It's funny. It's often reported and suggested America is a deeply divided, divided and even xenophobic society. Although I'd like to know exactly what tools are used to measure xenophobia. Xenophobia exists everywhere. Even here in Quebec. To what degree and extent is the question.
The perception is that Europe is far more civil and at peace than America.
Personally, from my observations, conversations and travels in Europe, I think the opposite is true. Europe has serious issues. The nationalist under current is never too far off the surface.
I remember after the murder of Theo Van Gogh how the Dutch reacted by burning down hundreds of Mosques. Holland! Progressive, careful, quiet, soccer mad Holland! Contrast this to 9/11, when NO Mosque burnings and very little (if any) vigilante retribution took place.
In other words, we under estimate American tolerance and over estimate Europe's.
Judging from what we read and see, Europeans take to the streets much more easily and frequently than UsAers or Canadians do.
ReplyDeleteWhy when Canucks take to the street they don't know what to do nor do the police as we have seen in Toronto during the G8/G20.
I don't know why but I laughed at what you wrote - in a good way. It's better that way I reckon.
ReplyDeleteCanadians in particular don't have a tradition of rebellion. We're more conservative, ironically, than Americans that way.
It's hard to imagine something like the Tea Party happening here. 300 000 people on Parliament Hill? We're too aloof and oblivious for that.
I'm not interested in comparisons, nor do I even care if people people do anything but get along. "Tolerance" is not necessarily a virtue, especially if one tolerates abuse.
ReplyDeleteAnd there were never 300,000 people at a Tea Party event that wasn't held in the wilds of Glenn Beck's imagination.
I find it interesting that France face-coverings. That doesn't seem too tolerant to me, unless you use some sort of round-about logic that no woman wants to do that, so they're just freeing women from Islamic oppression... but there are women who do want to wear it so... it seems like a bad idea.
I wasn't alluding to the tea party when I used the 300 000 figure. I just picked it.
ReplyDeleteI've read, that being said, anywhere between 75 000 and 500 000. If memory serves me correct, CBS had it at about 300 000.
Not CBS, a company that scneitifically estimates crowd sizes calculated about 87,000 at the most recent event, and CBS reported that.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how a lie repeated enough by the right just becomes common knowledge... I should try that.
A major network did I can't remember which.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I've anywhere between 78 000 and 500 000.
The event organizers had a permit of 300 000. Let's do some specious guess work.
ReplyDeleteIf they had a permit of 300 000 it's doubtful 500 000 made it. So we have to work with that figure. Now, judging from the pictures (assuming they're accurate) and given my experience of visiting Washington, there seems to be a shit load of people.
So I'm gonna guess more than the 87 000.
My gut tells me it's in the 90-125 range or half of the permit asked.
Which is still an amazing turn out.
Heck, even at 90 000 people is a pretty damn good turn out in ONE spot. Because YOU KNOW people from around the country who wanted to go but couldn't for whatever reasons would increase that number.
That's a lot of people for Canada. Marches on Washington with more people include:
ReplyDelete- 1963: Actual Martin Luther King Jr. "I have a Dream" Rally (250k)
- 1969: National Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam (600k)
- 1971: Vietnam War Out Now rally (500k)
- 1989: "March for Women's Lives" National Organization for Women rally (500k)
- 1993: March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation (300k)
- 1995: Million Man March (400k... lol)
- 2004: "March for Women's Lives" pro-choice rally (500k-1.1mil)
- 2009: National Equality March for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender rights (200k)
It just doesn't impress me when Fox News gets the greater portion of their viewership to spend their social security checks on coming to Washington DC to protest socialism.
Nice list and perspective.
ReplyDelete100k people in Montreal for the Unity Rally - which I went to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_Rally