I
must warn you at the outset today: This is an outrageous and annoying post. It
hardly deals with the heading except at the very end with a hint. The outrage
and the annoyance are somewhat overcome, I hope, by my slightly dubious sense of humour.
One
of my favourite quotes is penned by myself. I know, that sounds pretty bad and
ego-centric. But please hear me out even if it is so. In addition to
egocentric, it is also outrageous, but it’s still my favourite, because, in
spite of its negatives, it is right. It is not the quote that is outrageous.
Rather, it is the situation which generated the quote that is outrageous.
Before
I spill the beans, I must admit that I penned it in response to American
situations when I lived there off and on for a total of some fifteen years. But
that only proves that I am a genuine Canadian. You don’t know how many American
lecturers I’ve endured who were invited to address a Canadian audience and then
flood them with American statistics and research, making the facile comment
that Canadian situations are assumed to be similar. And their Canadian hosts,
being the polite creatures that we are, pay them generous honoraria for their
sloppy work, letting them get away with it without a single comment. I often feel like screaming at them and the
Canadian organizers of the event. Ach, our minds are so colonized by our
assertive southern cousins.
It
gets worse. When Canadians want to
make any grandiose social statement about Canada, they also tend to base it
on US data and statistics and then follow it up with the same broad
generalization that Canadian data are fairly similar. This Canadian characteristic annoys me to no
end. I always feel like telling such “researchers” that if they can’t do genuine homework, i.e., do serious research on home soil, to pack up and
leave.
Another
American practice, this time in sales. How often have you clicked on an online
add as on Facebook and ended up listening to an endless harangue that
repeatedly brings you to the brink, to the major point, namely price, only to
back away from it with further info, endlessly playing with your patience and
intellect? I have endured such painful sales pitches quite a number of times to
the point where I click off with disgust. The sales trick did not work. I lost
valuable time and “they” lost a potential customer never to return. Those
Americans! GRRRR! They are so annoying.
But,
you know something? We Canadians are even worse in that we politely accept such
insulting treatment when it is directed our way. And we even copy them. Are we crazy or
something?
Well,
folks, this Canadian is giving you
that kind of treatment today. You are going to be subjected to a quote that
slowly forced itself on me while in America
and that, I assume, also holds for Canada.
And you are right now being subjected to that kind of delaying tactic. Here
this post has about come to its end and you have still not been given this
quote of mine.
Okay,
before you run away or, worse, pay the usually outrageous sum demanded, here it
is!
The biggest obstacle to good health is the medical
establishment. The biggest obstacle to good religion is the religious
establishment. The biggest obstacle to a healthy economy are the banks and the
economists of “on the one hand” and “on the other.” (For this “hand” stuff, I am indebted to my
oldest son, who did undergraduate economics and ended up with a Yale MBA.) And
the biggest obstacle to justice is….
Alright,
like those GRRR Americans, I’ve brought you to the brink and am going to leave
you hanging there till the next time. In the meantime, try to complete that
quotation yourself. Hint: Go back to the title of this post. If you’re inclined
to write me, whether to scream at me for my American behaviour or to complete
the quote, you’re welcome at < boerjf@hotmail.com >. Otherwise, see you in a few days.
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