Many people exist in the mode of, “I’m tired of our (American, Spanish, Russian, etc) exceptionalism. It is exceptional how exceptionalist we are!”
Exceptionally Exceptional
Opinions, art, debate
Opinions, art, debate
Many people exist in the mode of, “I’m tired of our (American, Spanish, Russian, etc) exceptionalism. It is exceptional how exceptionalist we are!”
Clarissa's Blog 
“I’m tired of our nation’s exceptional unexceptionalism! It is exceptional how unexceptional we are!”
🙂
Oh, you think I’m joking, don’t you?
You were probably unaware of this moment in Canadian history …
9 November 1967, Empire Club of Canada speech from
Eric Kierans, President, Quebec Liberals —
“The next hundred years”:
http://speeches.empireclub.org/59814/data?n=13
“What is bothering Canadians, young Canadians, French Canadians, English Canadians, new Canadians, is that we don’t want Canada to be a mediocre nation. We react against mediocrity as youngsters do; against the junior satellite status nobody wants …”
“But … I think why we have to be a better than average nation is that the other nations of the world, particularly all of the middle powers, expect much more from us than we have been giving. They don’t want to see us retire into ourselves, retreat into mediocrity.”
[sinister grin]
🙂
Honestly, it’s one of my favourite speeches, especially when someone invokes the spirit of Brian Mulroney or Pierre Trudeau as if to prove some nebulous point …
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It’s actually a refreshing speech, given that these days Canada settles for mediocrity way too often.
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