Quote:
Originally Posted by Maldive
I tend to agree with you, bearing in mind London, Paris and Tokyo are exponentially larger cities that are also administrative HQs.
The thread: the very definition of "being Canadian" is obviously fluid and is perhaps changing (with some regional exceptions) faster than a large chunk of the world's "being whatever". Can being (most or least) Canadian now include more love for basketball (thanks Dr. Naismith), than love for the CFL, rather than a laundry list of internet stereotypes or a specific 1867 to the present declaration?
Random thoughts from a random world city.
*We sometimes forget that NYC (sorta like Toronto) is not exactly beloved (understood?) by the rest of planet america, and lots of (non-colonizing) Brits choose curry over roast beef or fish ' chips.
|
Most of you are undervaluing Canadianess in the forest<trees way you can only pull off from deep inside a culture.
I'm reminded of an infographic comparing culture to an iceberg, with all the superficial things—language, food, music—poking above the water, while the bulk of the culture lies beneath. Of course, all anglo cultures connect as a vast iceberg; deep enough it's all just Calvinism. Obviously you'd see similarities between Aukland and Toronto. You see London reflected in Toronto if you straighten the streets out. You see Amsterdam in New York too.
None of that takes away from the big part of the iceberg that is just Canadian. It's something you can't exactly analyze, but when you meet a Filipino dude from Winnipeg who hasn't lived in Canada for 20 years and in some ineffable way he reminds you of Gord Downie, you know it's there.
So, what is a
random global city, anyway? Cairo? Singapore? Is Toronto really more like these places than anywhere else in Canada? If you look past the generic aspects of all big cities, it's not.