U.S. doesn’t ruin the
neighborhood after all

A footnote to the intriguing column on the Commentary page about Canadian attitudes toward the United States:

A Canadian scholar who teaches in Victoria, British Columbia, sees faults in the United States but considers himself generally to be pro-American. Over lunch some months ago, he noted that his compatriots start learning anti-Americanism at an early age so that when they come to university, it has often become either the conventional wisdom or a full-blown rage.

"I listen to them for a while," he said, "then I ask them one question: 'Who would you rather have living next door to you? The Russians? The Chinese? The Indians? The Germans or the Japanese? Even the British? Who would you chose?' "

"It stops them every time," he said.

Richard Halloran

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