On Jun 19, 2007, at 2:43 PM, Christopher D. Green wrote:
One is not allowed to accept foreign titles as a Canadian citizen,
which is why good ol' Conrad Black, Lord of Crossharbour, had to
give up his Canadian citizenship before becoming a member of the
British House of Lords. Apparently he now desperately wants to
renew his birthright because Canadian prisons are reputed to be
nicer that their America equivalents.
For a fellow so keen to make ethnic distinctions, your regular
assimilation of Canadian to British is disconcerting.
Chris,
This is interesting. Is that rule special to Canada? It is not
applied in, e.g. Australia, New Zealand, and others. I would have
thought it made good sense not to have a citizen of Canada to hold a
title that involves membership of a legislative body (House of Lords)
of another country, but why deprive one's citizens of prestigious
honors that represent their distinguished contributions to various
areas such as literature, music, humanitarian service, and the like,
and nothing more?
On your second point, the concern you express goes beyond Canada.
Several of our colleagues in Mexico are not comfortable with the use
of the term 'American' specifically for citizens of the US. (They
correct me if fall into that error.) But then, they want to say
'North American' instead of American, thereby committing the error
to which they object, and overlook Canadians and others. Such
distinctions and the very justified attempts to try to retain one's
cultural distinction are admirable but unfortunately complicated
matters. Just consider: at one time the US was referred to as the
'melting pot' which was a term of approval. Now, that is not quite
politically correct, and the US culture is in praise and pursuit of
'diversity'. Sigh! So it goes!
Peter
Peter Harzem, B.Sc.(Lond.), Ph.D.(Wales)
Hudson Professor Emeritus
Department of Psychology
Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849-5214
USA
Phone: +334 844-6482
Fax: +334 844-4447
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Personal E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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