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Could Microsoft buy Canada?

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Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: silverpig
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: silverpig
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: silverpig
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Originally posted by: CubicZirconia
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Canadians are absolutely obsessed with the United States. They complain how the US is called America. They complain about some old jet program (Avro Arrow) and blame the US for it. They complain about softwood lumber and other facts that the population is obsessed with only shows how obsessed they are. Then they go on and talk about great Canadians like Mike Myers, Jim Carey, etc. but they don't realize that they were essentially made by Americans.

The US is like the latest video card, Canada is like the obscure, no-frills video card. Nobody cares about it, but everyone knows all the latest specs of the US.

I'm a big fan of America, but I have to admit, those are a couple of weak ass similes.

I'll have to disagree 🙂 The truth isn't nice, sugar-coated, etc.

He's saying they were stupid, and he'd be right.

No, it seems pretty good without sugar coating anything. Everyone wants to know about the US since it's the biggest player on the world stage. Canada is almost insignificant (when compared to the US and others) on the world stage. This isn't an insult against Canada as it's a fantastic country. The bottom line is that nobody anywhere but Canada would even bother to learn anything about the country or its government.

Maybe the American media has you believing everyone wants to know about the US, but that doesn't make it so. Either way, that still doesn't mean his analogy wasn't stupid. Relating countries to video cards is kind of... well, not elegant.

Fine, change 'wants to know' to 'is force fed'. People from all over the world know who is in the president's cabinet. The election of one of our state's governors was big news all over the world. The election of the US president is reported on internationally. The simple fact is that anything of the same nature happening to Canada's government would probably not even be mentioned in the first few pages of a newspaper.

All I'm saying is that everyone knows about American (whether they want to or not) is because it's heavily reported upon because it's the largest player on the world scene. Canada's government or Canada itself is not well known simply because its actions have almost no impact on 'important' country in the world.

The analogy of video cards might be stupid, but it kind of fits. I would guess that the video cards was used because this is a tech site. 😉

No one is saying the US isn't a bigger player than Canada on the world scene. That's not what we're arguing. The US being bigger than Canada does not mean that Canadians are obsessed with the US.

No, but it causes more 'obsession'...it's one of the roots of their 'fixation'. That's what I've been trying to say the entire time.

You obviously know nothing about what Canadians pay attention to. Just because one person starts a thread on ATOT which gets 3 posters from each country responding to it does not mean that any of the other 30 million Canadians is fixated on the US.
 
Originally posted by: silverpig
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: silverpig
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: silverpig
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: silverpig
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Originally posted by: CubicZirconia
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Canadians are absolutely obsessed with the United States. They complain how the US is called America. They complain about some old jet program (Avro Arrow) and blame the US for it. They complain about softwood lumber and other facts that the population is obsessed with only shows how obsessed they are. Then they go on and talk about great Canadians like Mike Myers, Jim Carey, etc. but they don't realize that they were essentially made by Americans.

The US is like the latest video card, Canada is like the obscure, no-frills video card. Nobody cares about it, but everyone knows all the latest specs of the US.

I'm a big fan of America, but I have to admit, those are a couple of weak ass similes.

I'll have to disagree 🙂 The truth isn't nice, sugar-coated, etc.

He's saying they were stupid, and he'd be right.

No, it seems pretty good without sugar coating anything. Everyone wants to know about the US since it's the biggest player on the world stage. Canada is almost insignificant (when compared to the US and others) on the world stage. This isn't an insult against Canada as it's a fantastic country. The bottom line is that nobody anywhere but Canada would even bother to learn anything about the country or its government.

Maybe the American media has you believing everyone wants to know about the US, but that doesn't make it so. Either way, that still doesn't mean his analogy wasn't stupid. Relating countries to video cards is kind of... well, not elegant.

Fine, change 'wants to know' to 'is force fed'. People from all over the world know who is in the president's cabinet. The election of one of our state's governors was big news all over the world. The election of the US president is reported on internationally. The simple fact is that anything of the same nature happening to Canada's government would probably not even be mentioned in the first few pages of a newspaper.

All I'm saying is that everyone knows about American (whether they want to or not) is because it's heavily reported upon because it's the largest player on the world scene. Canada's government or Canada itself is not well known simply because its actions have almost no impact on 'important' country in the world.

The analogy of video cards might be stupid, but it kind of fits. I would guess that the video cards was used because this is a tech site. 😉

No one is saying the US isn't a bigger player than Canada on the world scene. That's not what we're arguing. The US being bigger than Canada does not mean that Canadians are obsessed with the US.

No, but it causes more 'obsession'...it's one of the roots of their 'fixation'. That's what I've been trying to say the entire time.

You obviously know nothing about what Canadians pay attention to. Just because one person starts a thread on ATOT which gets 3 posters from each country responding to it does not mean that any of the other 30 million Canadians is fixated on the US.

Yes I do. What I said wasn't based off of one thread - why would anyone do anything like that.

If you're upset that Canadians think and discuss more often about the US than Americans do of Canada, then I'm sorry..but that's just the simple truth. Additionally, by quoting 'fixation' and 'obsession', I didn't mean it as strongly as the quoted words.
 
just going to give a recent example I had recently when I was in England last month.

I had a bunch of travellers checks that I needed cashed. Well went to one store and they flat out said no.

Then when I was talking with my gf mentioned something, then they said "oh are you from Canada" then she gladly took my travellers checks...

Canada is well knwon internationally. Canada plays a key role in many peace keeping missions, not occupation missions...

 
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: silverpig
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: silverpig
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: silverpig
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: silverpig
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Originally posted by: CubicZirconia
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Canadians are absolutely obsessed with the United States. They complain how the US is called America. They complain about some old jet program (Avro Arrow) and blame the US for it. They complain about softwood lumber and other facts that the population is obsessed with only shows how obsessed they are. Then they go on and talk about great Canadians like Mike Myers, Jim Carey, etc. but they don't realize that they were essentially made by Americans.

The US is like the latest video card, Canada is like the obscure, no-frills video card. Nobody cares about it, but everyone knows all the latest specs of the US.

I'm a big fan of America, but I have to admit, those are a couple of weak ass similes.

I'll have to disagree 🙂 The truth isn't nice, sugar-coated, etc.

He's saying they were stupid, and he'd be right.

No, it seems pretty good without sugar coating anything. Everyone wants to know about the US since it's the biggest player on the world stage. Canada is almost insignificant (when compared to the US and others) on the world stage. This isn't an insult against Canada as it's a fantastic country. The bottom line is that nobody anywhere but Canada would even bother to learn anything about the country or its government.

Maybe the American media has you believing everyone wants to know about the US, but that doesn't make it so. Either way, that still doesn't mean his analogy wasn't stupid. Relating countries to video cards is kind of... well, not elegant.

Fine, change 'wants to know' to 'is force fed'. People from all over the world know who is in the president's cabinet. The election of one of our state's governors was big news all over the world. The election of the US president is reported on internationally. The simple fact is that anything of the same nature happening to Canada's government would probably not even be mentioned in the first few pages of a newspaper.

All I'm saying is that everyone knows about American (whether they want to or not) is because it's heavily reported upon because it's the largest player on the world scene. Canada's government or Canada itself is not well known simply because its actions have almost no impact on 'important' country in the world.

The analogy of video cards might be stupid, but it kind of fits. I would guess that the video cards was used because this is a tech site. 😉

No one is saying the US isn't a bigger player than Canada on the world scene. That's not what we're arguing. The US being bigger than Canada does not mean that Canadians are obsessed with the US.

No, but it causes more 'obsession'...it's one of the roots of their 'fixation'. That's what I've been trying to say the entire time.

You obviously know nothing about what Canadians pay attention to. Just because one person starts a thread on ATOT which gets 3 posters from each country responding to it does not mean that any of the other 30 million Canadians is fixated on the US.

Yes I do. What I said wasn't based off of one thread - why would anyone do anything like that.

If you're upset that Canadians think and discuss more often about the US than Americans do of Canada, then you're just delusional. Additionally, by quoting 'fixation' and 'obsession', I didn't mean it as strongly as the quoted words.

Uh, no you don't. And I never said said that Americans talk about Canadians more than we do of them. I'm sure the opposite is true. But that does NOT mean that we are "absolutely obsessed" which, if you care to look at the bolded part of this message which we have each quoted numerous times, is really what we're talking about. I don't know what you've been arguing this whole time, but that's what I've been talking about.
 
Fine, change 'absolutely obsessed' to 'unusually fixated'.

All I'm saying is that Canadians are far more fixated on the US than Americans are of Canada. The reasons are obvious and justified, but it doesn't dismiss the the nature of it.

Also, as I said much earlier: "Fine, but Canadians definitely talk about and discuss and whine about the United States much more than Americans discuss/whine/talk about Canada. The reasons why they discuss it are clear to me and it does justify the discussion (or obsession as some like to call it) of the US. "

Read the entire thread.
 
Not once have I disagreed with that. Canadians talk about the US (espeically its foreign policy) more than Americans do about Canada. No surprise there. It's not an obsession though.
 
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Fine, change 'absolutely obsessed' to 'unusually fixated'.
All I'm saying is that Canadians are far more fixated on the US than Americans are of Canada. The reasons are obvious and justified, but it doesn't dismiss the the nature of it.

Get over yourself. I have no doubt that Canadians talk about the US more than vice-versa but it doesn't give make us "unusually fixated". I'm sure Polish people spoke of the USSR much more than vice-versa in the 80s but that doesn't mean that Poles are obsessed with the USSR; it simply means that the effect of USSR's actions had more effects on Poland than vice-versa.

Ever wonder why Americans are perceived as being self-centered?
rolleye.gif
 
Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Fine, change 'absolutely obsessed' to 'unusually fixated'.
All I'm saying is that Canadians are far more fixated on the US than Americans are of Canada. The reasons are obvious and justified, but it doesn't dismiss the the nature of it.

Get over yourself. I have no doubt that Canadians talk about the US more than vice-versa but it doesn't give make us "unusually fixated". I'm sure Polish people spoke of the USSR much more than vice-versa in the 80s but that doesn't mean that Poles are obsessed with the USSR; it simply means that the effect of USSR's actions had more effects on Poland than vice-versa.

Ever wonder why Americans are perceived as being self-centered?
rolleye.gif

Ever wonder why peole don't realize Canada exists? It's because they talk about America so much, people think they're Americans 😀
 
Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Fine, change 'absolutely obsessed' to 'unusually fixated'.
All I'm saying is that Canadians are far more fixated on the US than Americans are of Canada. The reasons are obvious and justified, but it doesn't dismiss the the nature of it.

Get over yourself. I have no doubt that Canadians talk about the US more than vice-versa but it doesn't give make us "unusually fixated". I'm sure Polish people spoke of the USSR much more than vice-versa in the 80s but that doesn't mean that Poles are obsessed with the USSR; it simply means that the effect of USSR's actions had more effects on Poland than vice-versa.

Ever wonder why Americans are perceived as being self-centered?
rolleye.gif

No, I think that Canadians do have an unusual fixation on the United States. I'm not going to get over reality. Drop unusual if you are going to cry about it, but like it or not, Canadians do have a fixation on America and it is unusual from my perspective.

I guess it's for the same reason why Canadians are perceived as America-obsessed.

Americans probably are very self centered, being that they live in the most influential country in the current world stage.
 
a lot of Americans though typically do think highly of themselves, and think everyone does admire them.

"Youre just a whiny ass anti_s idiot who doesnt even have the brains to realize he is on an American site on the American Internet, thats right, the AMERICAN INTERNET. Do you think those lazy fools in the EU could have created this? So stay off the net, or at least off American sites if you hate the US so much. you're worse than the drunk at the bar cursing everyone for drinking"

quote from alistari or whatever his name was. I know the actions of one does not represnet all, but it still says a lot about how highly some americans think of themselves
 
Originally posted by: zer0burn
a lot of Americans though typically do think highly of themselves, and think everyone does admire them.

"Youre just a whiny ass anti_s idiot who doesnt even have the brains to realize he is on an American site on the American Internet, thats right, the AMERICAN INTERNET. Do you think those lazy fools in the EU could have created this? So stay off the net, or at least off American sites if you hate the US so much. you're worse than the drunk at the bar cursing everyone for drinking"

quote from alistari or whatever his name was. I know the actions of one does not represnet all, but it still says a lot about how highly some americans think of themselves

Obviously Americans think highly of themselves. They're from the most powerful country (economically, scientifically, militarily, politically, and culturally) in the world. Canadians seem to take offense that they're not on the same level, even when they're not even competing!

By the way, the guy's sig you quoted is a violently extreme EU-patriot. He's so whacko that he was going to scan and upload him passport, drivers license, birth certificate, and family tree to try to "win" an argument.
 
so you agree that Americans do think highly of themselves.

SO maybe you have it the wrong way around, true Canadians may know more about the states then the states know about Canada, nevertheless this seems to have been misconstrewed by Americans and its gone straight to their heads thinking Canadians are fixated on Americans.
 
Originally posted by: zer0burn
so you agree that Americans do think highly of themselves.

SO maybe you have it the wrong way around, true Canadians may know more about the states then the states know about Canada, nevertheless this seems to have been misconstrewed by Americans and its gone straight to their heads thinking Canadians are fixated on Americans.

No, it hasn't gone to their heads since Americans never talk about Canada 😀
 
Originally posted by: SweetSweetLeroyBrown
Originally posted by: Sukhoi
Why not? Is Canada really worth more than $80 billion?


Canada is not "owned" by anyone. Thus, no Microsoft could not buy it.

Canada owns itself thus you could theoretically buy it.

And, OMG what did I start??
 
Originally posted by: Sukhoi
Originally posted by: SweetSweetLeroyBrown
Originally posted by: Sukhoi
Why not? Is Canada really worth more than $80 billion?


Canada is not "owned" by anyone. Thus, no Microsoft could not buy it.

Canada owns itself thus you could theoretically buy it.

And, OMG what did I start??

Maybe MS could buy up an army and conquer Canada, too. I mean they only have one tank. It shouldn't cost MS much to buy 3 or 4 tanks and one helicopter with water balloons attached to it to act as bombs. 😉
 
Originally posted by: zer0burn
so you agree that Americans do think highly of themselves.

SO maybe you have it the wrong way around, true Canadians may know more about the states then the states know about Canada, nevertheless this seems to have been misconstrewed by Americans and its gone straight to their heads thinking Canadians are fixated on Americans.

No, you've got it wrong... Americans just assume that everyone in the world spends every waking hour discussing them because they've got a superiority complex and deep down they're all attention whores 😛 😉.
 
I'm so not getting into this argument... but I just wanted to note something.

It was stated that the U.S. does'nt talk or care about Canada. Well how come in every thread, that remotely has an inkling of Canada vs. the U.S., that all the americans get right into the slamming, bashing, putting down, or any other type knocking of Canada? If you really don't care about us...then why get so bent out of shape, trying to convince us how not worthy we are to be in the same universe as the U.S.? If in fact we are so insignificant to you, why bother getting in on an argument about it?


Not looking for a fight, just throwing it out there. I'm officially not responding to this thread again 🙂 Phewww! Safe 😛 🙂
 
I have lived in Canada for nearly twenty years and during my travels all over the world I have never once, not once, heard Canadians described as America-obsessed. Not once. I would love for you to provide evidence, anecdotal or otherwise.

I have visited places where I have been instructed to advertise my Canadian citizenship, for fear I'm mistaken for an American.

Oh, and whether or not Canada is allegedly unknown, the country routinely ranks higher than the USA in the UNDP's rankings. In fact, Canada had held the top spot seven years in a row.


 
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Originally posted by: zer0burn
so you agree that Americans do think highly of themselves.

SO maybe you have it the wrong way around, true Canadians may know more about the states then the states know about Canada, nevertheless this seems to have been misconstrewed by Americans and its gone straight to their heads thinking Canadians are fixated on Americans.

No, it hasn't gone to their heads since Americans never talk about Canada 😀

You seem to be spending an awful amount of energy not talking about Canada.
 
Originally posted by: Sealy
I'm so not getting into this argument... but I just wanted to note something.

It was stated that the U.S. does'nt talk or care about Canada. Well how come in every thread, that remotely has an inkling of Canada vs. the U.S., that all the americans get right into the slamming, bashing, putting down, or any other type knocking of Canada? If you really don't care about us...then why get so bent out of shape, trying to convince us how not worthy we are to be in the same universe as the U.S.? If in fact we are so insignificant to you, why bother getting in on an argument about it?


Not looking for a fight, just throwing it out there. I'm officially not responding to this thread again 🙂 Phewww! Safe 😛 🙂

Nobody said that Canadians are insignificant as people. Whoever said that is an idiot.

The Internet and real life are completely different things.

I don't believe that I have even talked about Canada to anybody in the last 5 years. Canada making front page news isn't exactly happening much. Canada as a nation is less influential and therefore more insignificant than larger countries like the US.
 
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: Sealy
I'm so not getting into this argument... but I just wanted to note something.

It was stated that the U.S. does'nt talk or care about Canada. Well how come in every thread, that remotely has an inkling of Canada vs. the U.S., that all the americans get right into the slamming, bashing, putting down, or any other type knocking of Canada? If you really don't care about us...then why get so bent out of shape, trying to convince us how not worthy we are to be in the same universe as the U.S.? If in fact we are so insignificant to you, why bother getting in on an argument about it?


Not looking for a fight, just throwing it out there. I'm officially not responding to this thread again 🙂 Phewww! Safe 😛 🙂

Nobody said that Canadians are insignificant as people. Whoever said that is an idiot.

The Internet and real life are completely different things.

I don't believe that I have even talked about Canada to anybody in the last 5 years. Canada making front page news isn't exactly happening much. Canada as a nation is less influential and therefore more insignificant than larger countries like the US.

But ranked a better place to live.
 
Originally posted by: brigden
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
Originally posted by: zer0burn
so you agree that Americans do think highly of themselves.

SO maybe you have it the wrong way around, true Canadians may know more about the states then the states know about Canada, nevertheless this seems to have been misconstrewed by Americans and its gone straight to their heads thinking Canadians are fixated on Americans.

No, it hasn't gone to their heads since Americans never talk about Canada 😀

You seem to be spending an awful amount of energy not talking about Canada.

It's very rare to talk about it in real life, talking about it on the Internet is a real treat 😀
 
Originally posted by: brigden
Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
Originally posted by: Sealy
I'm so not getting into this argument... but I just wanted to note something.

It was stated that the U.S. does'nt talk or care about Canada. Well how come in every thread, that remotely has an inkling of Canada vs. the U.S., that all the americans get right into the slamming, bashing, putting down, or any other type knocking of Canada? If you really don't care about us...then why get so bent out of shape, trying to convince us how not worthy we are to be in the same universe as the U.S.? If in fact we are so insignificant to you, why bother getting in on an argument about it?


Not looking for a fight, just throwing it out there. I'm officially not responding to this thread again 🙂 Phewww! Safe 😛 🙂

Nobody said that Canadians are insignificant as people. Whoever said that is an idiot.

The Internet and real life are completely different things.

I don't believe that I have even talked about Canada to anybody in the last 5 years. Canada making front page news isn't exactly happening much. Canada as a nation is less influential and therefore more insignificant than larger countries like the US.

But ranked a better place to live.

Still less important on the world stage. That's not a knock on Canadians, but explains why nobody really knows about Canada and its government. I should have edited my statement previously to make it sound better, but I'm just saying that Canada is not as well known, reported on, or even talked about internationally.

The US was ranked by the UN as a better place to live than Canada in 2003. And, of course, I know this fact because Canadians used to ALWAYS bring this report up....and then I remember myself posting a thread about with 'Bad News for Canadians' as the thread title when the US actually ranked higher than Canada last year. It's a silly little report anyways and I believe that it also benefits a more socialist system anyways. Is your information updated for 2004 or has that report even been released yet?


http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0778562.html
 
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