Can open...you-know-what all over.

“Newsroom” star Emily Mortimer: Canadians are dangerously uninformed.

No, that's not the Salon.com article's headline. The British actress's comments don't have to do with us, but with 'them'. Our neighbours to the south. 

But regardless of what she has to say...it's very interesting reading...what's all the more interesting is the reaction from readers. 

My... Americans really, really don't like anyone making observations about them, do they?

Especially those liberal asswipes, actors. The Hollywood elite. Yadda, yadda, is-it-time-to-go-home-yet? yadda. 

Here's the thing: I grew up in the shadow of the elephant. I've visited the US over the past near-50 years, I've even lived there. And as someone who moved off the continent nearing the conclusion of the previous millennium, I can tell you that even if we're just looking at the headline, Ms Mortimer is correct. (She also phrased them as 'improperly informed'.) 

To me, it's a paradox. A culture absurdly self-involved and fixated on navel-gazing as a sport...and yet wilfully oblivious to the obvious. (Proof of its self-indulgent nature can be found in the fact that it takes more than two years to get to an election. Sweet Jaysus; Can you imagine a courtship for a marriage that lasts say, twenty years, taking a decade? Or taking two hours to get ready for a four-hour date?)

Many Americans can't see what's obvious to 'outsiders'. (And for the record, I learned as much about being Canada and being a Canadian from living in the UK as I did about Life in The UK. Which is why I will forever believe 'Americans need to get out more.') Once in a while, when I allow myself to see and hear things with fresh eyes and ears, I am exposed to the excesses and the indulgences that are the hallmark of a society lost up its own primary orifice. (Unreasonably harsh? Maybe. But I've earned the right to make the observations I make, having been exposed to so much, having witnessed so much up close. I am, if nothing else, fair, because I have a profound sense of respect and admiration for the country that is, to a great extent, my home-away-from-home.) 

I'm posting this on this blog simply as an illustration of how important authentic engagement resulting from informed, qualified opinions is. Otherwise, you get a mess that few participants are capable of wanting to sort out. 

There are lessons in there for Hamiltonians...we, the people. 

M Adrian Brassington