Cultural Comparisons

When we can't agree on anything, lets try to agree we don't like America

Both Australia and Canada have a vocal anti-American element of the population. The anti-American sentiment may stem from a fear that America is culturally colonising them with fast food, sitcoms, fashion, movies, values, ideology or sports. If so, the fear is a little odd because the English speakers of both Canada and Australia don't have strong cultural identities to begin with so they shouldn't be afraid of losing anything. Furthermore, in the age of globalisation, other countries have culturally influenced both Canada and Australia and the influence is often labelled "cultural enrichment." There is no logical reason why a McDonalds chain should be villified while a Sushi Bento chain be celebrated, especially when an indigenous fast-food chain isn't being promoted as an alternative.

The criticism of America probably stems from the multicultural identity. Under multiculturalism, bigotry is strictly taboo; however, bigotry is not bigotry when the target of criticism comes from the same race as the person making the criticism. For one reason or another, Americans are seen to be the same race as Australians and Canadians and can therefore be criticised freely. On the other hand, criticism of Sudanese or Indian culture would be seen as small-minded racism. Ironically then, criticism of America is often a sign of a race-based identity that, in a multicultural society, is racist.

An interesting expression of Canada's double standards in regards to America came in a Human Rights investigation of writer Mark Steyn for his perceived anti-Muslim comments. When defenders of Steyn said he had a right to free speech, Canadian Human Rights Investigator Dean Steacy said,

"Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don't give it any value."

In Steacy's mind, expressing contempt for American values was acceptable but expressing contempt for Muslim values was not. This was probably because Steacy felt that, because he belonged to the same racial/cultural group as Americans, his criticism of Americans did not constitute racism.

In Australia, a similar kind of racism was expressed by ABC anchorwoman Virginia Trioli who responded to news that Boston marathon runners had been the victims of a terrorist attack by saying,

"that’s the contrast that we always have on a day like today when it seems to me where we are overly focusing on what happens to rich white people in the West,versus what happens on a daily basis in those countries."

Trioli's comment was racist because it created a homogenise stereotype that Americans are rich and white and therefore not deserving of sympathy. Not only was it inaccurate, it also was stated with malicious intent.