April 21, Y2k-1

More words on the Canadian flag on the backpack debate:

(the original entry)

(a response from beth)

<angie>

Somewhere in Switzerland I met a friend and we decided to travel together.  While reaching for our backpacks she warned me: "You better not be one of those Canadians who has that fuckin' flag on your backpack." Luckily I was not and we remain friends to this day.  The flag is redundant as Canadians usually sport Mountain Equipment Co-op gear.

In Italy a bartender told me he hated Canadians. "Those little flags, they only want to meet people from Canada.  (in a little girly voice "oh are you from Toronto I'm from VANCOUVER!" squeal) Why can't someone from Vancouver talk to someone from Seattle?"

... When I wanted to send some things to my relatives in Serbia my parents cautioned me against it, stating that we shouldn't draw attention to their ties with Canada.  There's one part of the world where you might want to remove any signs of the little flag.

</angie>

<me>

This week I saw two university students wearing t-shirts reading "Canadians Kick Ass". Now I know that the shirts were not created to express some specific war-related message as the t-shirts have been around for at least a year, but it disturbs me that they could be interpreted as such and that the wearers were obviously oblivious to that fact.

How are us Canadians kicking ass otherwise? And who's ass are we kicking? (We lost the world hockey cup, remember? And the Olympics hockey gold too)

If you own one of these t-shirts, in my humble opinion, the ass you should be kicking is your own.

</me>