Harper's staff and top senators colluded to whitewash Duffy report: RCMP

[evewithanapple]

The prime minister's chief of staff went to Stephen Harper for approval of a secret plan that would have seen the Conservative party repay Mike Duffy's contested expenses and whitewash a Senate report, new RCMP documents suggest

Comments

[yndigot]

I'm definitely not defending ignorance nor suggesting that people aren't responsible for educating themselves.

However, I will say that as someone who lives in a home where major network news is frequently watched, I've rarely seen photographs or video of Stephen Harper shown on US television. In fact, in US TV news coverage, he's virtually nonexistant compared to, for example, David Cameron. I don't think I've ever seen him on the front page of our local major newspaper either.

Again, not saying that everyone does or should get their information from major network TV news or the front page of my city's newspaper. Perhaps he's getting extensive coverage from other segments of the US media that I'm not aware of. And I'm still not trying to say that people aren't responsible for correcting their own ignorance. But I am saying that, based on my experience with the amount of attention Canada and the Canadian Premiership gets here, I'm really not shocked that USians who don't specifically google 'what does the Canadian Prime Minister look like?' don't recognize him. People who aren't already interested, unfortunately, aren't going to go out of their way to look for that kind of information. It's a failing both on the parts of people who don't care enough to inform themselves, and major media, which tends to ignore Canada unless something scandalous is happening.

[soleiltropiques]

I don't disagree with you. :)

I think where I started to get concerned was when people didn't know what the capital of Canada is, personally.

(Edited for clarity)

[romp]

I don't think I knew until I moved here as an adult. I think people often assume it's the largest city. Many people in the US don't know the capital of California, for example.

I mean, it's narcissistic and not being a good neighbour but we knew that.

[moonshaz]

Sacramento!

Ottawa, Ontario! (It bugs me when people identify a Canadian city as Toronto, Canada, etc. It's just ignorant.)

And I did not look either of those two up. I swear. :D I'm just a geography nerd! I know all the U.S. state capitals and most of the Canadian provincial ones, for that matter.

But Stephen Harper? I honestly don't recall ever seeing a picture of him until I googled for one after that Jeopardy post. I've seen several now and I'm honestly still not sure I'd remember who he was if I saw him again. Not saying this is good, bad, or indifferent. Just that it's hard to keep an image like that in mind when you never, ever see it unless you go hunting for it.

Now if there was something really distinctive abut his appearance.... But unfortunately, there's not. :-\

That said, it's true that most Americans are woefully ignorant about Canada. But then, we're (generic we) tend to be woefully ignorant about most other countries. Geography isn't taught properly in most schools here, so kids don't usually get a good grounding as part of their education. And after that... only those who happen to have a deep personal interest in the topic (points to self) are likely to take the trouble to fill in the blanks on their own.

Not making excuses, just acknowledging what's true and citing a major reason for it.

[seishin]

Not knowing Ottawa = capital of Canada is better compared to not knowing Washington DC = capital of the US.

[romp]

If all things were equal, yes. But watching TV and reading the news and reading magazines in the US gives the impression that the US is the centre of the universe. It's easy to think there isn't much outside its borders.