Made In Canada, eh?

[ClusterFreak]

Being a lifelong citizen and resident of the Great White North, I feel I must speak up about a subject near and dear to many of us Canucks up here....well, at least to me!

Why the hell can't the MSM south of the 49th just give us a nod, a li'l wink, a tip o' the hat....ANYTHING...when it comes to discussing the Space Shuttle and it's "robotic arm".

We freakin' built it! And we built the new extension on the robot arm....and we built the new hi-tech gizmo-ey camera affixed to the end of it too. Built AND designed I believe, but I'd defer to others more in the know than me on that one. However, give us at least a shred of credit!

The Canadian media always calls the robot arm the "Canadarm" (somewhat embarrassingly really, since we're the only ones who call it that), so why won't - and I do say 'won't', not 'don't' - why won't the American MSM give Canada it's props when it comes to the robot arm?? Nuthin' fancy, but when you refer to it guys...it wouldn't kill you to call it the Canadian-made robot arm, say, once in every four or five mentions you give to it. That's all. Just so as not to give the impression that the robot arm - the indispensable technological marvel that it always has been - was made anywhere else but in Canada.

This kind of deliberate omission is symptomatic, in my view, of a much wider "don't-make-Canada-look-good" policy by the MSM in the States. And conversely, Canada gets a big mention every time "distasteful-to-red-state" issues are broached north of the border.....like legalizing gay marriage, our more liberal pot laws, our longer health-care lineups....etc. If there's a chance to paint Canada in a negative light, the MSM invariably takes advantage. They also like quaint stories about Canada, anything that talks about our love of hockey, how cold it is up here, Anne of Green Gables, and so on.

If I need to wear a :tinfoilhat: here, I'm sure it will be suggested.

But possibly some other Canadian DU'ers could chime in on this....
:rant: :crazy:

[atommom]

1. It's because the American media is run by a bunch of hosers, eh?

Congrats to Canada, for inventing the robot arm, and for being saner than the USA.

[TahitiNut]

2. Doesn't it still have the maple leaf logo and 'Canada' emblazoned on it?`

Hell, I thought everyone knew that. :shrug:

Maybe it veers to far to the left for the current regime? :evilgrin:

[ClusterFreak]

5. Oh yeah, the Canadian logo is there all right...

...like the Pink Elephant sitting in the corner that no one notices somehow.

I know, I must sound like a crybaby, all of this is just a pet peeve of mine.
:banghead:

[Jack from Charlotte]

3. OK. Nice arm, guy. Keep up the good work.*

[Kraklen]

4. We're too jealous.

We haven't figured out how to make shuttle parts work right.

[achtung_circus]

6. I don't think they do it on purpose.

Case in point, the M1A2 Abrams tank, sometimes described as the best tank in the world, and "American".

With British armour, a German gun and a Canadian fire control computer.

The Canadarm is just an appendage.

What you describe, however, is an attitude much more likely to be found at FR than DU which is full of very nice, generally well informed people (DU that is)

On Edit: Welcome.

and you others, hope I don't sound like a suck-up.

[ClusterFreak]

9. I totally agree...

...it's not an attitude I have seen anywhere on DU. This site hosts opinions from a wide range of the left, and nowhere have I seen any smallmindedness regarding Canada or Canadians.

Thanks for the welcome, too!
:hi:

[ToeBot]

7. Congratulations Canada, your arm has, to the best of my knowledge,

never failed or caused a shuttle to explode! If it had I'm sure the MSM would be giving you more coverage than you could handle, Bill O'Reily would see to it personally.

[ClusterFreak]

10. ROTFLMAO!!

:rofl:

[tanyev]

8. Now don't take it so personally...

Our school textbooks don't show anything north of the U.S. border except some gray shading. We 'Muricans don't know much about that strange, exotic land except for the hushed whispers, "Beyond this point, dragons dwell." You think it's negative publicity? Just be glad we deign to mention you occasionally.

;) (I'm kidding!!!! My husband is a Canadian, and he's a sweetie! I buy Made in Canada whenever I can.)

[ClusterFreak]

13. "except some gray shading...."!!!

...I love it!:rofl:

Our former Prime Minister....Jean Chretien (you know, the guy before the guy we have now!!!:sarcasm: ) once greeted President Clinton on a visit to Canada by saying the U.S. was our greatest friend and ally "whether we like it or not"!! :pals:

[tanyev]

15. Sad, but true.

When mr. tanyev and I first started dating, I was mortified to realize how little I knew about Canada in general and its geography in particular. I bought myself an atlas and got up to speed real quick.


:imaginarymapleleafsmilie:

[TrogL]

11. I was watching US media (CNN?) one day

and a commentator was complaining that the robotic arm was the only thing on the shuttle that seemed to be working correctly - and it wasn't even made in the US, it was made in Canada.

[Jack from Charlotte]

12. Your inability to properly run The Expos.....

plus the fact that you're overseas somewhere..... hurts our confidence in your technology .... except that cool arm you made for our shuttle. Now make another arm and then you can clap and give yourself a hand. Or give yourself a pat on the back, perhaps.

[achtung_circus]

16. "overseas"

hee hee.

[applegrove]

14. So much of American News is about re-inforcing American Myths.

We do that too - but hey - we don't report that the spaceship is anything but American.