Red Eye

I was actually a fan of the Red Eye show, but once I saw their rant on Canada last week, I immediately sent them a scathing e-mail and have ceased viewing any of their material. It was ignorant, both in their misunderstanding of the Canadian role in Afghanistan and their antagonizing a close ally at a time when the USA needs all the allies it can get. Sure they issued an apology, but the video is still posted on the Fox News website.

Do I think that they represent the opinion of Americans? Not exactly, but they do represent a lack of knowledge of the Canadian role in Afghanistan. My Canadian parents live in Utah, and two years ago on the 4th of July I was down there for a party attended by over 30 of our American friends. I was patriotic as always, and was educating people on the Canadian role in Afghanistan, that our military was fighting and dying shoulder to shoulder with American troops. I was also reminding them that we are the single largest exporter of natural resources to the United States. By the wee hours of the morning, after several bottles of imported Canadian beer was consumed by myself and my American counterparts, I was leading a group of patriotic Americans in singing the Canadian national anthem on the 4th of July. They did not hate Canada or see us as a ridiculous country, they simply did not know the extent to which we are their closest ally. Once they knew, they were drinking Canadian beer, singing Oh Canada, on THEIR national holiday.

By contrast, Jon Stewart frequently makes fun of Canada. Anytime we have an election, he does a satiric bit on how he forgot that there is a successful and prosperous Democracy on the northern border. When Stewart makes those arguably slanderous jokes, the Canadian media gets excited that they talked about Canada on the Daily Show. It is offensive, though not nearly as bad as slandering our military as four brave Canadian soldiers gave their lives defending the United States.