America Derangement Syndromw

 

Just as many Americans on the left seem to suffer from “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” I think Canadians almost all suffer from a similar malady, America Derangement Syndrome. It is not quite scapegoating—it is not that they see the USA as the source of all bad things that happen in Canada. But at the same time, they cannot, will not, see or say anything good about the US. Like Trump, America must always be treated with scorn.

In both cases it looks to me like a class thing. It is a looking down one’s nose. Leftists see Trump as boorish. Canadians see Americans the same way. In Canada, one establishes one’s own status by being particularly offended by their raucous behaviour.

Of course, the average Canadian is economically worse off than the average American. This makes the need to make a fuss over supposed breaches of good breeding that much greater—it is all one has to establish one’s own superiority. 

Canadians pay dearly for this social affectation, but I the end it holds the country together. Canada as a whole would be better off joining the US. Individual Canadians would be better off getting US citizenship. Canada exists only as a refusal to be American; it is treason, therefore, to say anything good about America.

Looked at squarely, it is absurd. Yet, on the other hand, I love the rules and the Canadian politeness. And I do find Trump unsettlingly boorish.