The Brussels Post, 1975-06-18, Page 10Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley
As regular readers of this column are
aware, there are a great many things that
bother me, On. the whole, I'm glad of it,
May I never become one of those people
who are never bothered about anything, or
if they are, don't have enough guts to say
or / do anything about it.
The list is endless: Celsius
temperatures; those, silly organs at hockey
games; strident Women's. Libbers; stupid
male chauvinists; gutless politicians;
lawless unions; greedy big business;
chicken bureaucrats; tire-squealing
adolescents of any age; mindless beer ads;
town engineers 'who want to cut down
trees; snotty hotel desk clerks; religious
fanatics; ripoff artists in the social services;
the Receiver-General of Canada; most
administrators; most people who make
more money than! do, I could fill a column.
This should make me a very disturbed
young man. I use the term advisedly. How
come everyone is getting old but you and
me?
Fortunately' , this has not happened.
There are so many things I like that I am
usually in a state of happy balance, like a
fat lady going on a diet of ice cream
sundaes.
However, there is one thing in this
country that gravels me thoroughly. It's a
nasty thing, spreading like a cancer, a
as difficult to fight, and just as fatal to the
people infected.
That thing is the steady growth in thi:
country, fostered by a small, often vicious,
but vociferous minority, of •
Anti-Americanism.
I dOn't think it has yet grown to
uncontrollable proportions in the corpus
Canadiensis, and I hope it can be cut out
with some rigorous surgery in the right
places.
It's a creepy, crawling business, and the
healthy mind can be smeared with it
subtely, without even noticing its
existence.
It's hard to pin down. You can find it
among educators, in the press, among
politicians, and in varying degrees of
shrillness throughout the media.
Many honest nationalists are taken in,
and eventually find that their pride in
things Canadian has been warped into
Anti-Americanism. Let there be no
mistake. There is no real connection. The
former is healthy. The latter is sick.
This has always been a country loaded
with'prejudice, whatever you may think. A
couple of generations back, the Anglo-,
Saxons of this fine free country of ours
looked down their noses, even though their
own background was an English slum, a *
Scottish croft or an Irish shanty.
They spoke bluntly and disparagingly of
lesser breeds, Germans and Scandinavians
were Squareheads. Italians were Wops or
Pagoes. French were neither Canadian nor
Canadien. They were Frogs or Peasoupers.
Everybody from Eastern Europe to the
Ukraine was a Runkle. A black person was
a Nigger. And a Jew? Well, a Jew certainly
wasn't Jewish. He was "just ',,Jew." The
only thing lower than any of these
categories was a woman.
Think I'm romancing? It sounds pretty
ugly, doesn't it? But I was there, gentle
reader, and so were many of you,
With education, enlightenment, and a
fine performance by most of those lowly
immigrants, came a change in atmosphere.
It became fashionable to be "tolerant," a
word that has always made me squirm.
But not before the private schools, and
the law societies and the medical schools
and the golf clubs had had their
Wasps-only barricades knocked down. It
was ugly in this country.
The grandchildren of those earlier
prejudiced people showed a remarkable
lack of that narrowness.Canada was
becoming an oasis of freedom for the
individual. People , were leaning over
backward to prove they were liberal and
"tolerant."
And now all that narrowness and secret
hatred Seems to be channeling itself into
Anti-Americanism.
People in this country talked endlessly
about Watergate, as though such a sewer
of corruption werepeculiar to Americans.
They sniggered about the antics of
American leaders.
There was a particularly nasty type of
something near gloating when the
Americans pulled out of Vietnam.
There was and is a proliferating of
popular articles about the Americans
owning Canadian industry, buying up
Canadian property.
Let's put an end to this slimy business.
Let's look at 'our own dredging scandals
and lawless unions.
Let's stop secretly cheering when the
Yanks get a bloody nose somewhere.
It's not their fault that they're rich and
powerful. They didn't seize our industry.
We sold it to them.
France and Britain virtually ignored
Canada when this country was abuilding.
we owe them nothing.
We could have a lot worse neighbors
than the Americans4' in fact almost anyone I
can think of.
Anti-Americanism is chiefly petty envy,
and is found only among those who are
petty and envious. We're too big for that.
1 ' •
1.
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Majestic WI tours factory
Members of the Brussels
Majestic W.I. and some guests
gathered at the library at 1 p.m.
on Wednesday, June 11, to make
a tour of the Royal Homes factory
in Wingham.
fn their vast building they saw
how walls, floors and ceilings
were completely made and
assembled to make fine houses in
halves, to be put together when
placed at their destination. The
group also Were shown one
completed unity which looked like
a condonable hoine.
After driving back to Brussels,
the meeting was opened with the
Ode and the Collect. The minutes
and financial report Were read
and approved.
it was decided that September
24th for the Finronvie* birthday
program would be Satisfadory
and to leave planning for the
Cranbrook W.I. dinner until the
August Meeting,. Birthday greet,
ingS Were sung. W. 1: plateslare
new atrailable..
Doris' McCall took the chair for
the Agriculture and Canadian
Industries program. They distri-
buted booklets from the Canadian
Pulp and Paper Ass. to each
member.
16 -114E BRUSSELS '0661'4 JUN1 la t 1975
mother did not know and showed
25 members and 3 guests.
Mrs. McCall conducted a game
and after singing the Queen and
Grace a tasty lunch was served.
, Roll call was answered by All in all a very interesting
naming an industry that grand- evening. '
Oldfield's Pro Hardware
Phone 887.-6851
Paint Special
herwin Williams
and Outside Whites
Kern 25% off
Many Outside Colours
'A price
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