Dissident wrote:
Sportsdude wrote:
I wouldn't have to worry about the nationality thing because A) I'll probly burn my american citzenship which means B) I probly won't be dual.
And it wouldn't bother me because I've been called anti-american down here so do in rome as the romans do...[/DIV][/DIV]
Forgive me if I address you in a more "American" manner and if I'm perfectly blunt. This, after all, is an American-based forum . . .
Dude, you just don't get it. You could go around here with a big sign saying, "I Hate George Bush and the USA" on a maple leaf background or one of those silly "I am Canadian" beer shirts and people will still take the opportunity to dump on you because you were BORN American.
Your sentiments and your "paper status" are immaterial. As in the US, there are a lot of ignorant jerks here who love to find a target for their frustrations—and there is no political incorrectness in harrassing and discriminating against Americans. These people could give a rat's ass how you feel about the US, whether you hold Canadian citizenship or how much you love Canada. Yahoos like this blame us for everything from the lack of jobs in their field to astronomical housing costs to street crime to why it hasn't stopped raining in three weeks.
It doesn't matter if you don't customarily mention where you're from: once they find out, some of these bastards will make it their business to let everyone in your "shared milieu"—be it your neighbourhood, workplace or whatever—know, so that even before anyone has had a chance to get to know you and make up their mind about you, one of the first things you will hear upon meeting them is, "oh, you must be the American". From then on, you're always the outsider—and you'll hear about it whenever the US does something that people don't like, whether you are in agreement or not.
Believe me, I tried to slip in under the radar and just make a life for myself here. I was stupid enough to think it was possible. Before I even moved here I had people (usually women, so I assume it wasn't a pickup line) come up to me in the street or in shops and ask me if I had gone to high school with them, I looked familiar, was I from (White Rock, Port Alberni, New West, Ontario, wherever), so I figured that at least I didn't [SPAN style="FONT-STYLE: italic"]visually[/SPAN] stick out (plus there was the very real possibility that they may have been referring to a distant relation). Even now, as long as I'm in an anonymous situation I stand a chance, but once they find out I'm American it's a crap shoot.
So if you're asking if you're using Canada as a form of escapism, I have to answer: yes, you are. As I did.
If you don't act on the dream of escaping the US and reinventing yourself here amongst people who are "just like you", Canada will always be the shining city on the hill. If that's what you want, great. Just bear in mind that your fantasy bears about as much resemblance to reality as teenaged dreams of nailing your favourite pinup girl.
As I said, SD—not to be rude, just honest.
Hate to say it Dissadent. This isn't a "Canadian" thing. There are not too many countries, territories, or anywhere in the world an American could move to, or even visit where they wouldn't be anti-American sediment. The USA has done it to themselves. Sorry, this is planet earth. There are some great American people, too bad it has to be this way. You can thank the American's thirst for oil control for that.