Stephen Brunt - What These Games mean to Canada

While watching CTV's Olympic coverage this weekend I encountered an interesting segment narrated by Stephen Brunt which talks about how these Olympic games have instilled a sense of patriotism in all Canadians that has never been there before. He mentions that not only in communities in the Greater Vancouver area are you finding signs of patriotism but also in communities throughout the other Canadian provinces and territories. He states that we as Canadians "like to think of ourselves in contrast to our neighbours in the south, as self-effacing sports who don't need flag wagginf and pledges of allegions" and that in comparing ourselves to our overtly, and often obnoxiously patriotic American neighbours we have defined ourselves by knowing that this is what we are not. However, he suggests that these Olympics have brought a change to our country, giving us as a nation something to be proud of. Shani Davis, an American speed skater, mentions that he was not aware of how patriotic Canadians can be, that he always thought that Americans were the most patriotic fans, but that now his opinion on that has changed. I found this segment very interesting as I too have seen myself becoming more patriotic as these games progress. For example, I myself have never even watched Men's Moguls Skiing before but I found myself glued to the television cheering on Alex Bilodeau as he won the first Gold medal for a Canadian on Canadian soil. Within an hour of Bilodeau's win I watched his facebook page grow from 94 fans to 2,000 fans. I was wondering if anyone else has found themselves in this same position, acting more and more like our American counterparts as these games continue?

I have linked the video to this posting for anyone interested.

Video

Some Interesting Border Disputes and Anomalies

Reflecting on Daniel Draches essay “Borders Permeable and Impermeable” were he talks about how the Canada-U.S. border really represents a symbolic battle-line were the two countries have a history of quarrelling over issues of resources, security, cultural visions etc. to advance their own strategic interests, I found an interesting article on contemporary U.S.-Canadian border disputes and border anomalies. Admittedly most of these disputes are not very exciting. However, the one in the Beaufort Sea has a lot of strategic value and might take on greater significance as we begin to exhaust our fossil fuel resources. Also, like the Beaufort Sea but on a larger scale, I think we can include the emerging dispute over Artic boundaries (potential oil and gas reserves) as a future location for a clash over resources.

Four contemporary border disputes

The Dixon Entrance: is a strait between B.C. and Alaska about 80 km long and wide in the Pacific and is the main entry point for Prince Rupert, B.C.

Beaufort Sea: the two countries disagree over who has sovereignty over part of the northern sea between the Yukon and Alaska due to oil and gas located below the water.

Strait of Juan de Fuca: is a body of water connecting Puget Sound to the Pacific Ocean between Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.

Machias Seal Island: is a treeless rock located between the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Maine near Grand Manan Island New Brunswick and Cutler, Maine. Canada has had a lighthouse there since 1832.

A couple of border anomalies.

Point Roberts: a peninsula that juts out into the Strait of Georgia on the West Coast, but the bottom half belongs to the state of Washington. Americans have to drive 45 minutes through B.C. to get to the American part of Point Roberts. A treaty signed on June 15,1855, between the British and the Americans drew the border along the 49th parallel across the peninsula, but the border was adjusted to include Vancouver Island as part of British territory.

The Northwest Angle: Minnesota's Northwest Angle (a peninsula attached to Manitoba) was created by accident due to mapmakers' vague conceptions of the origins of the Mississippi River. When the river turned up south of where they expected, the border dropped down too, leaving an isolated 390 square km piece of the U.S. appended to Manitoba. About 100 Americans call that piece of land home.

Checkpoint America?

I find it interesting that the current militarization of the U.S/Canadian border is viewed by many Canadians as a post 9-11 phenomenon and that it is still characterized by Canadian officials and the media as the “longest undefended border in the world.” This is evident in the general reaction to the stationing of Predator drones along the border in 2009 in what many saw as a challenge to the border's distinction as being undefended. Most people tend to think of a militarized border as a border divided by razor wire and concrete walls, defended by soldiers armed with military grade weaponry. However, just because the 49^th parallel doesn’t resemble the 38^th parallel, doesn’t mean that the U.S/Canadian border has always been open and undefended. The numerous cross border agreements between the two countries concerning everything from security and trade to intelligence sharing and the militarization of customs officials on the U.S side (U.S. Customs agents are armed as well as any militarized urban American police force) were all in place prior to 9-11. Moreover, the U.S. Coast Guard has always patrolled the waterways between the two countries and despite the flap over the use of live ammunition during training exercise’s, their ships have always been armed. Hence, our border with the U.S. has always been defended and our security apparatuses have always worked together to a certain degree. 9-11 only brought these realities into focus.

USA, Canada rivalry has evolved over time

I found an interesting story on nhl.com today about the "Border War" as they are calling it between USA and Canada regarding hockey. The article starts by talking about how this rivalry goes back "to the days when there only were six NHL teams, the Original Six and though 95 percent of the players were Canadians, two-thirds of the teams were based in American cities. In those days, NHL scouts would check on American players only if absolutely forced to and U.S.-born skaters would be greeted with dismissive gestures, if not derogatory comments, from their Canadian teammates upon entering NHL dressing rooms". I found that pretty interesting, because I sometimes like to believe that Canadians would not do things such as make derogatory comments to Americans, especially in "our" sport! This article also talks about how this rivalry is often related to, or "wrapped up in geopolitics as well and the unique relationship between two bordering countries that couldn't be more alike and friendly in most ways. The larger nation to the north traditionally has been a bit wary, if not envious, of the military, political and cultural clout of the far more populous nation south of the 49th Parallel".
Check out the article! It's getting me even more excited for the Canada/USA game tomorrow!

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=518285&navid=DL|NHL|home

Windsor Star Questions Canadian/American Divide

Measuring Canadians and Self-reliance

By Leonard Stern, Ottawa Citizen February 10, 2010

There is, everyone knows, a tradition of anti-Americanism in Canada. It can be genuinely hostile, like when Canadian parliamentarian Carolyn Parrish said she hates "those bastards," or it can be mocking, like when Rick Mercer went to the U.S. to investigate just how stupid Americans really are. (I've always wondered what Mercer did with the outtakes of Americans who, refusing the bait, didn't embarrass themselves on camera.)

Underlying our attitude toward Americans is the assumption that we are different from them -- and that typically means superior. The catalogue of differences is thick, but it comes down to the conceit that Canadians have an egalitarian and community-minded ethos that is absent in the U.S.

Turns out that those long-standing Canadian assumptions are wrong.

Full Article here...

This study reminded me of the first day of class where we listed stereotypical cliches of what it meant to be either Canadian or American. And as Canadian students we played right into the stigma of hate that many Canadians harbour, stating that American's were opportunistic, greedy, and had an obsession with a "larger then life" attitude toward everything they hold dear. This study looks at the qualities that we fault the Americans for are often the qualities that we praise in ourselves. And that despite the media presentation of the differences, that seem to put us worlds apart, they are actually the similarities that bring us together as neighbors.

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

While researching for our presentation on O'Gorman's article Detroit Digital: On Tourists in the Apocalypse this past Thursday, I ran across an article on Dynamite's new monthly comic adaptation of Robocop. And while Robocop IV may still be in the distant future the inked version promises to "continue to explore more of the dangers of Detroit, its citizens, and Officer Murphy's (Robocop) continued dealings with the scum that stalks the streets".

Hollywood, over the years, has built Detroit up, or more literally torn it down, in the global mind as a post-apocalyptic wasteland in these types of movies. The abandoned buildings undulating with graffiti dot a sporadic landscape of vacant streets and high fenced grassy tundra. To the outsider Detroit is fraught with these danger exploration scenarios and loss of innocence narratives which are made ever more "real" through the media and thrill seeker fanfair. Williams' plays with the fear evoked by Detroit's virtual image bringing his character back to his roots by "taking away some of the layers that were built over the years – while it's the most difficult thing in the world picking and choosing what is canon and what isn't. You make decisions and hope you're right... I think that I can come out and say that without the violence, the cutting edge shockingly violent nature of the first movie we wouldn't be talking about RoboCop. We want the first RoboCop movie [and] that's what made it so great.

"

By exploiting the violent nature of Cinema Detroit are comic's like Robocop promoting the tarnished stigma of a post-apocalyptic forgotten city? By reinforcing the ruin exploration discourse would it be possible for Detroit to prosper from the publicity or is it just another enticement for the adrenaline junkie thrill seekers to set off spelunking through the abandoned decay of warehouses and factories. I guess only time and the blogs will tell.

The series, written by British writer Rob Williams (2000AD, Star Wars), will launch later this year.

Algorithmic Walk

The following images are the result of the experience we gained from walking to a list of rules and directions through the eastside of Wyandotte.