5670505
I expect that everyone who reads this has received a
forward of an editorial spoken by “A Canadian” (or
written by a “Canadien”, depending on
which version you receive) urging Americans to stand
proud as Americans. The overall point of the
propaganda is that Americans get a bad rap worldwide,
but Americans should continue to believe that they are
the coolest, most generous, ass-kickingest people in
the known universe, and we should believe this because
a Canadian tells us so. If you have not received
one of these emails yet, click here to view
a copy or wait thirty seconds for a copy to show
up from somebody in your inbox.
The events of 11 Sept have hit all of us very hard,
some devastatingly. My brother lives in
Manhattan and I am overwhelmingly relieved that he is
safe. The irresponsible images broadcast by CNN
of a small number of Palestinians cheering have left
many Americans affronted, but we do need to keep our
wits about us.
Surely there are some things that should strike us as
odd about this widely distributed email. “The
Canadian” writes:
Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded.
They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless
they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American
dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.
The present tense of the statement (”are here”, “are
getting”) seems odd considering that there has not
been an American draft in effect for thirty
years. Among the patently incorrect statements,
this stands out:
Does any other country in the world have a
plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed
Tri-Star, or the Douglas
DC10? If so, why don’t they fly them? Why do all
the International lines
except Russia fly American Planes?
Well, the Airbus
(with a 50% market share and growing) comes to
mind. Airbus planes are flown by airlines
worldwide, including U.S. airlines. And the
seemingly irrelevant comment:
I’d like to see just one of those
countries that is gloating over the erosion of the
United States dollar…
Why does “The Canadian” bring up the erosion of the
dollar? The reason is quite simple: this text is
taken out of context from a radio
editorial, spoken by Gordon Sinclair in 1973,
regarding the collapse of the American dollar
following the US withdrawal from the Vietnamese War
(before Airbus’ first plane had reached production
status.)
Statements by world leaders in the past few days
should show Americans that the world is united with
us, but it strikes me as irresponsible to usurp a
thirty-year-old monologue on a different topic to
prove it.
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