Canada's birthday today, but the House of Commons already sent the gift ^_^

[felis_ultharus]

Canada turns 138 today. Doesn't look a day over 86. Must be using Botox.

In honour of this special day, allow me to quote from John Ralston Saul -- philosopher, historian, and the husband of the woman whose signature is the law (or at least makes laws) in this country. Without further ado, the definition of Canada:

Canada

1. So complicated that nobody knows how it works, which causes Canadian social scientists to complain about it all the time, which causes foreigners to say it's boring because nothing ever happens.
   
2. The most decentralized country in existence, which causes Canadians to complain constantly about the power of the central government.
   
3. Administered under the third oldest constitution in the world, which causes Canadians to insist it never worked and must be changed.
   
4. The only major country in which the two leading western cultures [English and French] have managed to live peacefully together for several centuries, causing Canadians to insist that they cannot live together.
   
5. Burdened by the laziest élite of any developed nation; people who have made their fortunes by selling off the country's resources and by working for more energetic foreigners. They are most comfortable on their knees, admiring those from larger countries who have purchased them.
   
6. A country where 95 per cent of the land is north of the major cities, which causes its urban inhabitants to treat their hinterland as an embarassing and backward region, while pretending that they themselves are situated hundreds of miles to the south, somewhere between New York and Florida.

Comments

[infinitecomplex.livejournal.com]

*Sings happy birthday to Canada*

That's a great quote. :)

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Saul's a great writer. His philosophy is brilliant, and I tend to quote him frequently.

[seal7.livejournal.com]

The two leading Western cultures?
><
I'm only going to let it slide since it's Canada's birthday, but... HEY!

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

I think he means as in "the two cultures that have conquered the most."

Part of the reason that France and England hate each other so much is that they've spent much of their history trying to rape and pillage the same territories. For that reason, they've tended to fight wherever they wound up, and it's amazing that they haven't killed each other here.

Knowing his work, I'm sure he didn't mean "two superior cultures". That wouldn't fir with ideas he's expressed elsewhere, and he's sometimes clumsy with his language (though brilliant in his ideas).

[seal7.livejournal.com]

I didn't think he meant superior, but it sounded like 'most widely spread' or something?

So he's a writer that's clumsy with his language? That's almost ironic..

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

He's great for his ideas, not his language, unfortunately. He tried writing fiction, and it was awful. Then he started writing non-fiction and it was brilliant.

But he is sloppy when he writes -- a large reason his fiction flops. I've read 5.5 of his 6 books on philosophy, and I'm still not always sure what he's saying :p

[jenjoou.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday Canada!

...and I have no intention of pretending I'm anywhere to the South. I like it right here.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Ditto. But there is an inferiority complex in this country. A lot of people seem to obsessively compare us to the US -- often unfavourably -- and even when it's favourably, it's a little odd.

We're a completely different country. I think if we realized that, we wouldn't be so obsessed with tht our neighbours were doing.

Part of it is also probably American TV. We should have a major campaign to get Canadians to replace their Aemrican viewing time with anime ;)