All things Canadian.....

A 'rant' from an American in my Inbox this morning:

I just read in the new this AM that yet another Canadian has referred to an American (institution in this case) as a Nazi. This is in reference to the Wal-Mart situation in Quebec.

Now I am a Yank who only visits Canada a couple of times per year but I consider myself literate enough. I have a grasp of your political institutions and how they differ with our's. I know the name of your PM. I can name your largest cities, understand off-sides and icing and I even can empathize with your love-hate relationship with us down here. Pretty good for an American.

So I am asking you and your website to explain to me how every 4th or 5th Canadian interviewed thinks that the US is a fascist state.

You think multiculturalism shows that you are so very tolerant. We think meltingpotism is the genuine article. We think multiculturalism leaves the door open for fascism.
You think regulating free speech is tolerance, we think free speech is the genuine article. We think regulating free speech leaves the door open for fascism.
You think government defined concepts of proper citizenship and decorum is tolerance, we think freedom is the genuine article. We think broad-reaching, state defined concepts of political correctness leave the door open for fascism.

And rather than flag down and rant at the next Canadian I see driving down Interstate 95 in the unfettered pursuit of pleasure in my country (in a manner that would suggest it were his own), I decided to rant at you, a popular Canadian Blog.
Please do us all one big favor. Tell your readers that some Americans are losing their good-natured patience with a people and a country whose very existence, both economically and politically, requires good relations with the US. Especially when that country teaches its young to hate us!
So please tell them to read up on Nazism so that they will see their error in referring to us by that insulting term. Now I have heard nothing but wondrous things about the Canadian educational system so I am in complete confidence that once the term is properly defined, your readers will understand.
And if you don't agree about our interpretation of "Nazism", perhaps you could suggest to your readers that they buy vacation homes in the golf course communities of Newfoundland. You wouldn't want to feed the nascent fascist beast south of the border, would you?

It is sickening to hear the term Nazi being thrown around.

But for this American and others I've got a little bit of context for you...

I've heard many people throughout the years casually refer to Manning and Harper (former and current conservative leaders) as being Nazis - and recently many Conservatives are called Nazis for their stance on same-sex marriage.

It's common for some Liberals and NDP supporters to use these terms for their opponents. I know it's disgusting and we are getting better at standing up for ourselves and fighting back against their demagoguery. You should be applauded for standing up against it too.