perspective from Down Under
I received an email today from someone I have never met in Australia. I assume that this person is a reader of my blog. Warner has some interesting things to say to Canadians, and I have to agree with him (her?). I think most Albertans would agree with him too, and that most Quebeckers and Ontarians would disagree. And, I couldn't say it better myself. Here's what he wrote:
"I can’t help remembering how much affinity I used to feel with Canada, as an Australian of Scottish parents growing up after the war I would get a Christmas card from a distant aunt who lived in Canada & it seemed, despite the different climates of our two countries, that we were somehow from the same pioneering stock of people with common blood ties & attitudes who pulled our own weight & didn’t sit around theorizing while the ship drifted toward the rocks. I have to say that I no longer have that same respect for Canada because it seems to have gone the same way as New Zealand in our hemisphere or the Irish Republic in the British region. The three nations I’ve mentioned are comfortable with themselves in reducing their armed forces to the levels of a national guard, happy in the knowledge there’s a big brother nearby willing to overtax their citizens to defend themselves & their freeloading neighbours . New Zealand is forever criticizing Australia’s foreign policy & our alliance with the U.S. & is all so “progressive & inclusive “, judgmental & self righteous without ever having to demonstrate that their utopian concepts work. I suspect from what I read on American blogs that Canada has taken up the same superior position vis a vis the U.S. My advice is ….Stop it!....if you want to be respected in the world because living under the “umbrella of safety” with a holier than thou attitude is not a good look. Let the eunuch not pride himself in his chastity."
Technorati Tags: Politics, Canada
8 comments:
I don't know if it's kosher to comment on one's own comments but here goes anyway. I was never overtly political in my outlook & like people in most countries I tended to leave the running of my country to "political animals "& for 20 years we in Australia were under the thrall of so called progressive leftists who have " through multiculturalism & other feel good platforms led us to a point where we are now infiltrated by Islamic extremist groups who arrived here as "refugees" fleeing oppresive regimes.They all took the pledge of allegiance to our country but now claim they won't be happy until they see the green flag of Islam flying over our parliament house. Although Muslims constitute only 300,000 out of a population of 20 million ,it seems that every second article in any Aussie newspaper is about Middle Eastern crime gangs pack raping ,drive-by shooting,ram-raiding ATMs or wanting a special place at the feast table. Australia ,like Canada is a nation of immigrants and my parents were no exception. But those immigrants built table & put the food on the feast table & growing up here in the fifties I had a group of friends from 8 different countries so I don't see myself as xenophobic. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that it's time we all aknowledged what it is that made both our countries great places to live in & bring up our Kids. Australia is now in the long process of dragging itself back to a state where we will no longer be ashamed of who we are & hopefully the rest of the Anglosphere will do the same .Our Labor governments tried to make us believe that we are a part of Asia & to dump our allegiance to your part of the world & Europe. Fortunately we woke up just in time & now have a conservative government who see nothing wrong with our historic position in the world & I hope that a similar renaissance happens in Canada.
I hope so too, Warner. Thanks for providing grist for my mill.
Hmm interesting point made about NZ. Couple of points to consider:
NZ lost more soldiers in the second world war per capita than any other country in the world.
NZ does not have a strong military, and has instead decided to focus on providing support for peace keeping duties around the world - so that's having fast highly mobile, fast moving support army units (called P3s look em up) fast and mobile naval frigates. It's meant that NZ UN peacekeepers are some of the most respected in the world. And yes - we focus on supporting those military engagements sanctioned by the UN.
If invading Iraq is something you're proud of well that's good for you. NZers decided it wasn't worth it, and suffered the rage of the US government who have threatened trade embargos and all manner of threats. We still told them to shove it!
Otherwise, go read some more and learn more about the world and how it works. Learn about how the rest of the world works - or send yourself to Iraq and do all of us a favour.
Anonymous: Please note that I am a Canadian.
I don't recall mentioning Iraq but obviously I hit a raw nerve somewhere. Blue Berets are all very good ( after the event ) we've got them...... as well. In fact my nephew was one in East Timor . The reference to Kiwis in my post was more to do with NZ telling the U.S. that their ships were no longer welcome in NZ ports virtually tearing up the ANZUS pact & then when Australia signed a free trade deal with the U.S getting pissed off because we didn't get them into it "on our coat tails" (NOW,THAT'S THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS ANONYMOUS & TO THINK OTHERWISE IS UTOPIAN IMMATURE & NAIVE).BTW Anonymous ,you seem to be a bit ambiguous about your national status.In referring to NZ you use the words WE,US,OUR but then state "I am Canadian "
And what's more Unfortunately,Kiwis are like the Irish ,They're all living somewhere else & rabbiting on about how wonderful it is "back home". But............they never do go home. while we're talking per capitas,one quarter of NZ's population lives in Australia & all up one third of Kiwis are "somewhere else" in short, they have made themselves an irrelevancy. see ? no mention of Iraq .........again !
To the second Anonymous commenter: the first anonymous did not say he was Canadian. I did, me, the owner of this blog. I was directing my comment to him. The Aussies helped the USA and Britain invade Iraq, Canada did not; and I am not proud of that fact, not at all.
My apologies, I didn't see the ED.& mistakenly thought it was Anon's final comment............My apologies to the "exponent of sheep husbandry" also.
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