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What makes us different?

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opt2not:
Though I'm not too open about my personal life online, some of you know me to be that loud-mouth artist, avid Canadian, happily married to a wonderful and beautiful American woman.

 We're down here in Cali visiting my in-laws, and a conversation came up between my bro-in-law and I regarding Canadian and American culture.

I know this is mainly an American dominant board, but I wanted to post the discussion to the Canadian members as well as the US populous here that would like to chime in: what are the differences between Canadian and American cultures?   

This was a interesting discussion, because I could mainly focus on the easy stuff like differenciating things like politics, laws, and intrinsically linked religion being a part of the American society (in god we trust?). But what is it really that makes us different?
One of the main mind-sets and pride of Canadians is we're not "Americans", but really what does that mean?

Americans: Before throwing in your typical south park reference of "blame Canada", or a gest about hockey, dog-sleds, cold weather etc..., what do you really think when it comes to your northern brothers?

One thing I know is, we cannot survive without each other. Our trade and sharing of resources, our economic ties, and military supports can definitely show that. But did you know, that between all the countries in the world, Canada and USA has the best relationship between each other in all history? No other countries has had such a complimentary situation. Yay us?

CoryBee:
Without thinking to much into before breakfast. I would say that California and Canada have very similar mind-sets. This only from a handful of meetings with Canadians and learning about your culture through internet and friends but still. We have similar laws pertaining to drugs and guns, and hate to be stereo-typical on the subject but we are both very friendly. Compared to the east coast anyways, we always ask how people are doing, telling them to have a good day, waving to strangers. This just doesn't happen ofter in the east. I find that the west coast is much more slowed down as well & spread out which give people peace of mind. Anyways my $0.02

kahlid74:
I'm not a fan of generalizations as a whole.  My experiences have led me to numerous people who are kind and courteous from all parts of the US and equally those who are rude, disrespectful and just plain weird.

My opinion on the US comparatively to Canada and any other country in the world is more along the lines that I view us as a massive melting pot, where the collective combination of such a wide range of ideas/opinions and stubbornness places us in a category where no control exists.  To your left is a man who thinks being gay is a sin against god, to your right a man who thinks having sex with cats should be legal and behind you a woman who only wants to fist pump to techno.  I've been to Canada a few times, a few countries in the EU (Germany, France, UK, Italy, Greece), Asia (China/Laos/Japan) and I see diversity, but I don't see the insanely emotional diversity I see in the US.  We're so polarized in the US it sometimes worries me how people fail to compromise on the little things.

ChadTower:

Canada doesn't have the racial polarization because it never had institutionalized slavery.  The Canadian settlers didn't attempt to exterminate the indigenous people.  Minorities in Canada are not angry about centuries of repression and violence against them.  Simply reducing the mistrust and anger between races goes a long way towards making people generally calmer. 

ChadTower:

Wow, that's just not true at all.   :laugh2:

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