What exactly does Orwell mean in his "Notes on Nationalism" when he writes that "one believes [one's country] to be the best in the world"? I am always annoyed when I hear people claim that Canada is "the best country in the world", because I think listeners often take this mean that it is the best in some absolute sense.
I don't think that about Canada, or any other place, even though there is nowhere else I want to live, or could live and still feel 'at home'. (The culprit is my "devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life".)
Canada is the best country in the world for me. But people born in lots of other countries are just as devoted to their particular places and ways of life. I could potentially have been just as content had I been born in those places.
This is what Orwell must be referring to when he says that patriots have "no wish to force [their particular place and way of life] on other people". The patriot recognizes that people in other countries can be patriots too.
It has been a bit shocking to hear a MAGA blowhard on Fox 'News' tell Ontario Premier Doug Ford that he [the blowhard] feels personally offended that Ford has less than no interest in accepting the honour of American annexation and citizenship. Apparently, this reflects the blowhard's narrowminded belief that the United States is, in some absolute sense, "the best country in the world". Ford is implicitly denying it, thus causing the snowflake to have hurt feelings. (Clarification: Canadians like snowflakes, in the reasonable quantity, but not snowflakes in this sense.)
Yes, I think what Orwell meant was benign, “the best place for me”. Important, especially in the Canadian sense, is that an immigrant can have the same sentiment as a fourth or fifth generation citizen, a patriotism. JT was clumsy in his statements that there was no Canadian nation as such - I know what he meant, but he needed something more compelling. Nationalism has a lot to answer for over the past century, and so there is something to be said for an alternative vision, but it needs to have more substance than he gave it.
"I mentioned that there’s a hockey song that I like “Henderson Picks Up Esposito’s Rebound” by Don Freed ... searching again, and I found a remarkable website ..."
Very cool. At our high school we were allowed to go to the cafeteria to watch the eighth game of the Canada - USSR series, about which I cannot even begin to capture the excitement across the country. When Henderson scored it was absolute bedlam.
Joni Mitchell has some hockey (a bet, no less) in Raised on Robbery...
A very entertaining song (and a great website! It made me want to see the "goal of the century" again. Here it is for those of you who were not old enough to see it live:
The remarks from Trump wouldn't have landed if Justin Trudeau had not been such a pathetic figure in his latter years of office. There will be no taunts of "Governor Polievre."
My wife is Canadian. Her family used to find my politics scandalous. Lately they've admitted that on certain matters I was right all along. Change is due.
This has been a great series, and what a poignant end to it. Thank you.
Thank you Karen
What exactly does Orwell mean in his "Notes on Nationalism" when he writes that "one believes [one's country] to be the best in the world"? I am always annoyed when I hear people claim that Canada is "the best country in the world", because I think listeners often take this mean that it is the best in some absolute sense.
I don't think that about Canada, or any other place, even though there is nowhere else I want to live, or could live and still feel 'at home'. (The culprit is my "devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life".)
Canada is the best country in the world for me. But people born in lots of other countries are just as devoted to their particular places and ways of life. I could potentially have been just as content had I been born in those places.
This is what Orwell must be referring to when he says that patriots have "no wish to force [their particular place and way of life] on other people". The patriot recognizes that people in other countries can be patriots too.
It has been a bit shocking to hear a MAGA blowhard on Fox 'News' tell Ontario Premier Doug Ford that he [the blowhard] feels personally offended that Ford has less than no interest in accepting the honour of American annexation and citizenship. Apparently, this reflects the blowhard's narrowminded belief that the United States is, in some absolute sense, "the best country in the world". Ford is implicitly denying it, thus causing the snowflake to have hurt feelings. (Clarification: Canadians like snowflakes, in the reasonable quantity, but not snowflakes in this sense.)
Yes, I think what Orwell meant was benign, “the best place for me”. Important, especially in the Canadian sense, is that an immigrant can have the same sentiment as a fourth or fifth generation citizen, a patriotism. JT was clumsy in his statements that there was no Canadian nation as such - I know what he meant, but he needed something more compelling. Nationalism has a lot to answer for over the past century, and so there is something to be said for an alternative vision, but it needs to have more substance than he gave it.
I should share this discovery that I made last year: https://earnestnessisunderrated.substack.com/p/canadians-cry-easy
"I mentioned that there’s a hockey song that I like “Henderson Picks Up Esposito’s Rebound” by Don Freed ... searching again, and I found a remarkable website ..."
Very cool. At our high school we were allowed to go to the cafeteria to watch the eighth game of the Canada - USSR series, about which I cannot even begin to capture the excitement across the country. When Henderson scored it was absolute bedlam.
Joni Mitchell has some hockey (a bet, no less) in Raised on Robbery...
Wow, that must have been amazing.
I'd forgotten the opening to "Raised on Robbery." Joni Mitchell is a great songwriter.
A very entertaining song (and a great website! It made me want to see the "goal of the century" again. Here it is for those of you who were not old enough to see it live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMf2fAXPS1Q
PS. If you watch closely, you will see John Diefenbaker appear for a split second.
The remarks from Trump wouldn't have landed if Justin Trudeau had not been such a pathetic figure in his latter years of office. There will be no taunts of "Governor Polievre."
My wife is Canadian. Her family used to find my politics scandalous. Lately they've admitted that on certain matters I was right all along. Change is due.