Lots of people are weighing-in on a recent New York Times article declaring that Canada is now "hip." This is based in part on the election of Justin Trudeau, but also on a selection of Canadians. Not surprisingly it includes Drake, The Weeknd, and Justin Bieber. I was surprised to see Sarah Polley, since it seems like she's been around forever. But she is only a couple of years older than Ryan Gosling (also on the list.) But there were also lots of non-obvious selections; nice to see them recognizing Grimes.
But this isn't the only time Canada has made a prominent appearance in a New York newspaper. The New York Post had a notable cover attacking Ted Cruz. In the latest Republican debate, Cruz had attacked "New York values" as an indirect way of attaching Donald Trump. So the Post - which is living proof that some New Yorkers have values in common with Cruz - showed a cartoon of The Statue of Liberty giving the finger. That was pretty appropriate, but what bothered me was the comment that Cruz should "Go back to Canada." (Cruz was born in Canada.)
Aside from the fact that we don't want him back, there's the obvious point that Canadian values have a lot more in common with New York values than with the extreme social conservatism Cruz is selling. But this is part of a trend: I've seen many Americans associate Cruz with Canada without appreciating the irony, and in some cases actually thinking Cruz is somehow an example of Canadians.
So I'm not sure what New Yorkers must think of us: some see us as cool, in part because of a liberal politician, while others find us an appropriate dumping ground for a politician who's conservative even by American standards.
No comments:
Post a Comment