Re: <nettime> Umberto Eco: Not such wicked leaks

[Stephen Fulton <sf@lists.esoteric.ca>]

On 12/10/2010 00:22, Flick Harrison wrote:

> In the case of Canada, a long blow-by-blow review of a Canadian
> made-for-TV movie was sent by secret cable to Washington and
> revealed the deeply wounded psyche of the American diplomats
> doing the review.

While the author of the cable in question may or may not have a wounded pysche,
the essence of the complaint is quite accurate.  Anti-Americanism has been used
by Canadian elites since the time of Confederation to manipulate Canadian public
opinion.  Canada's raison d'etre was strongly influenced by the fear of
American manifest destiny.  Though not without a sometime basis in reality,
after all famous Canadian Minister of Parliament and orator D'arcy McGee was
assassinated by Irish Fenian's suspected to be working as proxy's for the US.

Since Confederation, political and business elites have whipped up anti-American
hysteria as a means to counter whatever idea or policy they objected to.
Classic examples would include Liberal PM Laurier's US-Canada free trade
proposal of 1911, countered with fear-mongering by opposition leader Borden
(Conservative).  During the 1980's, the political tables were turned when
Progressive Conservative PM Mulroney's government passed NAFTA, with the
opposition Liberal party trying very hard to fan the flames of anti-Americanism.
 A contemporary example of this could be the claims by the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation of US influence in the recent debate of the Long Gun Registry, in
which the CBC suggested surreptitious activity by the American National Rifle
Association.

Often the whole purpose of such efforts, which I'll translate into a simplistic
"if the American's like it, it must be bad for Canada", is to generate an
irrational emotional reaction by the Canadian public.  As I've pointed out, this
has been used historically by those on the left, centre and right, though
primarily by the centre-left/left since Trudeau.

Canadian Historian Jack Granatstein has written extensively about the history of
Canadian anti-Americanism, and did so recently in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper.
 It is worth reading.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Alice+Wonderland+right/3920963/story.html

So next time, my fellow Canadians, you find your pulse racing and blood boiling
at the thought of America, take a deep breath, stand back and examine for
yourself if you are being manipulated into doing so.  At the very least it will
allow you to better judge the issue at hand, rather than having an answer fed to
you.

-- Stephen

On 12/10/2010 00:22, Flick Harrison wrote:

> I think this article un-Ecoistically weak, in that he seems to miss much of
> the substance of the leaks.


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