Many Americans are a self-congratulatory bunch. We are insular in our belief that innovation, morality, and righteousness is solely our purview. Interestingly, most people around the world including Canadians when allowed to speak candidly have a completely different interpretation on us than most do of ourselves.
Canadians’ thoughts on Americans
One should never generalize when describing individuals, but most paint citizens of every country with a personality in the aggregate. These Canadians’ views of Americans sting. Unfortunately, this is how we are viewed by citizens of most other countries as well. It does not help that we elected a man who disparages the rest of the world, who is always talking about America first at the expense of everyone else, and that is merely an ineffective, incompetent leader.
The Canadians impression of Americans is that they are warmongering and discriminatory. Other said Americans are power hungry, pushy, and arrogant. On news sites, they ridicule America’s false sense of patriotism and use of God as a weapon. They consider Americans backward and dumb.
The beliefs Canadians have are not all wrong. There has been a concerted effort to dumb down and indoctrinate Americans over the last 30 years. The Powell Memo laid the groundwork, and it is in full swing. So while Canadians feel morally superior as they demean many of our faults, it should not be unexpected. We continue to do everything necessary to show we are hypocrites (e.g., Evangelicals supporting one of the least Christ-like people on the planet) and, show we do not care about the well-being of all of its citizens (e.g., the lack of healthcare for all and a living wage).
America has to change from within one person at a time. It won’t come from a leadership that is infected by an economic system that pilfers most Americans and morals of Evangelicals who have left their core beliefs.