HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1976-05-12, Page 8
Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley
Sure we're violent
In a recent issue of Canada's so-called
national magazine, Maclean's, writer
Walter Stewart has an article trying to
show that Canadians are not the quiet,
sober, gray, decent people they think they
are.
I could have told him that years ago, and
have used it as a theme in this column on
some occasions.
Perhaps the self•perpethating myth, at
home and abroad, that wel re sensible,
tolerant, respectable, and rather dull, has
been fostered by our generally colorless
press and equally colorless politicians.
The facts, as Stewart pointed out, in
describing several brutal and violent
strikes, are otherwise.
Canadians, on the whole, are- not
tolerant. I am young enough to remember
when such expressions as "Jew him
down" "nigger in the woodpile" "dumb
Hunkie" and "greasy wop" were•current
in the home and on the street.
If you came out with one of those today,
you might just be looking for a purple eye
or a fat lip from a militant Jew; black,
Ukrainian or Italian.
As a result, Canadians have switched
their intolerance a bit. We can tell Newfie
jokes, because the victims are a long way
off. We can tell Kaki jokes, because the
victims are pretty helpless. And if you are
too "tolerant" to indulge in either of
these, you can always run down the Yanks,
and feel like a virtuous nationalist.
Sober? Canadians are about the worst
drinkers in the world, with the possible
exception of Scots, who get ugly, Irishmen,
who get belligerent, and Polies, who get
glodmy. Maybe we are the worst. We get
all three.
If you do happen, to be a decent,
sensible, middle-aged person, and you
don't believe a word of this slander, drop in
to your local bar or beer parlor on a Friday
night. There are scenes that would make
Hogarth, chronicler of the 17th century gin
places in London, quail in his cravat.
I once sat in a beer parlor and watched
this scene. Four commercial fishermen
came in. Tough, violent men. They sailed
into the beer as though there were going to
be a brewery strike within the hour.
And within the hour they were drunk and
ugly and vicious. One called another a
"sonuvabitch", an old Canadian expletive
often used as a term of affection. The
other, in a maudlin mood retorted "Don't
you talk about my mother like that,"
cracked his glass in two on the edge of the
table, and jammed the ragged edge in the
first speaker's face. Blood and language
flowed freely, but there wasn't even a
fight. It was just another Saturday night in
Canada, and not untypical of an evening in
that beer parlor.
"Putting the boots" to someone who is
down is something you might associate
with the slums of Glasgow or Paris or
Hamburg. It is not all that unusual on a
Canadian Saturday night.
Reasonable? Courteous? Canadians?
Don't make me laugh. Just take a drive on
a four or six-lane highway. Admittedly;
most people fit those two adjectives, but
there is a large minority who make Canada
one of the worst places in the world to
drive, as any American will tell you.
Just the other day I was driving on a
three-lane, one-way highway. Solid old Bill
was in the middle lane, gauge right on the
60-mile per hour limit. Suddenly, a car cut
in front of me from the left lane, and,
simultaneously, one from the right lane.
Both were trying to get into my lane, about
50 feet ahead of me. They almost collided,
before veering off like a couple of startled
trout. Neither had any reason for passing
me. I found myself almost wishing they
had crashed, if it weren't for me being the
filling in the sandwich.
Ask thepeople of southern England
about the First Brigade of Canadians in
World War II. Find out something about
the Halifax riots at the end of the war. Ask
your Dad if he was among the Canadian
troops who booed their own prime minister
at Aldershot, in the same struggle.
If I were in a tight spot, I'd just as soon
have a Canadian back to back with me as
anybody else. We are tough and brave and
resourceful. We have a wry gift for not
swallowing BS, no matter who is.dishing it
out.
But let's be honest. We are not a nation
of gentle, reasonable, tolerant, dull, sober,
cloanthinking nambie pambies, as so many
nations, and so many of our own politicans,
think us.
We have too much wild blood in us, from
all those immigrants who have been
pouring into this paradise for 200 years.
We are intolerant. We are bad drinkers
and drivers. We have a propensity for
violence that may explain our great
reputation in a couple of wars.
You can watch it all in the hockey
playoffs.
Bluevale
Mother's Day guests• of Mr.
and Mrs. George Fischer and
Dayle were Mrs.Lloyd Henning,
Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Henning,
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Elliott, Mr.
and Mrs. Larry Elliott, Mr. and
Mrs. Marty Cretier and Amy-Jo,
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Walker and
family and Bob Pritchard.
INI.11111.111111111111111•1111111111111111111111111
• To the Music Of
DANCE
The
Country
Companions
Sat ., May 22
From 10 p.m. to 1 a,m,
at the
BRUSSELS
LEGION HALL
Adthission $4.00 per couple
Spohotdd by did
Brussels Mens Datt League
Teen Dance
in the
Brussels Arena
May 14
Dancing 8 p, tn, -12
.Veattqing. the
SYNCOPATIONS
Disc Jockey from. Within-
Adm ission per person
Sponsored by the titttssels. 01Mb-fists
At The
NEW AMERICAN
HOTEL
BRUSSELS, ONT.
*************
Friday & Saturday Night
The Terri ones
MAY PROGRAM
STARTS AT DUSK
CHILDREN IN CARS
[12 years & under]
ADMITTED FREE
Except on Special Pictures
Telephone ,
338-3121
People we Know
Mrs. Helen Habkirk and son
Jack of Ingersoll, Mr. and Mrs.
Doug Lawless and Dianne visited
with Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur
Turnbull over the weekend.
Barry McCauley and Diana
Maxwell of Stratford spent
Mother's Day with his grand-
mother Mrs. Ethel Bone and
mother Mrs. Dorothy McCauley.
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Weiler,
Bonnie and Robert of R.R. 1,
Phelpston and Mr. and Mrs.
Robert Thornton, Dianne, Steven,
and Twyla Dawn of Dublin were
weekend visitors at the home of
•
Grey twp. Fire
DANCE
Ethel Hall
9 - 1
May21
Lunch will be served.
sr
Beef Draw at 12:30
Admission $3.00 a couple
*********************4
-Entertainment at
* THE QUEEN'S. HOTEL
-* BRUSSELS
* Friday f Saturday and Sunday 4
41- The Smokey Dunn 4,
* Show
* Plus
* Sunday Menu: Perch Dinner
* 4-4-4 *4'4 4- let—V-***44
Program is subject to unavoidable changes
*At*** 4-4(44-4--*4-4-41-4-4-44.4
Friday & Saturday — May 14 15
WALKING TALL
(Part H)
Stars BO SVENSON
— PLUS —
THE DESTRUCTORS
Stars MICHAEL CAIN
(ADULT' ENTERTAINMENT)
SPECIAL SUNDAY MAY 16
WOMEN IN CELL BLOCK
CAPTIVE MALE
Mr. and Mrs. Qeorge Thootoj
Mr, and Mrs. Hugh Keened of Toronto visited on Friday wilt
Mr. and Mrs. R.W. Kennedy,
Short Shots
Mrs, Wm. Kellington, Bna
and Kevin visited with he
mother, Mrs. Lillian flarbpk
Mitchell, on Mother'i Day.
ANNIVERSARY SERVICES
Ethel
United Church
May 16
11:00 a.m. — 7:00 pm,
Guest Speaker:
Rev. Wesley Ball,
Gorrie
Soloist:
Mr. Paul
Ha rtwright,
Mount Forest
846,1HE BRUSSELS Ptitt; MAY it 1916
11