1. Book of Eli was a cool movie 🙂

    A lot of US citizens seem to get upset with the US or feel ashamed of it, etc. There are of course a lot of problems and we should be trying to fix them, but things have gotten so much better in a lot of ways, and things could be so much worse/are definitely worse in other time periods and places.

    And they do that without realizing that change doesn’t happen without a lot of work. One time on Pinterest, there was a post talking about a notice posted in public areas of Canada. It was basically an anti rape thing, telling people they needed to have consent and all that. Some US citizens were commenting and complaining that they hated living in the US partially because billboards/posters/etc like that didn’t exist in our nation. I actually have seen a billboard about consent, and have seen people lecture and talk about those things in a class setting and whatnot, so I left a comment on that post saying so. When people say they hate the US because they don’t see people talking about certain issues, etc, it bothers me. Especially when their complaints are kind if inaccurate (like in this case, since some places in the US DO have notices like that)

    Like, not only is it inaccurate to say that no one talks about consent in the US, but in Canada, the reason that poster existed was because people advocated for it. It wasn’t because Canada is some magical place where those things appear on their own. If someone doesn’t think there are enough consent posters and billboards, then they should focus on making some posters of their own, rather than whining that they aren’t there. There might be some time, place and manner restrictions about where such notices are placed, but those can be worked through.

    • Travis Perry says:

      I would say in many ways the United States is a better nation than it was in the past and in some ways it’s worse (e.g. the annual consumption of illegal drugs in the USA is truly astounding and our rate of violent crime is significantly higher per capita than the blood-soaked 1800s). Some people fear that changing the USA will bring about its end. Obviously change in and of itself is not what will destroy the USA.

      But I am seriously concerned about sharp divisions within the US about what our nation can and should be. It would seem to me that such divisions have much more potential to destroy us than outside invaders. And the reaction some people have to things they perceive the USA lacks was reflected in your comment on the US focus (or lack thereof) on consent. It’s extreme to hate a country for something like that–but many people do.

      Which is just one of the factors that led me to say outside invaders are not the biggest threat to the USA.

      Unless aliens invade–don’t let the Independence Day movies fool you. If aliens invade, were most likely done for! (Though I’m not holding my breath on that. 🙂 )

      • Yeah. And I suspect they aren’t disliking America only over that one issue. It’s probably more like they see tons and tons of little issues like that and, since they mainly have experience with America or are surrounded by people that talk badly about it all the time, they decide the US is worthy of their disdain, never mind that a lot of the same issues plague other nations in some form or another.

        All our infighting would probably leave us more open to outside threats as well, so that’s yet another aspect of the issue. And it’s even more frustrating when people are fighting based off things that aren’t necessarily always true. Like, on Pinterest I saw a post that basically complained and asked why Republicans/Conservatives/whatever assumed that all Democrats/Liberals were for open borders. One of my first reactions was like ‘I dunno. Probably for the same reasons so many Democrats/Liberals assume that all Republicans/Conservatives are racists that only care about borders out of hatred and prejudice.’

        Some Democrats are for open borders, and some Republicans are racist, but not all of them are. But the assumptions that both sides have just make it a million times harder to come up with solutions.

        Linking this article as well, since I saw it today and there’s tons of interesting implications to it:

        https://getpocket.com/explore/item/americans-strongly-dislike-pc-culture?utm_source=pocket-newtab

  2. L.A. Smith says:

    Interesting post. It’s very true that we should be so very grateful to live in a place where we have the freedoms and blessings that we do. I have them here in Canada, and you have them in the US, too. Happy Independence Day to all my American neighbours!

    PS. That last scene of the Battle of the Apes was one of the most shocking scenes I had ever seen in a movie up to that point….thanks for including that picture!

    • Travis Perry says:

      Hey–I’ve been doing my family genealogy recently and I have a lot of ancestors who lived in Canada prior to moving to the USA. A direct patrilineal ancestor of mine was a United Empire Loyalist who moved to Canada from Massachusetts Colony at the time of the American Revolution. His grandson moved back to the USA (to Kansas) after the US Civil War was over. Makes me suspect they were abolitionists motivated to return once slavery had been legally done away with.

      And on my mother’s side I’m related to some of the first French settlers of Quebec. On that side, my grandmother was born and raised in Canada, which was cool.

      Plus I grew up in Montana and as a child Canada was the only foreign country I’d ever visited. PLUS I spent a bit of time working with Canadian troops in Afghanistan–I even once hopped a ride on a Canadian C-130.

      So anyway, I’m very friendly to Canada. Thanks for your comment!

      (But if aliens invade us, they’ll get you, too. 🙂 )

What do you think?