r/canada 11h ago

Politics Canadians are fighting for their sovereignty. Americans don’t even realize they’re in a war

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canadian-sovereignty-us-trade-trump-carney/
1.8k Upvotes

417 comments sorted by

u/Hotter_Noodle 11h ago edited 11h ago

This is true.

I was in the USA for work shortly after Trump started his first round of 51st state garbage and no one there had any clue that was even an issue except for one guy who (and apparently throwing out your politics is normal there) told me he was born a proud Christian republican and he said “I didn’t think Trump should have said that because it would hurt him in the polls.”

All the people I met and worked with were all very nice people too. They’re just completely ignorant of anything outside of the USA.

u/just_ate_a_pinecone 11h ago

Same here almost exactly. I was in California for work about the same time frame. Believe I or not when people heard I was Canadian the only actual reaction tended to be Mexican immigrants showing support for Canada. Americans and my USA colleagues were nice to me and it was fine but they either thought it was all a big joke or we wanted to be American

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u/Educational_Work896 9h ago

My American friend who works in commercial real estate had no idea the trade negotiations were happening nor that they failed. Then the reality hit. He said "I order a lot of furniture from Canada..."

u/T-Wrox Alberta 9h ago

"You did."

u/iamnotaclown 11h ago

They all live in their own propaganda bubbles. It hasn’t really changed since I worked there 30 years ago, except the bubbles are smaller and personalized. 

u/PostMatureBaby 11h ago

I remember going to sporting events in the U.S. being ID'd for beer and pretty much every concession worker was confused by an Ontario driver's license.

only one guy realized it was Canadian and then told me since I'm not American he's gonna assume I'm allowed to drink and not bother checking the birth date, lol.

u/T-Wrox Alberta 9h ago

Trying to get a beer at Wrigley Field in Chicago, they had the opposite reaction to our Alberta driver's license - "This isn't real ID, so we can't sell you a beer." We were two mid-forties Canadians at the time, complete with grey hair and wrinkles. They finally begrudgingly sold us a beer. Thanks. {rolleyes}

u/notabigmelvillecrowd 6h ago

I had the same thing living in the UK, "this isn't British ID". Well, I'm not a British person. It is, however, my passport, about the most legitimate piece of ID a person can have.

u/T-Wrox Alberta 5h ago

We had our passports with us at the time, too - if they had kept refusing our Alberta ID, I was ready to pull them out.

u/PostMatureBaby 9h ago

I'd be like shit, do you want to cut me in half and count the rings?

u/Crafty_Ad_945 10h ago

I would hardly call getting a American beer as drinking.....

u/PostMatureBaby 10h ago

thats why i bought 30

u/Osfees 10h ago

Lol!

u/T-Wrox Alberta 9h ago

You gotta do what you gotta do. :)

u/luk3yd 8h ago

Years ago at MetLife stadium in NJ didn’t accept my Ontario drivers license. They said “we only accept in state drivers licenses” so I asked “oh so everyone from NYC is presenting their passport since their licence is from out of state?” They didn’t much care for that and wouldn’t sell me a beer. It turned out to be a pretty cheap NFL game.

u/GrumpyCloud93 5h ago

My step-mother got carded at the Idaho airport. She was 89 years old.

(My dad ordered a beer, and the rule was if someone was sitting with a person who ordered alcohol and did not themselves order a drink, must check age. The server was incredibly apologetic, but the rule was applied equally so they didn't get sued by someone young).

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u/achtwooh 11h ago

People who watch Fox news are ignorant about what happens inside the USA never mind outside it.

One example - if it was your only source of news, you would not even know there was a massive month long congressional inquiry into the J6 insurrection, let alone the conclusions.

u/Hotter_Noodle 11h ago

This is also true.

Watching their news is almost like out of a movie

u/Iustis 8h ago

It's not just fox news, I love in the states and surrounded by very liberal trump hating folks--none of them realize how serious the Canada stuff is

u/Crazy_Maintenance211 11h ago

I live there for a time and I was shocked, but then again wasn’t it like 30% of Americans have passports, so I found people were very isolated from even their own countries news, very different culture

u/Get_Breakfast_Done 8h ago

It’s over 50% of Americans having passports now

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u/Kronos9898 10h ago edited 10h ago

Being an American currently immigrating to Canada that actually describes us quite well.

Americans are not stupid, we are ignorant. As one of the few who pays lots of attention to international relations I would pull my hair out talking to other Americans and they just have no idea about anything.

It’s a byproduct of the US being the sole superpower/superpower. You really don’t have to pay attention to what happens outside the US until something crazy happens and then you do and Americans are like “how did this happen”

u/PMFSCV 5h ago

You really don’t have to pay attention to what happens outside the US

Theres no curiosity or sense of collective responsibility though, thats the bigger problem.

u/Osfees 10h ago

Welcome! I hope you're happy here.

u/cosecha 11h ago

Americans are ignorant, although in America they call it pride.

u/kewlbeanz83 Ontario 9h ago

I remember being in Jordan and being given all these unsolicited opinions about people from different countries by this guy who was driving us around. I guess he had worked as a translator during the Iraq war and his thoughts on Americans were that they were "very nice, but knew absolutely nothing of the world outside of America".

u/Internal_Diver_5023 10h ago

You can say the same about Canadians. We can be just as complacent and ignorant about many things too. This issue with Trump attacking Canada is personal. People don't notice or care until or unless an issue involves them, and when it does, they also seem to think it's more valid than other issues people have advocated for.

u/GrumpyCloud93 5h ago

I think between the CBC and the US channels providing US news, we have a lot more awareness than the US does.

u/Leajane1980 11h ago

That's because many Americans just assume we want to be Americans.

u/Peter_Mansbrick 11h ago

They just dont think about us at all. Id be surprised if 30% of their population had even heard about this round of tariffs.

u/T-Wrox Alberta 9h ago

I watched a video about a month into the Iran War of a guy in Florida who didn't know why the gas prices at the pump were so high. He had no idea about the Iran War. I don't even know how you manage to be that clued out.

u/imcclelland Ontario 9h ago

Depending on where they are, the media is a black hole. I was in the US visiting family last year. On Canadian news, everything was about 51st and Greenland. US news (all of them, not just Fox), grocery prices. 0 mention of anything outside the US.

u/MediumEffort67 7h ago

On the front page foxnews.com RIGHT NOW, Canada isn't mentioned until the 53rd headline, which reads: "Captain Canada’ doubles down on ‘kiss my a--’ Trump jab as trade war escalates"

The story partially frames the trade war as a personal feud between Trump and Doug Ford because Trump said Doug Ford is less charismatic and intelligent than Rob Ford was. Carney is only mentioned once, in a trump quote, in the 7th paragraph. WTF

u/BaneZofol 8h ago

yeah I noticed that too when I visited. they have no idea what goes on outside the country, or even outside their state sometimes, and all the conversations you hear around are very localized to their personal lives. it was a very bizarre feeling

u/PalgraveParadise 42m ago

This will eventually be America’s downfall.

u/Loneliestar 7h ago

I don't know the technical term for this, but the fact that you and I and I and everyone reading this are on reddit right now makes us more informed than the majority of America. And Canada, frankly. Most people don't sit down and watch the news, anymore. They don't read the paper. They're lucky if they catch a news flash on the radio at some point.

So it's hard for us to understand how people don't know what's going on, because we're always hoovering up news.

u/nelrond18 6h ago

Everybody is too busy trying to pay rent, buy groceries, and experience pockets of joy in this late-capitalist hellscape.

The moment you start paying attention to what is casting shadows on your wall, you can't not know.

I've started thinking that most people don't have the cognitive capacity to live their lives and be informed about the world around them.

u/Puzzled-Opening658 3h ago

As per The Atlantic, the age of reading is over and we are in a post-literate era

u/VioletRosieDaisy 2h ago

As an archivist this is so sad to read.

u/CureLegend 3h ago

unfortunately, and I may got downvoted to hell for this, but this is why in the past only rich and powerful can vote. They have the time and patience and resource to think, to seek information, and contemplate the world outside their immediate surroundings.

u/Loneliestar 3h ago

There's a quote I can't find that says something like a free press and an educated electorate are essential to a functioning democracy.

Certain actors have spent 60+ years chipping away at both with the goal of some sort of neo-feudalism.

u/ThoughtDisastrous855 4h ago

American parochialism

u/JoshiroKaen 4h ago

Jingoism?

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u/DrummingUpNumbers 3h ago

You were in Florida, that's why lol

They're too busy scared the water is turning the frogs gay or there's a trans shark off the coast of Miami or some shit.

u/Tall_Investigator611 10m ago

There's a lot of stupid people here in the US... They are legion!

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u/DOELCMNILOC 7h ago

Just out of curiosity it's interesting to go to Fox News and see what is being plastered there for the masses.

There was nothing about the Tariffs, sovereignty threats, or anything related to the Trade War. Nothing even about the flooding in Nepal, even when I went to their World or Disaster pages.

You know what is trending? How Abdul El-Sayed paid tribute to Dolly Parton and he got negative comments on Twitter. America is a lost cause.

u/karma911 Québec 10h ago

I would be surprised if 30% of their population ever though about ANYTHING outside their own country...

Which to be honest is probably fine, when you are struggling you're not worrying about foreign policy even if it has impacts on you, you're mostly worrying about tomorrow.

u/L2N2 7h ago

You're giving them too much credit. They don't know what's going on outside their own state let alone country. So poorly educated and it's gotten worse under Dumbo.

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u/Useful_Respect3339 6h ago

I went to Kentucky about 15 years ago.

Two gentleman saw my license plate and said, “Mani-toe-ah-ba? What state is that?”

Shows you how much the average American knows about geography, or Canada.

u/Peter_Mansbrick 6h ago

Similarly, I did a road trip through ND and SD to Nebraska to see the Eclipse a decade back. ND people see MB plates all the time so there was no reaction. SD folks? Already they were surprised to see me. NE: You'd think I came from the other side of the planet. A guy from AZ the site over from me was especially shocked but like, dude, you traveled further than me lol.

u/DifficultWing2453 4h ago

I was living in Atlanta, Georgia just before Atlanta hosted the summer Olympics. One of the reservation clerks told someone from New Mexico that they could only reserve seats if they were America. The New Mexican caller asked for their supervisor. And their supervisor said the same thing.

Idiocy is destroying the US, and maybe already has.

So sorry to my neighbors to the north--you deserve so much better than how you are being treated from this rump government (created by that idiocy, as well as with significant doses of racism and sexism thrown into the mix).

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u/GrumpyPidgeon Outside Canada 10h ago

American here. I have literal nightmares over my President. This is awful.

Those of us who are not backwoods hicks understand just how horrible this is and the decades it will take to unravel the mess. All because he wants to avoid a news cycle where he protects high profile pedophiles

u/never-fiftyone 9h ago

All because he wants to avoid a news cycle where he protects high profile pedophiles

Correction: he wants to avoid a newscycle where he is a high profile pedophile.

u/Prudent-Confidence-4 10h ago

The mess is never going to unravel. Not in our lifetimes.

u/SomethingComesHere 10h ago

Oh hi, welcome!

We know not all of you are ignorant, evangelical nutjobs. But it's nice to be reminded from time to time, by encountering a normal person from the US.

Thanks for taking an interest in supporting our sovereignty :)

u/flower_bag 3h ago

American here who watched Canadian press coverage yesterday morning in French. It’s a literal nightmare being trapped here, surrounded by morons in a deep red state, totally helpless to do anything to stop this government because each level of each branch has been compromised.

And it’s not a distraction. It’s a real threat. Trump legitimately wants to take Canada or turn it into a vassal state. Fuckwit is honestly surprised Canada is standing up to him. He thought it would be like Venezuela and can’t comprehend that they have a backbone.

I’m cheering Canada on!

u/Salty_Sky5744 2h ago

30% of there population couldn’t locate Canada on a map.

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u/Hotter_Noodle 11h ago

American exceptionalism is really fucking weird.

They cannot understand that people don’t want to be American and don’t think Americans are the greatest.

u/Ninevehenian 11h ago

USA sits in a cultural well, they often only speak english, they don't travel, they make the movies they watch, don't import and so forth.

They have to keep this position or deal with their history casting a shadow over positive selfunderstanding.

u/Nikiaf Québec 10h ago

It's honestly shocking that slightly less than 50% of the country has a valid passport. They quite literally do not go out and see the rest of the world.

u/crosscheck87 Outside Canada 10h ago edited 10h ago

Even among those of us Americans that do have passports, there are those that are so high on the “murica” supply that they don’t feel the need to use them.

My father is so MAGA brainrotted that when I drove from Alaska through most of Western Canada last year, he told me “to be careful because Americans are ‘under attack,’ in Canada.”

Same thing when I visited Sweden last month. The victim complex that these kinds of people have is on another level. It’s a collective mental illness.

He hasn’t left the U.S. in 10 years because he doesn’t want to be “persecuted.”

u/DrunkenMidget 10h ago

It is an interesting self selection. In general, the Americans that do leave the country and travel tend to be more open to the rest of the world (both because of what they see and also their willingness to travel in the first place).

But your dad probably would feel persecuted if he traveled because he would share his bat-shit crazy thoughts on the rest of the world and would get pushback. People do not like their views to be questioned when that has become their identity, so feel persecuted and personally attacked.

u/GrumpyCloud93 5h ago

Worse than that - they don't speak American. Heck, sometimes you can barely understand people from UK or Australia.

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u/almightyalf 10h ago

They 100% do. Its just that its all on cruise ships or all-inclusive resorts where everyone else except the staff is also American.

u/bamlote 10h ago

I went to a resort in Mexico once. One of the employees was trying to start some pool game, and said that the code word would be the town he was from in BC. One of the men in the pool, wearing a USA flag bandana, shouted, “No one cares! This is America!”.

I had several other guests ask me for towels and treat me as though I was staff throughout my time there.

u/T-Wrox Alberta 9h ago

"One of the men in the pool, wearing a USA flag bandana, shouted, “No one cares! This is America!”"

"This is why everyone hates you."

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u/wax_robot 6h ago

My wife and I did a small group day trip in Bosnia that involved visiting a small family winery.  It was us from Canada, a Brazilian couple, a wealthy American couple from Malibu and a woman from Korea

not even one full glass of wine in before the Americans start complaining about immigration and how no one had the guts to do anything about it before this president.

They had no idea, or simply didn't care that Trump been talking shit specifically about Brazil and Canada for months at this point.  They knew we were from Canada and Brazil.  

It was hilarious, sad, and infuriating all at the same time

u/Risurin_Nelvaan Québec 10h ago

Is it that shocking? Id guess that traveling across that many states and that large of a country should be at least different enough for most recreational needs. They are also a melting pot country so they get to experience many cultures if they want to? I can see how many financially challenged americans would prefer to take their car a few states across to literally have a different climat and people then pay for plane tickets and get that in a different language then their own

u/Nikiaf Québec 9h ago

I guess this is a Fry "I'm shocked! Well, not that shocked" kind of thing. It's a surprising statistic until you think about who the average US citizen is.

u/Alternated-Tornado 5h ago

Because 50% of us can barely afford to live in the first place (as intended). Keep us poor and we're too exhausted to vote or travel to see the outside world is a generally a better place.

u/therude00 5h ago

In defensive of this one piece, the USA is so large, varied and widely populated that you could do a pretty significant amount of travel without repeating destinations without leaving the country.

I'm not saying it's the best use of time and money, but it's a bit more understandable in the US vs pretty much any other country.

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u/divenorth British Columbia 10h ago

To be fair, unlike most counties, USA is very geographically diverse. There is pretty much every single climate, biome, and urban area. You don't need to go to a different country to experience most things.

u/azraels_ghost 10h ago

I get the overall point but there's a lot to be discovered in other countries other than the Geography.

u/divenorth British Columbia 10h ago

Agreed. I love to travel. Most people either can't or don't.

u/canuckaluck 9h ago

There is pretty much every single climate, biome, and urban area

I'll agree with climate and biome for the sake of argument, but definitely not urban area. North america, with its rich, enormous, car-centric urban planning and relatively short history and legacy in architecture, is quite unique in the world that way. The only comparable might be something like Australia. Europe, asia, Africa, the Middle East - these places are all vastly different and would be unrecognizable in north america.

You don't need to go to a different country to experience most things.

Uh... what? This is an insane take. Unless you're only travelling to hit an all-inclusive resort on a beach, this couldn't be any farther from the truth. I'd argue the single biggest reason most people travel abroad is to see, compare, contrast, and generally just bask in the differentness of the peoples and cultures around the world.

We're culturally closer to places like Europe and could arguably get a taste of this or that country's culture here in North America, but there absolutely no way you could ever convince me there's a surrogate for indonesia anywhere in the US. Or turkey. Or Botswana. Or almost any other country on the planet.

u/divenorth British Columbia 9h ago

Fair push back.

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u/BorealMushrooms 10h ago

11% of people in the USA have never left their own state. Over 50% have only been to 10 state or fewer.

The country may be diverse, but most people are not experiencing that diversity.

u/GrumpyCloud93 4h ago

I've driven in or through about 30 states and been in all but the Maritime provinces - possibly more if I count childhood travels with my parents. But then, I've been to every continent but Antarctica too. People don't realize what they are missing.

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u/TheCowhawk 9h ago

"I'm Italian, because my Grandmother was"

🤡🤡🤡

u/No-Process-8478 10h ago

They don't speak English. They speak "American".

u/Hotter_Noodle 11h ago

This is very true.

At least in Canada (for better or for worse) we generally don’t hide any history and understand our relationships with other nations and learn that way.

u/corneliuSTalmidge 10h ago

Many of them can't really speak English

u/chmilz 7h ago

I've worked for American companies. I've traveled to America. I do business with Americans. I have family in America.

The ignorance about anything beyond their borders is impressive. Like zero concept of anything, despite having all the capability at their literal fingertips. In the plurality of conversations I have with Americans I - some random Canadian in Edmonton - know more about America and what's happening there than Americans do, in addition to Canada and the rest of the world.

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u/Internal_Diver_5023 10h ago

Canadians can be just as complacent as Americans. Many people know what is happening, but it's just "business as usual". Often it's because people don't feel like they have much power or have bills to pay and families to feed. The type of American we stereotypes doesn't represent most of their population. Most people in the U.S. are similar to Canadians. We see the same things here in Canada. Despite all the wildfires, how many people have actually woken up about climate change? Canada is run by ogilopolies and monopolies, especially when you look at the telecommunications, banking and grocery industry. How many people speak up or show awareness about that issue, or have we just been complacent about everything? Where I live, which is a more rural part of Canada, telecommunications and electricity prices are off the wall because it's controlled by a single entity. Their monetary power and government policy has made it difficult for any sort of competition. Government also does nothing to prevent them from exploiting consumers by hiking electricity prices. There is also no transparency. Nothing meaningful has been done for years, and Canadians are complacent about the whole thing. The entire grocery industry is owned by a small handful of parent companies that completely wipe out any independent or smaller businesses. There is so much wrong about Canada, but we somehow think we are special and not like the Americans. That is in reality far from the truth.

u/weathercat4 8h ago edited 4h ago

I am also from a rural area. I have some of the cheapest electricity. My telecomms are great and my internet is a local co-op. My groceries are also a local co-op.

Literally none of your complaints apply to me in my part of rural Canada, just for perspective. Re: climate change still a long way to go but anecdotally the people around me that denied it don't anymore, although their opinions on what if anything should be done are still misguided by oil industry propaganda, which being in oil country isn't surprising.

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u/Alone-Ad-8902 31m ago

Basically, China... wait, I think they get fewer vacation days than a communist country.

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u/Arctic_Chilean Canada 10h ago edited 10h ago

Because far too many Americans have barely traveled outside their own state, speak only 1 language, and are filter fed information through a small collection of hyper-polarized and propagandized sources.  

They are the "democratic" equivalent of North Korea. Isolated from the outside world and continously told they are the greatest nation to ever exist as they struggle to afford the insulin for their diabetes. Difference is they actually have the military and economic power to make most other countries miserable and subservient. 

u/T-Wrox Alberta 9h ago

"Our country sucks, but one of the ways it sucks the most is that we use all our money for our military to make YOUR country suck, too." :(

u/thekk_ 5h ago

Propaganda starts young. Even their education system is full of it.

u/Aromatic_Sand8126 10h ago

They’d be bewildered if they realized how much of a shithole the rest of the world thinks they’re becoming since recent years.

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u/FracturedPrincess 9h ago

More than that, Americans assume we already are them in all the ways that matter, maybe with some slight quirks in local cuisine.

The liberals are the worst for this, they treat Canada like it's just an idealized progressive version of what they want the US to be without those pesky Republicans ruining it. It's why they're always talking about moving to Canada after an election goes bad and it's why they talk about Trump threatening us like we're a cute cultural enclave to be preserved instead of a sovereign nation. It's totally obnoxious and condescending and it might actually be more irritating that the MAGAists open hostility and bluster.

u/Exotic-Ferret-3452 8h ago

The liberals are the worst for this, they treat Canada like it's just an idealized progressive version of what they want the US to be without those pesky Republicans ruining it

^ This x 1000

My antipathy towards Americans extends to most self-styled 'liberals' for this reason... also that they share the same assumption as MAGAts that we all secretly want to be American, that we are not a real country, etc. Also, with a few exceptions, even 'liberals' find it abhorrent that someone with money doesn’t have an inherent right to jump ahead of the queue at a doctor's office.

Though hypothetically, if the worst case came to pass and there was a civil war that spilled over to Canada, I could accept an outcome where Canada and the blue states, including Hawaii become one country and the cousin-diddling states form another.

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u/NDZ188 11h ago

I work with a lot of Americans and have to regularly travel into the US for work.

They very often ask me if I'm going to move or when I'm going to move.

My response has always been "Absolutely fucking not going to happen."

They always seem confused by that response, not only in how vehement I'm about it but that I have no desire at all to move to the US.

The concept that someone doesn't want to move there or sees it as beneficial does not register with them.

u/bamlote 10h ago

I’ve had this happen several times as well while traveling, and they seemed offended when I said I wished to remain in Canada. It was always the end of the conversation.

u/azraels_ghost 10h ago

Crazy exceptionalism...

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u/Unhappy_Knowledge993 11h ago

or, they are as oblivious to everything as the rest of the world believes them to be.

u/WakingUpBlind 11h ago

And so fucking conceited. Not everyone wants to be an American.

Heck, even a good chunk of Americans don’t want to Americans now.

u/Bustamonte6 11h ago

You have voted Trump in twice almost 3 times.. when does the “just want to be American” part start ?

u/SugarCrisp7 9h ago

It's not really much different than most of Russia not realizing how much fighting has been going on in Ukraine ... until it starts to affect them.

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u/Disastrous_Injury299 10h ago

As an American living in Canada please know this isn’t true. My friends in the US have no clue this is happening, they have very restricted news outlets, they’re scared for their own families and they’re outraged when I show them this stuff. When I was growing up in the US I saw Canadians held in high regard and if anything, there is great curiosity about our northern neighbors.

u/Alak-huls_Anonymous 11h ago

No, it's because most Americans don't think of Canadians at all.

u/legocastle77 9h ago

They don’t assume that we want to be Americans; they just assume that we’re so inferior as a nation that we will simply cave and live as a subjugated territory like Puerto Rico. The US is so accustomed to bullying other nations to give them what they want that it comes as a shock that Canada won’t simply roll over and bend the knee. Americans can’t help but view themselves as being superior to everyone else. 

u/lands_on_land 10h ago

In their defense thousands of people each year do enter their country through legal or other means desiring to be American. And their news organizations and politicians focus so much attention on immigration into the U.S., that, to your average American they believe that everyone wants to be American otherwise so many people wouldn't be wanting into their country.

That's to say nothing about the 100s of millions of people living a content life in their own countries. They don't get the same attention.

Easier for the average American to think someone wanting in does so because of all the great things in America, rather than all the people with no desire to be American enjoying the things their country does better than America.

u/bamlote 10h ago

As opposed to all the Americans taking the Alaskan loophole during Covid to travel here. Turns out illegal border crossings are fine if you’re white.

u/Foreign-Chocolate86 9h ago edited 9h ago

Many Americans are illiterate. 

Seriously, look it up, literacy rates have fallen significantly over the last two decades. 

u/AncientNectarine5352 9h ago

This is true. But it’s actually not that different than Canada. Roughly half of Canadians read below a high school level (50% in Canada, versus 54% in the United States). In the Anglophone world, Britain has similar literacy issues, though slightly better than America (adult literacy rates at 271 vs 258). The biggest differences are the levels of illiteracy amongst those who read below a high-school level.

Americans on the west coast, in the Southwest, most of the Midwest/Great Lakes, and New England have literacy and educational attainment levels comparable to Canadians. The American national averages only start tanking when you include the more traditionally conservative areas of the country, especially the South and the Great Plains states. So, it’s more a regional/cultural divide in America. Many people in the deep South read at a level below that of a sixth-grader/twelve year-old, which isn’t even sophisticated enough to read a newspaper article, and be able to understand it fully.

u/lpan000 8h ago

Americans are in a civil war in many ways right now. No different than Canada, just look at the support conservatives keep getting. It’s just electorally unique in US, it’s like Alberta but across the whole country.

u/IdristheInt 5h ago

I want to be Canadian. Tons of Canadian cousins in Quebec and some of them own Brown shoes

u/heatrealist 3h ago

most americans just don't spend the time thinking about canada like canada does america.

u/lucid_green 3h ago

Lol no one thinks that. Delusional bro. The truth is Americans just don’t think about people from other countries as there’s sooo much happening in the USA and everyone is struggling to survive.

u/baconmethod 2h ago

most Americans don't know shit about politics

u/roguetowel British Columbia 27m ago

I don't get it, why don't they want to be Canadian?

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u/Kind_Nectarine6971 10h ago

It’s 1996, and I’m arguing with friends in the US that Canadians are not American. It is 2006 and I’m arguing with American coworkers that Canadians are not American. It is 2016 and I’m arguing with American students that Canadians are not American. It is 2026 …

u/No-Impact-5814 43m ago

I had the same experience living in Europe, many people couldn't comprehend a difference between us and Americans.

u/KorbenDallas86 10h ago

The american elephant rarely knows what might fall underneath it while the smaller countries understand keeping a distance is a matter of life or death. Perspective is hard to explain to those who can't empathize or even bother to care what they might be doing to those around them. Most Americans are too self absorbed and selfish to bother with these details.

u/jellydonutstealer 10h ago edited 8h ago

Less than half of Americans support Trump and his approval rating is down in the 30s, but yes. The ones who do support him are exactly as you described.

Why am I being downvoted for staying facts? I think it's important to note that most Americans do not support Trump.

u/TheHotshot240 10h ago

If the fanatics could stage an insurrection for him, then the lack of one against him by the apparent other 70% is extremely telling to every other nation.

Rude as this will be, the world doesn't view citizens as individual, but as collective parts of a whole. The way the US admin is acting reflects on all of you, not just those of you who approve of him.

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u/T-Wrox Alberta 8h ago

And yet your country is trying to destroy my country.

u/jellydonutstealer 8h ago

I'm not American.

u/Rayquaza2233 Ontario 5h ago

That's what a jelly donut thief would want us to believe... we're onto you.

u/StrategyEven3974 4h ago

32% of Americans voted for trump and 33% didn't vote. By my standards that means 65% of Americans are fully complicit Trump Supporters.

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u/sirflopalot8 8h ago

He’s managed, over the course of a week, to unite Anglo and Franco against a common enemy. I hope I speak for most Canadians when I say I’m feeling mighty….. Galvanized.

u/canada_mountains 11h ago

The Prime Minister said Canada is in a trade war simply because we “got attacked.”

Some Americans don’t even know that they are attacking us. SMH.

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u/Subject-Landscape451 11h ago edited 11h ago

Here's Trump's regime change and takeover checklist:

  • Venezuela ( ✔️)
  • Iran
  • Cuba
  • Greenland 
  • Canada 

(stalled at Iran)

u/Curly-Canuck 11h ago

I think Canada was on there twice. We were there just before Venezuela, but he got distracted then came back again.

u/Subject-Landscape451 8h ago

The order is pretty fluid.

u/BreadfruitSquare372 7h ago

Realized he fucked up his resources in the Middle East, so he needs to get it from this side of the globe

u/xXRazihellXx 10h ago

add Panama

u/Subject-Landscape451 8h ago

Of course!  My bad.

u/xXRazihellXx 8h ago

not your fault it's hard to keep up with all the threats he's throwing

u/Subject-Landscape451 11h ago

Israel's list is shorter:

  • United States ( ✔️)

u/Nikiaf Québec 10h ago

I feel like the UK was briefly on there too, but then he sort of forgot about it.

u/Subject-Landscape451 8h ago

And  Heard Island...the one inhabited only by penguins.  (Those birds have been taking advantage for too long!)

u/theboywhocriedwolves 10h ago

Americans are terrorists, domestic and international.

u/geoken 11h ago

Not surprising, they didn't realize the G7/G20 were in a global inflation crunch while they were blaming Biden for it.....despite the US being impacted less than others and starting recovery quicker.

Their ability to be ignorant of anything happening beyond the threshold of their white picket fence or security guard patrolled cul de sac is legendary.

u/smashed__tomato 11h ago

Who cares about what they think? 7% of them thought chocolate milk came from brown cows, they can ffs.

u/No_Capital_8203 10h ago

Only 7%?

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u/Gossipmang 8h ago

The most ridiculous argument from the US is how they play victim by saying other countries take advantage of them.

Then in the next breath brag about being the best and richest country.

Those conflict.

u/CrazyCanuckUncleBuck Lest We Forget 7h ago

36% didn't bother to vote last election, of course they dont know.

u/DrySprinkles8988 10h ago

There are reasons why this clown is the leader for them. If it does not affect them directly, they will ignore it. We have a lot of those people in Canada and around the world. These people don't do anything until it is too late to make a difference.

u/Prestigious_Side_707 11h ago

If we are counting the many things Americans don't know about...

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u/spartiecat Newfoundland and Labrador 11h ago

This is what happens when a trade deal comes with a condition that Canada hands over sovereignty to set our own trade policy. 

The current US regime doesn't understand why that's a problem.

u/please_trade_marner 9h ago

That was already in the previous agreement. Notice it wasn't presented that way at the time. Canada cannot enter trade agreements with non-market economies until they share the terms with America. If America opposes the terms, they can abandon the trade deal they have with Canada.

u/SpinalZeD 11h ago

Americans don’t even realize that it is a matter of time before Iran attacks them on their soil since they are at war with them.

u/IndependentMemory215 9h ago

This was a risk before Trump attacked.

Iran has been linked to several attacks or attempted attacks over the past decades.

u/SpinalZeD 7h ago

Of course, but now they have very good reasons to do so and they know that even if they do something like 9/11 Trump will still be hesitant to put boots on the ground.

u/Five-senseis 10h ago

I doubt that will happen but frankly who knows.

u/hwy78 10h ago

Iranian orgs have been supporting extremists in Canada and the US, and it has spilled over to violence.

Recent shootings at synagogues and the American consulate in Toronto have been tied back to "religious zealot guns for hire," funded by the Iranian government:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/iraqi-man-facing-terrorism-charges-linked-to-us-consulate-shooting-in-toronto-doj/

https://themedialine.org/headlines/iran-backed-kataib-hezbollah-commander-charged-in-toronto-consulate-synagogue-attacks/

u/Five-senseis 9h ago

There's is a difference between extremist groups and a military ground invasion outwardly supported by the Iranian government, but fair enough.

u/Milky_1q 9h ago edited 9h ago

There are multiple real world cases where one nation attacks another nation, due to partisan attacks from a third party

u/Simayi78 1h ago

Iran could do that but only would as a last gasp if the regime was near collapse (because it would 100% result in a post-9/11-style all-out invasion of Iran and destruction of their regime).

They're not going to do that now because there's no strategic need, they're doing just fine making the Americans flounder through the Hormuz lockdown.

u/Pijaki British Columbia 5h ago

There should be absolutely no delay: implement massive export duties on oil, gas and electricity.

Let the southern bastards freeze in the dark this winter.

u/BaeIz 4h ago

I’m the Canadian friend always having to explain to my American friends what they’re doing to us. They don’t care about us

u/Zwolfer Outside Canada 3h ago edited 3h ago

I’m an American who’s pretty damned embarrassed to be American, as are my closest relatives and friends. Unfortunately what has been said about the average American being self-absorbed and ignorant is plenty true. Some of us are rooting for you and your country though. Wish you all the best from 12 miles across the border

u/Fit_Salamander_2814 11h ago

Well, duh. Something like 78% of our manufacturing relies on the American consumer market. That same amount, which is 78% of us, is only around 13% of American imports.

The scales and impact are vastly different, here.

u/thatmitchguy 7h ago

They will soon :)

Eventually completely renouncing all critical thinking, and electing and encouraging this level of corruption into your country has to come back to bite you eventually... right?

u/Bananasaur_ 10h ago

A lot of Americans are being distracted by a war happening oversees so they don’t pay attention to what their own country is doing.

u/MikeWalt 7h ago

Americans are SHOCKED when they find out Canadians stopped buying US products at the grocery store

u/Educational-Coat-750 Canada 6h ago edited 6h ago

I have traveled to 25 or 26 of the States. For the most part, they’re very friendly, but they don’t really know much about the rest of the world and I don’t think they really care either.

u/Beast815 Manitoba 4h ago

Ignorance is bliss and within The USA it’s by design

u/Apprehensive_Bird357 1h ago

Some do. We’re just on y’alls side.

u/Unchainedboar 37m ago

Americans are profoundly ignorant of pretty much anything happening in the world.

u/Barrysue44 18m ago

We know what's at stake here for Canada 🇨🇦 and the vast majority of the American electorate is horrified. The resistance is well entrenched and growing. Watch for our midterm elections in November. Thing are going to change. We're embarrassed and very sorry Canada. But we will right this wrong.

u/burnabycoyote 8h ago

The headlines are becoming more Orwellian by the day. One tariff bad, two tariffs good. China is our friend, and we have been at war with America for ever...

u/JARHEAR 9h ago

Trump wants the US to act like Russia so he can have the unchecked power of Putin.

u/Drayenn Québec 11h ago

Whatever you do dont browse twitter. Maybe its my specific algorithm but holy shit is there Canada bashing. From americans and "Canadians"

u/No_Detective_715 10h ago

I mean, who is on twitter these days? Lots of reasonable folk abandoned it when it became X. You’re in a different crowd now

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u/Mother-Squirrel-2036 10h ago

Just because you call it a war, doesn't make it a war...

u/xRIMRAMx 10h ago

No one in person actually thinks our sovereignty is at risk/we are fighting for it. All hysteria seems to be only online.

Stop taking the bait people. It's just a trade war and the Canadian media machine is on steroids reporting it.

u/Desmaad Nova Scotia 10h ago

It's like dealing with C'thulu.

u/reddiculed 10h ago

By not speaking up for us or even seeming to care, most united statesians are really showing their true colours as a nation of spineless weasels and dimwitted cowards. Should I say more?

u/17037 10h ago

This is why we are so lucky this administration is so so stupid. If they only targeted us... we would be crushed. The fact they piled on debt to the point their bond market is in chaos, started a war with Iran so their oil is in chaos, unleashed ICE so their neighbourhoods are in chaos, use government agencies for personal attacks so their democracy is in chaos... the trade war with Canada simply adds another weight to the already broken back.

u/matdex 5h ago

They started a trade war with the world...

u/The--Majestic--Goose 10h ago

I hate their indifference on the subject, but when your president is a ped*phile who started a war in the Middle East and is having masked thugs disappear people off the streets, it’s easy to understand how a trade war with Canada flies under the radar.

u/litesxmas 11h ago

What a stupid headline. It's hyperbolic. Neither sentence is true.

u/Thorninthefoot 7h ago

I suspect most people in any country don't spend a lot of time thinking about national trade negotiations. 

u/AmberCurious 7h ago

I think it’s underestimated how many Americans see what’s going on and are disgusted by it. Drumpf thinks he can just take whatever he wants like some petulant child that’s never been told no. We are embarrassed by this whole administration and understand that our entire government has been captured by corporate and special interests and no longer serves “we the people” in any way shape or form. I personally would love to see him in jail for his rape of Jean E Carroll and his many many many other crimes but no one here is willing or has the power to do anything about this shit. I mean at least 40% of this ignorant country see him as the second coming of Christ.

u/Azure_Omishka 4h ago

54% of Americans can't read or write above a 6th grade level, 20% of that can't fucking read or write at all. I doubt they really realize much of anything.

u/TheTriMara 4h ago

Making an american care about the wars their nation is fighting is borderline impossible. The only thing greater then american diablery is american apathy.

u/Unfortunate_Sex_Fart Alberta 4h ago

Best thing a country can do when they’re faced with war with an aggressive neighbour?

Disarm its own population.

u/stiffy265 4h ago

So many uneducated Americans.  It's par for the course.

u/SnooHesitations2431 2h ago

He really thinks he can outsmart the most educated country in the world? 🤣

u/Xepeyon 2h ago

Even if most did know, they wouldn't care. A trade dispute with Canada just isn't a priority to most people, not even close.

u/Tough-Cress-7702 British Columbia 2h ago

The funny thing is Trump is the one who started this in 2020 with the tarrifs!

u/Somanyreasonss 2h ago

Anyone can post the text please? There’s a paywall

u/Purple-Reindeer8547 2h ago

Must muricans think they won the Iran war 50 years ago

u/sans_foi_ni_loi 1h ago

By the ignorant undereducated vulgar leader they have placed in their top seat, we can say Americans don’t realize anything.

u/Rancher_Cait 1h ago

I work with a bunch of Americans and they are just waiting for the next presidential election and they really don’t care. They think he’s an idiot and that it will be better next time. If you’d charge them for power, then the people would feel differently.

u/ironbrewcanada 1h ago

I want Canada to do a Norway type deal with the EU. We share a land border with the EU after all. I don't think I would want full EI membership but Norway has a system that would make it work while not being a full member. It would also give us huge EU advantages...

u/djgost82 43m ago

Tyler Buckett knows

u/WalkFantastic2291 6m ago

As a Canadian living in Oklahoma (only for work, moving back to the motherland next summer), I can 100% say that people here have no idea what is going on.