How Patriotic Are You?
I can’t bring myself to sing the national anthem in public. On the rare occasion (probably the last time I was at a hockey game) where I am required to stand as it plays, I fight the following battle within myself: Sing; No. You’re supposed to; I don’t want to. You’re standing anyway, sing; No, I’ll feel stupid. Isn’t that sad? I’m too cool to sing the Canadian national anthem in a roomful of other Canadians; I haven’t opened my mouth and joined in since elementary school, when it didn’t faze me at all and I belted it out every morning. And I’m not alone – look around your local sporting event – most people are like me, standing silently, waiting for it to be over, or at the very most, mumbling the words quietly under their breath. To be fair, there will always be one or two shameless diehards, bellowing along energetically, bless their hearts.
I won’t be the first person to question the state of Canadian patriotism, or to point out how our love of country always seems to pale in comparison to the histrionic regard with which America, let’s say, holds its own. Patriotism is a powerful tool that can bring the disparate trillions of a nation together under “one love” – that of the nation – and it certainly works, but it is also, historically, a dangerous excuse for brutal conquest. America’s manifest destiny campaign, and Britain’s colonialism are examples of the way in which unchecked belief in the natural superiority of one’s country grants the “right” to trample the rights and freedoms of others, and in some cases, permission to wipe out or assimilate entire cultures. The world over, patriotism is a double-edged sword. It is good to believe in the greatness of one’s nation, because this is the best way to ensure an active and engaged citizenry, which is what every great nation needs to function; but it is evil to believe the ultimate illusion of nationalism outside of your own country. At some point, you stop being a Canadian, or an American, or a German, and face what you really are – a human earthling.
At any rate, this still doesn’t answer the question, are Canadians patriotic enough, if one can even quantify such a thing? To make like a grade school essay – Patriotism is defined as, “the love of one’s country; devotion to the welfare of one’s country; concern for the common good of one’s political community, and the willingness to sacrifice for it.” If you look at it this way, maybe herein lies the reason why Canadian patriotism is so tepid – we’ve never had to fight for it, and thus gained the confidence and pride that this affords. I remember reading in some F. Scott Fitzgerald book that the rich are soft in a way that the poor will never be. Canada is rich in peace and opportunity, but we’ve never had to sacrifice for it. Our love, as a nation, for our country, has never been tried, never been tested, and while that is, in this brutal world, a splendid thing, it makes us soft, maybe. As one can see in spoiled little rich kids all over the world, opportunity is hard to appreciate when you’ve never known anything else.
So the least I can do, the next time I’m at a sporting event and “Oh Canada” comes on . . . I can darn well sing. I’m going to close my eyes, and forget about everybody else, and belt it out like I did when I was six. I’m going to sing because I live in a physically beautiful and healthy nation, where I can say what I want, and do what I like, and be whatever I have it inside of me to be, because I live daily in a peaceful society where relative democracy reigns, and the rights and equalities of all men are strived to be upheld.
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October 18th, 2009 at 11:27 am
>why Canadian patriotism is so tepid – we’ve never had to fight for it,
ORLY? Perhaps you’ve never heard of the war of 1812?
Pierre Burton wrote two very good books on the subject, I suggest you give them a gander.
why not start here
http://books.google.ca/books?id=QBWcrvSMG_4C&dq=The+Invasion+of+Canada&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=SnNOZHMUCo&sig=NErW67mSweKGplTEUIfBWLzVffA&hl=en&ei=00HbSsrhIcuf8AbQ4oG3BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false
October 18th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
There’s a difference between patriotism and jingoism. To love your country can be measured in the steps you take to preserve it. There is a false association between public expressions of love and actual love of country.
I think Canadians have a healthy dose of skepticism, as a rule. They see patriotism down south as something authoritarian and rude. But they will carefully embed little gems of Canadian culture or maple leafs into logos and expressions. Quiet Canadian patriotism is not soft (not necessarily), but it is personal.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
That is really very sad.
I’m an ex-pat, living in New Jersey. As you might expect, I’m still “hooked” by the Toronto sports teams.
When games are held in Canada – especially during the Stanley Cup – the National Anthem is often played. I always sing along!
Usually, I sing the French version, because I really love the words. (We learned both, when I was in school.)
Hope you find your voice!
October 19th, 2009 at 12:47 am
First, a military battle for independence or freedom was never fought in our borders (except for the French, but of course they lost). The war of 1812 had NOTHING TO DO with Canada because Canada did not become a nation until 1867. I could laboriously spell out the founding of our Constitution and nationhood, but Pierre Burton wrote a good book on that as well. Peter Hogg wrote better one, as he is actually a Canadian scholar who does not subject Canadian identity on persons who were not at anytime Canadians. 1812, for those who won’t read, was instigated by the Americans in response to British hostility in the American colonies, and was directed towards British Colonies which of course is cheaper and more stealthily than building a massive navy and trying to sneak it across the pond and storm the Dover Cliffs. It wasn’t Canadians that stormed DC it was the English whose later children would, if they were upper class, live longer than the subsequent 45 years to actually become Canadians. Were English colonies “conquered”, however, current Canadian French problems would be over and Everything from Ontario East would be paying lower taxes all the while living under a better constitution. British Columbia would likely still be British, and likely also be in possession of not only Alaska but the Eastern Shores of Russia.
Second, the other reason Canadians are not patriotic is because so few of us actually come from Canada. Most are from somewhere else and are more excited about the culture where they came from because, quite frankly their culture is more interesting. Case in point – the French again. We have a separatist party with membership over a million strong that is shockingly allowed by our shortsighted constitutional documents. Hello!!! Another case in point would be Nova Scotia where people pretend like they live in Old Scotland. Then there is Newfoundland, which until 1949 wasn’t even a part of Canada and is so utterly weird that the people there don’t even identify with Federalism, let alone, especially now with their oil reserves, want it. Canada is provincial by nature. The reason that we are so unpatriotic is because we seldom politically care for anything outside our massive, yet provincial, jurisdictions. The only “really” patriotic Canadians I ever meet are from Ontario, but their patriotism is really just- pro Ontarioism and anti-Francophone or proud to be tolerant of Francoophone (which usually depends of whether they were in a Catholic government funded school or not). If you hate Ontario, as most Canadians not living there actually do, then how can you be pro-Canadian. As I see it out west, Ontario could be wiped off the map and the only effect I would see is the loss of one Uncle and significantly reduced taxes.
Then of course you are assuming that, minus, everyone else’s culture that we somehow have our own. Fine, if you want to read Margaret Atwood poetry about growing up on the prairies knock your self out. Crunch crunch crunch was the icy snow between my feet, my toes curling up against the December chill, the horizon stretching from the Rockies to Hudson’s Bay… Well that was fun but after thousands of pages of Canadian literature, I have to say it gets old. So really true patriot love? in a nation seriously contemplating allowing Sharia law for people who don’t like the one we have here? come on. The only thing with patriotism we try to do here in Canada is like Don Cherry and convince ourselves that being multicultural is how Canadians are patriotic. All our culture was, and forever will be, imported just like us.
Cheers