Canadian Politeness at the Olympics and Beyond
As a whole Canadians don’t get much attention, and when they do they usually receive such pleasant and unassuming adjectives like “polite” and “nice.” This has always been a point of pride for the nation, but recently my friend and I were discussing that maybe we should be rethinking this. Said friend has been residing in Glasgow and as such getting first hand opinion about what non-Canadians think of us. It would seem to me that while we often perceive being nice as a compliment that there might be a hint of condescension to it. As a country of 30 million people, the most we’ve accomplished is good etiquette?
Now, I must admit that I may be unduly hard on my homeland. I may be affected with a slight case of cultural cringe. When I turn on my iPod, settle down with a DVD, or prowl Nabolister for pirated shows turn on the television, rarely are any of these things Canadian made. This admission gets many of my fellow countrymen piqued to the point of dropping their normally polite exteriors and sprouting praise for Neil Young, Cronenberg, and Margaret Atwood (who you would think upheld the entire Canadian literary tradition while Ondaatje crops up occasionally for variety.) These are all artists whose work I enjoy, but alas, none are among my favourites.
The the two week national pride extravaganza otherwise known as the Olympics is a particularly sore point for many Canadians, when moans are heard across the country about lack of funding money in the face of dissapointing medal returns. But I suspect part of the problem is the pervasive gentleness in this country, and at least one other blogger suspects we are perhaps a bit too pleasant and lack the grit of other competitors. As someone who has next to no interest in sports (I can only name two or three NHL hockey teams, including Montreal’s, because they indirectly caused a disgustingly violent riot that left me dissapointed with humanity), I can’t really say if this is true, and I can’t really say that I care. I want Canadians to stop being nice not so our athletes can come home weighed down with countless medals around their necks, but so people will demand a superior sitcom to, say… Corner Gas. It’s mildly funny, rarely objectionable, and perfectly polite. How goddamn Canadian
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