The Big O

No, not that O, nor Oprah. My mind is more on the Olympics, and O Canada!

Canada: the Great White North. Or, as it might just as easily be called in the USA: the Great Unknown! Ah, Canada. Americans know a few things about you:

1. Hockey.
2. That your people say "Eh". Whether or not this is really all that common, I have no idea. I think it might be the Canadian equivalent to England's "Cheerio", ie: something many Americans imagine people to say all the time, but is heard rarely, if ever. I might be wrong, but my gut tells me I might be right.
3. Universal healthcare. Many Americans are wary of the Canadian model, Medicaid. Probably because it is named the same as our own fledgling indigent care program, and federally structured in a vaguely similar way. It is also frequently compared to HMOs, which are not that popular. People south of the border generally imagine this is a nightmare, or a dream come true, depending.
4. Molson beer.
5. There is no five, most Americans know exactly four things about Canada.

Luckily, Tom Brokaw and the good people at NBC conjured a little montage (visible here!) to explain Canada and its relationship to the US, shown during their coverage immediately preceding the opening ceremony. There are many things annoying about this. For one, it was just the beginning of the non-stop montages and human interest sob stories that clutter NBC's coverage of the games. I don't know if thats how they are covered on TV in other countries, but it gets annoying. Just show me the sports, when they happen, and tell me a little about the athletes. I don't need to know about their aunt's struggle with constipation. That, and all the commercial breaks.

I digress. That little piece of reportage, while highly celebratory of Canada and her special relationship with the US, struck me as a little... patronizing. Both of Canada, and of the American TV viewership. It was definitely US-centric, but that isn't really unexpected. I was bothered that it portrayed Canada's worth as a country mostly as a function of its utilitarian value to the United States, as in, "Canada is great, look at all we get from it!" It kind of reminds me of the scene from Love, Actually in which UK Prime Minister Hugh Grant tells off the US president, saying he just takes takes takes and never gives in that other "special relationship". Perhaps that is how the US comes across in its relations with a lot of other countries, through foreign eyes. The NBC piece, in my view, reinforces the notion that countries only matter inasmuch as they contribute to the United States' dominance and strength, and only insofar as they have similar qualities to the US. 

Of course, it was nice of NBC to try and educate Americans on Canada, because people are definitely under-informed. However, it could have done so in a way that was a bit more about Canada itself, rather than about Canada: A Subsidiary of America, Inc.