POSTED RESPONSE TO COLUMN BY CLIVE CROOK IN THE FINANCIAL TIMES
"Mr Chuckman, why are Canadians are so obsessed with America and Americans, studying American history to glean anything and everything that can be used to bolster long formed opinions of 'America the Evil' then spewing it ad naseum. If only Canadians spent 1/10 as much time worrying about what's wrong with Canada."
Constance P, that is a truly fatuous comment, and I note that is in the very spirit of American politics being discussed.
Did your words possess any validity, there would be no reason to analyze or criticize anything.
I do not claim to be an expert on America, but it is a subject I know rather well, having been born and having spent close to half my life in the place.
In my effort to understand the world in which I live, America is a subject about which I have read a great many books, and I have written one and am in the process of writing a second.
I do think myself qualified to make comments on the subject, quite likely somewhat more than yourself.
At any rate, ad hominem argument - yours - has been recognized for centuries as invalid logic, indeed as no argument at all.
America's people constitute about five percent of the world's population, and its active voters a far smaller fraction, perhaps on the order of one percent.
So when America swings its economic and military weight around in world affairs, which it does certainly day and night, it is in effect acting as an aristocracy. After all, the Communist Party of China represents about the same fraction of the Chinese population, and it is in for constant carping and criticism, especially from America.
When a small group of people so affects the lives of others, I take it to be your view that those affected aren't supposed to say anything.
A limited view, to say the least.
That last of yours is embarrassingly revealing. What do you know about Canada and Canadians to qualify you to make such a specific comment as you do?
Your saying that only reveals the same thinking pattern of which you accuse me.
I would roughly assay the quality of your comment as coming pretty close to twenty-four karat Sarah Palin.
