Cultural Imperialism

[bcholmes]

More on the recent revelation that US-churches are funding Canadian Churches to fight same-sex marriage:

[Justice Minister Cotler] said that U.S. advocates might not understand Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Canadians want to see those differences respected no matter what side of the same-sex marriage debate they are on.

[...]

U.S. wings of religious and social-conservative groups such as the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic group, and Focus on the Family, a family-values group, have admitted they are funding opposition to same-sex marriage in Canada.

Dear U.S. wings of religious and social-conservative groups, You suck.

Comments

[lovecraftienne.livejournal.com]

Look at it this way: they're improving our economy by bringing in outside capital. :)

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I imagine the United Church of Canada would be too ethical to take their money and use it to support something they wouldn't approve of ...

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

They're trying to hit up the United Church for this? Boy, are they barking up the wrong tree.

I'm heartened by the Liberal MP that was on the news yesterday saying she's getting lots of letters from Americans but will only pay attention to the Canadians, because the Americans are just not her voting public.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

No, I'm pretty sure they aren't that stupid.

[northbard.livejournal.com]

and yet..and yet...

didn't Canadian activists go an protest in the US at election time? If we feel we have the moral authority to to try and influence their political process, what makes us exempt? I'm not on the side of the anti-marriage people, and I think you know that (hell, I'm pushing for queer polygamy!), but I have to wonder if maybe we're not imposing a double-standard based solely on the fact that we think they're ass-holes.

[the_axel]

Canadians giving money to the Democrats is very different from Canadians saying "Bush Sucks!! Vote for anybody else".

There's a fundamental difference between going out and stating your opposition and channelling money to locals so that they can/will put out your message as their own.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

In addition to Axel's point, I think that the lack of symmetry between our two nations makes the analogy false.

The US is the most powerful nation in the world with the world's largest economy; it dominates the majority of media and communication outlets and it has huge influence over other governments. It has ten times our population.

If US groups try to influence our political debates, well, that's extremely different than Canadians travelling to the US to protest their election. The relative power relations between our countries necessarily makes it so.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

<catty mode>One would think they'd be better off funding their own parishes, bankrupted by the recent child sex-abuse scancals...</catty mode>

[king-tirian.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree with northbard. This is the same cast of characters that have tried to outlaw abortion, silence Murphy Brown, and replace evolution in our schools with prayer. Forty years ago, they were trying to uphold bans on mixed-race marriages. A hundred years before that, they were arguing that the Bible upholds slavery. Okay, they've got money to spend, but their ROI is laughable.

One might paraphrase Winston Churchill: they're rich but you're right, and tomorrow they'll be poor and you'll still be right.