never heard an American boast about being smarter then Canadians & while the school sytem in Canada used to be better, I think I heard a few years ago it was basically the same as in the States now. I mean come on, kids barely know how to do math anymore because they are allowed to take a calculator in the classroom with them.

   One of the reasons why Canadians are smarter is because the Canadian school system teaches Canadian students MORE then just about their own country. In the States, the only thing that is taught is history about the US.

   I have found that the average American doesn’t even know where Canada is, STILL till this day. Some don’t even realize we are in the same bloody continent & if that isn’t stupid I don’t know what to tell you.

   If they live in a border State, yes they do & they travel to Canada almost all the time, but for people who live more in the Southern States (well we know what they say about those), they don’t even know that Canada doesn’t have States, they have PROVINCES. Then again I think all Americans think we have States, oh, & they think we have zip codes instead of POSTAL CODES.

   Even American businesses don’t know this fact & I find that rather insulting, but frankly I think the majority of the blame is with the American school system.

   Long distance – let’s talk about this for a minute.

   I socialize online & so I come into contact with a ton of Americans.

   When I talk to some of them, they think calling me is going to cost them a fortune. I had one guy compare calling Canada to calling Russia LOL

   I have addressed this in one of my other posts, as it wasn’t all his fault for thinking this.

   So in that respect, I do think Canadians are smarter, BUT, after being a netrepreneur now since 2002, I have to say that I don’t find either party any smarter then the other.

   Could be because I no longer hire Canadians, I find them to be too difficult to work with, but I have hired Canadians in the past.

   I may post about that as well.

3. One thing I get perturbed by are American companies who REFUSE to sell to Canadians.

   LOL, I mean can you imagine? You would think they would want to make money, but in the last 3 years I’ve come across a ton of US companies that are actually scared or confused about to what to do with me when I want to buy a product from their company.

   This goes back to not being very smart & learning about how much it costs to send things into Canada including duty & GST issues. I think I addressed some of this in my other post on the differences between the American Postal Service & Canada Post. The US Postal Service won hands down.

   Another thing along these same lines, is the fact that a lot of American companies don’t allow their toll free number to reach Canada.

   So, you want my business, but you oust me from being able to call you. Real smart.

   How many times have I had to have my assistant (he’s American) call the company to find out what their direct line is just so I can call them myself.

4. Nicer – I have to say that Americans are nicer then Canadians.

   Toronto & Vancouver are really neck & neck for having the nastiest people within Canada. I was shocked to find 2 threads that talk about this & these were Canadians talking, not Americans.

   I’ve never searched to see which American cities have the nastiest people, & one would think New York would be up there, but I think New Yorkers are way nicer & I talked to another Canadian who said the same thing.

   So anyone who thinks Canadians are sooo nice, either haven’t been to Toronto or Vancouver, or has only visited there as tourists.

   One thing I have learned is that you never find out what a city is like until you live there.

5. Frankly I think Canadians are jealous of Americans.

   Instead of Canadians doing something about what they wish to change, as I’ve mentioned all over this blog, Canadians just like to bitch & complain & do nothing to change their reality.

   Maybe it’s because they don’t want to be like Americans, but I think that’s a poor excuse really, one can make change without being like another group of people.

   And this BS that Canada lives in the shadow of the US. Give me a break.

   If you want to be a great country, the citizens & the government will create what they wish for.

   The US has never gone out of their way to stop Canada from being a Super Power in their own right & I don’t mean Super Power like being the most feared country, that’s not what I mean, so don’t think I mean Canada should be this HUGE power.

6. Canadians say they don’t like the US because they are so full of themselves, but I find Canadians to be very stuck up & frankly I don’t see any reason they should be.

   I do agree Americans are very full of themselves, too much so, but I think that’s sort of dissipating a bit now because of all the backlash over it, so maybe it was a good thing Bush was in power, it sort of gave Americans a wakeup call.

7. Canadians say they don’t like all the crime from the US coming up to Canada, but based on my first search several months ago, I found out there is more crime in certain Canadian cities then in American cities. Different crimes, but not this fairy tale that Canada is immune to crime.

   In fact gangs have grown quite a bit in Toronto & the mafia was always in Montreal if I’m not mistaken.

   I’m still searching for relevant factual information before I post on that.

8. Canadians hated Bush – well so what else is new, no one liked Bush, including the Americans.
9. Americans are too loud & rowdy.

   This can be true, but I actually like the American passion.

   I don’t like their obsession of sports, but Canada is obsessed with their stupid hockey (OMG, Canadians are going to come out of the woodworks for that comment) & they can be very loud & rowdy when it comes to their hockey.

   Are Canadians more civilized, or are they just able to keep their temper in check & then it comes boiling to the surface in other ways?

   There are definitely more violent crimes in the States (how many serial killers come from Canada?), so I would say that at first glance Canadians are more civilized, but once again (I know I keep repeating myself), Canadians love to complain & do absolutely nothing about their complaints & so by & large, they aren’t very exciting. Remember, this is my opinion, & I’m not talking about Montreal, everyone knows Montreal is a party town.

   I admire Americans for actually taking a stand & trying to make change.

   I may not like all that they take a “stand” for, but they still try to make things better instead of passively sitting by while others run all over them.

   One thing I do have to say though is that they failed miserably when it came to Bush & this really did shock me.

   Americans allowed Bush to not only walk all over them, but to tear their country apart & YES, this does directly affect Canada.

   I was sitting here waiting for a revolution to break out & nothing… Years went by, things got worse & still NOTHING!

   Americans didn’t do a damm thing.

   What really irks me is that I just found out that the press & a lot of people are giving Obama a REALLY hard time for all that is going on with their economy, when Obama didn’t do a damm thing to cause all of this. BUSH DID.

   Obama is doing a great job in my opinion, & yet the Americans are starting to beat him up. How sad.

   I have heard that they are blaming this on the fact that he is black, or they are calling him racist names & I’m shocked, which brings me to my next point…

10. Are Americans more racist then Canadians?

    I’d have to say yes. With the countless amount of immigrants that have entered Canada’s doors in the last 10-15 years, I’d have to say that by & large Canadians are very tolerant of them & Americans are still very very racist againts blacks & Mexicans & blacks & Mexicans aren’t new to the US. I don’t know when Mexicans started entering the US, but blacks have been there for at least 2-3 generations if memory serves me. Some even longer.

    I’m going to eventually post about the immigration policy of both countries.

So I think I covered all the reasons Canadians dislike Americans.

This was not meant to start a war, but really to be open about how Canadians really see Americans because nothing irks me more then when I hear an American say, “Oh Canadians are soooo nice!” they’ve always been nice to me.

LOL, that’s because you don’t know what they are saying about you behind your back, but that’s more of a “human nature” trait which I’ve always found sad.

I’m sure some Canadians will say they don’t think this or even say this & they are right, there are many Canadians that don’t bash Americans, but I have talked to tons of people who do.

To me I have always thought of Americans as being our cousins or brothers if you will.