The sooner we get over this fact and realize that it is one of our strengths, the better.
I recently spent four months living in California for Y Combinator. America! It’s a weird place. Between growing up in Portugal, and being accustomed to the usual Canadian inferiority complex, I was surprised to discover just how different America can be. Americans are incapable of appreciating how weird America is, but that’s another story. America wants everyone to be a little more American.
There, I met someone who proposed a theory I’m quite fond of.
Canada’s role in the world is to take the best of what America has to offer and distill it to its essence.
That’s how we ended up with multiculturalism, functioning healthcare-as-insurance, peacekeeping-as-a-service, the Arcade Fire, Stephen Harper circa 2005, violent bloodsport on ice, MEC, public transit and Drake. It backfires sometimes and gives us Nickelback and Stephen Harper circa 2015.
But by and large the very same inferiority complex that makes us unassuming and passive aggressive is also the engine that pumps out livable cities, mostly functioning government, etc, etc. Our politicians are by and large wonkish and awkward, and there’s a distinct lack of oomph, Rob Ford excepted.
It’s not all sunshine and roses — we sure seem to love insular boy’s clubs, subsidizing uncompetitive industries and enraging telecom oligopolies. There’s a pervasive, default smarm.
I’d like to combat the smarm, the polite silence that swallows meaningful criticism, the idea that we somehow aren’t successful on our own terms. But being boring and insipid has its uses. Just embrace it and stop moaning.
