One other topic I meant to write about the other day, in regards to my Canada experience. I mentioned in that other post about how we were very comfortable at a bar, enjoying the company of some well-spoken, friendly Canadians, listening to them talk a bit about international politics. I’m fairly well-informed, but they knew about shit that I hadn’t even heard of. It was very interesting. And they were very quiet, very calm, very intellectual.

Then walks in this other dude, who was born in the States or some shit. And he just sits down and is boorish and loud. Totally just exaggerating the shit out of every little thing, and puffing himself up with his own self-importance.

I think the above also ties into why the social interactions and the dancing at the nightclubs was so weird. Because Canadian culture is much more focused on being intellectual than American culture. Which might factor somehow into them being much more reserved physically on the dancefloor. Us Americans are more about bumbling around, shooting from the hip and generally making a scene.

Again, wild generalizations, but they seemed to fit what I experienced. At bars, on the street, in clubs, and on the news and on tv. Even their dating shows were oddly intellectualized. And I watched a tv show which purported to be some kind of frank talk on sex for twenty & thirty-somethings, and the whole thing just had this vibe of being some instructional video you’d watch in health class.

Also, the more aware I became of kind of the intellectual bent of Canadian culture, I started to understand better why that guy in the bar had lit up like a firecracker and started shooting off his mouth the second he learned we were Americans. It was like he had been given carte blanche to unleash his inner cowboy from the bonds of heady intellectual Canada, if only for a few minutes. And he really went wild. Blabbing on and on about things like hookers, and serial killers, and he just went all over the map. It was, looking back, almost like he was venting his frustration at trying to fit into that culture. Honestly, towards the end of the trip, I could relate to him much more.

The whole thing here also got me thinking about American media, and like the state of the nation and all that malarkey. And we all think its so bad and we’re all so worried. But we all so dearly love exaggeration as a culture. We thrive on getting swept away in larger than life dramas. We like openly giving our restraining intellectual side a good bashing and running straight off into the nearest saloon brawl. And in that case, it makes absolutely perfect sense that we have this wannabe-cowboy president who completely embodies that aspect of our culture. It’s really perfectly appropriate in a way.

What’s more is that I’ve become much less worried about all this stuff now. Like all this stuff we’re being given about threats and fear and everything - a big part of the hidden story here is that we just want everybody to hear how important we think we are. And you know what? We are important. We’re a fun place to live. Canada’s fun too in its own way, but it doesn’t seem like its for me. I’ve become much more interested in that sort of brash, over the top, shoot-em-up lifestyle. Because there’s something very intuitive about the whole thing. Very emotionally driven. Of course, we need to balance that out and guide it with some healthy intellectualism. There’s no reason the two styles can’t work together.

In conclusion…

1) America, everything’s going to be fine. You just got yourself all worked up during the late nineties cause everything was going so great, and now you’re over-stimulated. Get some sleep, and it will all be better in the morning. We’ll go have a picnic and laugh about this all tomorrow. Maybe we should invite Canada, cause they’re pretty smart and funny, AND a lot of their girls seem to have really nice asses… or so I hear.

2) Canada, you sure know a lot about beer. Americans think they do, but you REALLY do. There’s a lot of other good things we could learn from you as well. Like about how friendly you are once you get warmed up. Stuff like that. But damn, Canada - you gotta learn how to shake what your momma gave you. In a serious way. And no amount of books & insightful news reports, & sensible free health care, & progressive liberal views is gonna teach you how to do that.