In case I haven't already told you, I came from one of the most "southern parts of Wales -- Cardiff...

Born in the same hospital as Tom Jones...

What's up pussy cat?

Gosh, you're virtually english!

Not really - that's Chepstow.

Jane

North America is a cultural Island, isolated from just about every other culture in the world. Europe has a huge variety of cultural islands, all interacting with each other for 1000's of years yet staying intact for the most part.

The US is one huge culture. No, the Canadian's aren't different. In fact a huge number of US iconic personalities are actually Canadian. Newscasters, comedians, actors.

And there is no land connection to the south. A canal cuts straight accross Panama. To us, our culture in the do-all end-all and be-all.

How can we not be self-important? Can you name any measure, of anything, anywhere, that is not hugely effected, (Bad or Good), by US Culture?

To suggest that what we do is not important in the world is a much bigger Sin than understanding that we are.

Yes, I am aware that a number of "US" personalities come from Canada, but that does not mean, quid pro quo, that Canada is not different.

Michael Moore aptly demonstrated how life in Hamilton, Ontario was completely different to Buffalo, only a few miles away. Yes, there are many similarities, but things do change noticeably when you cross the border. Anyway, I will leave that for the Canadians to expound upon. But here are some quick examples: absence of gun culture, different mindset and mix of immigrants, different accent, friendlier and better behaved.

The argument about the Panama Canal and there being no land connection to the south is, as we say in Britain, complete and utter bollocks. The actual canal sections are probably less than 20 miles long, being as the rest of it is a lake, and given that the canal is man made and probably only about 200 feet across. In any event, before you reach that point you have to go through Mexico plus all the countries of Central America.

So, the argument that the US is a cultural island based on geography just doesn't stand up.

That it is a cultural island, I can agree with, but for different reasons than you suggest. Canada is a considerably larger country than the US, and yet they seem to have some concept of what is going on in the rest of the world.

Yes. Scots wearing kilts and going to ceilidhs does not appear to be linked in anyway to US culture. Me going to my local pub, eating British food and drinking British or European beer and listening to British music. Or the diet of people in the Himalayas. I doubt if Macdonalds has quite reached Tibet and Nepal yet.

We might just as easily argue that British culture permeates virtually everywhere, seeing as it's our music that is top of everyone's charts. Or French culture for bringing us cafes and restaurants.

But, I don't wish to argue for the sake of it. Yes, American culture is pervasive, but probably not as pervasive as you think. (I could argue that there's barely a Hollywood film released these days that doesn't have a British, Irish or Australian actor in, or a british director etc).

It's interesting that you admit to being a cultural island or living in a cultural vacuum. The geographical reasons that you give do not stand up to any scrutiny, but it is perhaps because the country is large and has a large population, and most people are a fairly long way away from other cultures.

But then again, someone in Fort William is a long way from Spain, and would still have some notion of Spanish culture. In the case of America, I suspect the mypopia came first, and that has shaped the culture. And I suspect the sense of self-importance and having a special destiny came long before America actually was a super-power.

Jane