Journal #5

(Media Studies)

This week I would like to talk about the clips that were shown in class in which two different people commented on Canada. One of the people was Tucker Carlson, and him, along with a woman, made comments that were completely wrong about Canada. The woman (I'm not sure of her name) had a very strong opinion about Canada, and said that it should be happy it's allowed on the same continent that the United States is on. I think she is totally misinformed, and simply does not know her geography that well. Does Canada have a choice that it is on the same continent as the US? It is just our location, so I do not think that she should have used that argument, as it just made her look bad. As for Tucker Carlson, he talked to the woman that stomped on a George Bush doll. He made very rude comments to her, and made himself look like a fool when he said, more than once, that all Canadians do is dog sled. I really liked what the woman had to say, because if she was so insignificant, why were they making such a big deal over what she said. My problem was that Americans are so mis-guided about Canada. I have travelled all over the United States, and it amazes me that they know so little about a country that is connected to them. Also, I have seen Rick Mercer's "Talking to Americans", and I found this hilarious, yet also very disturbing. Many people do not even know that we do not live in igloos, or drive dog sleds. And there were well educated people on the show, for example, professors at Harvard. The things that Americans believe about Canada is scary, and I wonder why they don't learn at least a little bit about our country. We learn some things about the US, and I can say many do not have such outrageous misconceptions about our neighbour to the south.