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Path: utzoo!utcsri!utai!utflis!brown
From: brown@utflis.UUCP (Susan Brown)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: our neighbors
Message-ID: <640@utflis.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-Dec-85 12:33:56 EST
Article-I.D.: utflis.640
Posted: Mon Dec 23 12:33:56 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 23-Dec-85 16:43:16 EST
References: <836@mmintl.UUCP> <5000167@uokvax.UUCP> <513@enmasse.UUCP> <1483@jhunix.UUCP>
Reply-To: brown@utflis.UUCP (Susan Brown)
Organization: FLIS, University of Toronto
Lines: 37
Summary: 

In article <1483@jhunix.UUCP> ins_akaa@jhunix.ARPA (Kenneth Adam Arromdee) writes:
>>> Gee Tim, you forgot...
>>> The Military Invasion and Subjugation of Canada.
>>> 		--Carl Rigney
>>The Mexicans remember the gringo invasion every year. The Nicaraguans
>>have such a long history of US intervention, armed and otherwise, that
>>they act totally paranoid. And then there is the Dominican Republic,
>>Cuba, Guatemala, Canada (we lost,) Chile, Grenada, the Phillipines,
>>and on and on and on. 
>>						Mark Roddy
>Canada: What do you mean, we lost Canada?  If you mean the War of 1812, it
>was against Britain.  Furthermore, our border with Canada is open.  We
>don't post guards to shoot people escaping to Canada.  We don't build a wall
>to prevent such escaping.  And Canada has no reason to worry about the US
>sending tanks in.  For that matter, I've never heard of Canadians being
>against Americans because of the War of 1812.

Probably because Americans are only taught one side of the War of 1812
(as would be true of most wars in most countries of course) and are
generally extremely ignorant of Canadian history of all kinds.  Of course
it was a long time ago and the last 100 years of peace have outweighed it
as a factor in modern politics, but *historically* it was very important.
Canada retained a link with Britain longer than they might otherwise have
done because they had been massively invaded by their much larger neighbor
*several* times between 1776 and 1869.  The War of 1812 is the best example.
Yet Walter Cronkite et. al. go on saying that "The United States never lost
a war until Vietnam."  

I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio and spent four years studying 
history at OSU before I came to Toronto, and have taught both American
and Canadian history here for several years.  Canadians' (mild) irritation
with American ignorance and presumptuousness is one of the things with which
I sympathize most.  It quite amazed me at first.  Of course I was younger
then. :-)


sympathize most