No.

Imperial powers create enemies. Predator drones and power imbalances incite a lot of hatred I'm sure. Imagine being on the receiving end. I think the protests and reactions about the gratuitously and stupidly insulting movie about Mohamed — a calculated wind-up by fundamentalist loonies — get their energy from far deeper issues. If history is anything to go by, those protests will grow… and the empire will get more pompous, self-righteous and brutal. And then it will wither away from the inside and another empire will take its place.

Thanks for responding but your longer answer doesn't really address my query (although I do agree with your ramblings, for the most part).  :) 

I am wondering if, as Canadians, we are less safe due to our 'likeness' and proximity to Americans. 

I do not feel less safe. I believe since the 60s we have grown apart form the US. We have no history of cololnialism, ouside our own country except for Afganistan. Our history with First Nations is completlely seperate from our similarities with the US and is a seprate issue. Americans have haters in almost evr country. 

The only recent Terrorist acts in Canada, was the killing that happened during the attempted assassination  of Pauline Marois by a Quebec anglophone terrorist.

The riots in Egypt,  and elsewhere against Americans was only possible because of the AMerican history in these countries, and by the way they treat immigrants. (Which also to me explains much of the violence agains Europeans.  I am sure that if a film or cartoons that insulted others were created in Canada, it would not provoke violence, because unlike the Europeans, and the Americans, it would not be backed up by hundreds of years of war  actions against other countries.   

If we are going to be targeted, it will be due to the recent actions of the Harper and the Liberals that sent us to Afganistan.

That said I would wear a Canadian pin when traveling, and avoid hanging around Americans. I had a friend who worked in a Carribean country for a year,(10 years ago)  and he felt people were cold towards him. However after they realised he was from Canada, that changed and they become friends.

BTW are you KD Lang, or  a fan?

Don't travel much out of Canada.  I suspect how one behaves and one's posture/ appearance are more important than one's actual nationality.

Maybe I am KD Lang, I'll just leaving you wondering, I guess.  Really, I'm just feeling   very 'Miss Chatelaine' like lately.  I imagine that doesn't give you much insight since people interpret that song in vastly different ways.  Let's just say I am just a bit surprised at my current life accoutrements as well as my happy contentedness with this lifestyle. 

Good points re the diff between the two countries and how other nations react/would react to such a film.  I also agree that some do see Canadians differently but do they ALL?  That is where my unease stems from.  Maybe, as the violence and hatred escalates, any western world target would suffice?

No, I don't feel less safe.

I come from Germany, which once was an imperial power. Although I have lived in Australia and Canada, both of whom fought the imperialist ambitions of Nazi Germany, I never experienced any anti-German sentiments in either country. I found that most Australians and Canadians opposed the imperialist ambitions of the German Nazi regime, not the German people. I think it is similar with the USA. We Canadians, along with many other people all over the world, oppose the imperialist ambitions and actions of the American regime, not the American people.

of course they not all people will see Canadians differently. However many more  would likely want to harm us for just not being like them. or being a different colour, or for speaking English, or ....

Yet I assume that I am more likely to be targeted for being gay, and that has nothing to do with the US. In fact I am more at risk of violence in the US for being gay, than I feel am elsewhere for being assumed to being American..  However being a man makes me a feel a lot safer, as I believe that women, are targeted for violence just for being women, in all countries at rates that makes violence that targets Americans seem insignifcant .

Alex, good point re the number of  women being at risk making the at-risk-American issue seem insignificant. 

It should make people question why we spend so much on the military, and so little on programs that would protect women

I believe the imbalance between the genders is working itself out, at least in the western world.  We're not there yet butit's much better than it was before.  Keeping the Dems in office in the US will make big difference. 

Re the military...we need a military, do you agree?  And if you do agree, where do we make the cuts?

Among the many ways to create security there are two approaches which predominate. I call one  the build walls approach, and the second one is the care for your neighbour approach. I also reject idealism, and believe in a process relational approach.

So I believ that the way to go is to spend more of our resources on loving our neighbour, and less on building walls.

Domestically, the building walls approach means more police, more prisions, and more control by  central authorities.  Love the neighbour approach is about providing eduction, health services and social services. Among which health and education is defined as having  the necessities of life, and a way to fulfill each persons potential. To me this would mean include instilling values like feminism in all men and women to address violence against women and others. This would reduce the need for walls (ie prisions)

Internationally, the idea that one can invade or control another country and know what is best for them in there society at this time, requires (walls) force, like armies. Hoiwevr to do so attacks the ability to promote loving yourt neighbour, and  exposes the fact that we do not. Which in turns promotes retaliation and violence agionst others.

The history of the US and some European states is what created the threats against them today.

Another example to look at is Cosat Rica. The only country in the Americas which has no army. Yet today they are safer, and have a higher standard of living than there neighbours. Few hate them, and the money saved from war actions, and maintaining an army is diverted to caring for themselves. 

As for where the cuts may come from in the miltary, that can be decided after we adapt a philosphy based on creating security through loving our neighbours, rather than by building wars.

Ramblings. yes, that's our Mike!

Chances of death due to external causes (link to a pdf, modified from here, which will give more context for the #s and...)

Traffic accidents, falls, assaults, accidental poisoning and suicide are the ones we should be worrying aboot and go to war with...

Why don't we?  For various reasons...some 20,000 people die every year in the USA from automobile-related accidents...yet there is no war on them...no news blared 24/7, looking for the evil automobile drivers who inflict such needless pain and death...

I don't feel less safe.  Feeling safe is a personal thing and is related to how well one's own views and beliefs fit with reality...

I heartily recommend either "Quantum Psychology" or "Prometheus Rising" by Robert Anton Wilson for help in dealing with this and learning some mode of meditation...to prevent the prevalent and damaging projection of anxiety and fear out onto the World, causing so much needless pain and suffering...know thyself first and then work at changing your World (dealing with barbarians etc...)

As an Australian, I'm bemused by how Canadians think the rest of the world confuses you with Americans.

Sure, your accent, from an Aussie perspective, is similar - but that's about it...........

You are seen as being more progressive on social issues - and not as dominant a nation in a military powerful sense.

Relax!

Canadians are constantly involved with defining themselves as different to Americans - it's really not necessary from an outsider's perspective.

Hi Miss Chatelaine and welcome to WonderCafe.ca,

No, I do not feel less safe.

There may be places in the world where it is now more dangerous to be, simply because I might resemble an American. 

There are beaches I shouldn't swim at because of the greater likelihood that I might be confused for lunch and mountain paths I shouldn't wander alone because of the greater likelihood some other predator might think the same.

That means assessing the risk of going to those places needs to be done.

That isn't something that is new though.

Right here, in my own home, it doesn't matter whether somebody couldn't label me as distinctly Canadian as opposed to suspiciously American.

At present I have no travel plans and the most recent place other than home I went to was Newfoundland.  There I comfortably pass as neighbour and am welcomed.  I have no plans to travel to Libya, Syria or Iran.  At least, not in the immediate near future.  Things can change.

Grace and peace to you.

John

My son, who lives in Korea, tells me that most Koreans view both Canadians and Americans as 'Westerners'.  Sometimes they group all English together.  Point out that you are Canadian, and you will be most likely met with an 'Oh, that's interesting.'  meaning that it really isn't.  He says wearing a Canadian flag or pin doesn't make much difference.  Nevertheless I notice that he has a small flag/pin.  I think it might be for Canadians to identify each other. 

Traveling outside the country?   Circumstances have meant that we simply don't do it.  In the last decade we have even stopped traveling to the US.  The last time I was in Florida, in the early part of this century, I sometimes felt uncomfortable when surrounded by Americans, especially when I found myself in the motel common room surrounded by a group of strangers from Texas.  I was glad that they didn't soom to notice my presence, and did not know I wasn't 'one of them'. 

In the last ten years I feel less safe within my own country.  I watch old news footage of Trudeau walking from his home to Parliament, stopping to chat with news reporters and others, and his body guards discretely some distance away; and Harper surrounded by bodyguards, striding purposely from one place to another, ignoring people, only answering scripted, preapproved questions in controlled circumstances, and one made me feel safe and the other that there is danger all around.  The same with all the security measures I see in public places.  Our church used to have an open door policy - now it is controlled by a buzzer system.  I go down to an afternoon social group; I ring the bell, identify myself, and wait to be admitted.  I used to open the door and walk in, wave to the sexton and the office administrator, and go to my group.  I find the security intimidating. 

Big brother is watching.    Be afraid.   Give up your basic freedoms.  Trust the government, army, police, and the good old USA to provide security - to protect your freedom.

I feel less safe, but that's probably due to age more than circumstances.  The teenage years are the ones where people tend to take risks, often because the dangers aren't fully realized.

We are much less safe at the present moment. And it's not because people confuse us with Americans. Starting with Paul Martin, Canadians have shifted to such a position that they are Americans. It's not confusion. Stephen Harper could well pass as an ultra-conservative american political leader. Along with NATO, we are part of the US good squad. The world, I'm afraid, has identified us for just what we are.