Dianne
- 2006-10-08
My husband and I are Canadians and have lived in a different country for four years. We are in our forties and fifties. I would just like to say this, if I said to you oh you are Australian, I am sure you would say no I'm a Kiwi or I'm from New Zealand.
If I wanted to meet new and interesting people to have a conversation with, the bar to me is not the place I would go.
I am sure you have these kind of people in New Zealand, they are in every country in the world. Please do not judge a whole country on a handful of young and inconciderate jerks.
AMonk
- 2006-10-08
I can't speak directly to the cluster of idiots that you have seen, but I can assure you that they are most definitely Exceptions.
Every nation has its own share of bigotted jackasses and nationalistic isolationists, who should have never been issued passports. USA, Canada, UK, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Curacao, Australia, NZ, Bermuda, Cuba, Spain, Azores, Italy, France, Germany, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Switzerland: I have met folks from all of these. Most I liked, but some (small minority) I avoided, due to their narrow, aggressively beligerent attitudes. Please do not make a blanket judgement, especially one based on that limited sampling. Just accept that they are infantile, ill-mannered and not the company you wish to keep.
Then avoid them, as much as possible.
I am a new teacher in Korea, having recently relocated from New Zealand. There has been an odd pattern I have noticed, though only having been here one month, I wonder how much of an anomaly it is. Being from Christchurch, I only have had the occassional experience of spotting these people walking around with maple leaves on their bags, but here it seems three out of four crackers are Canadian. I like to drink a few beers and have gone out to bars in Daegu a few nights each week and never in my life have I had the upsetting encounters and witnessed such bizarre behaviour. I know that I have not met every Canadian out there but the things I've heard coming out their mouths, and the fights I've seen them try to start is shocking to say the least. Is it a prerequisite that these people be as close-minded as possible when they come abroad? Or is it that Canada is such a great place that only sick, sick people would ever leave it? Or are you all just ignorant and stupid? I say these things knowing they will be taken badly, I say them because they have a tinge of humor about them--humor that these people (if they follow the behavior I've seen) won't comprehend. But mostly I write this because I really want to know. Are they this terrible everywhere? And each and every one has taken pains to point out that they're not American--why do they do this? I have sat down with numerous folks from the US and had rational discussions about the state of the world. However, every canadian seems to harbor a black and white, extremely dogmatic view and cannot understand that the world is actually a gray area and harbors neither heroes nor villians. I will continue to post on this matter with examples of behaviour--or until I am satisfied the thirty or so Canadians I've met thusfar were anomalies--until I learn the truth. Tread carefully around these... moosejockies? Someone tell me a distinguishing characteristic/identity I might make fun of. And also whether I spelled 'Canuck' right. And also whether anyone cares.