Thoughts on Washington
So having spent some serious time in DC last week I thought I’d post some general impressions of the city and how it contributes to American culture and identity.
First off, the city was beautiful. Well laid out, beautiful architecture and the weather made things even better. Having visited Washington its really become very clear to me how so many people can buy into the whole “rah rah USA” stuff. I used to think it was total garbage and that only idiots couldn’t see through it. But when you’re down there and you’re standing inside monuments, that are reminiscent of Greek temples, dedicated to ‘great’ men like Jefferson and Lincoln its really no surprise at all. All the memorials tell the Americans how great they are and where they come from. They preach the ‘founding principles’ of the nation and point to the role of the USA as a city on a hill and a defender of rights. Even the holocaust museum, while being an excellent memorial to the horrors of Hitler, celebrated America as the savior of Europe and sort of spun it to point to the US as ‘needed to defend the weak against evil’. Everything is spun that way. Everything is so BIG, so ornate. You don’t see that in Ottawa. In Ottawa you have an 8 ft statue of a PM but no temple for him to stand in much less a gift shop and washrooms attached. I’m not complaining, I love Ottawa, I just think that the capital of the US really, really designed to sell to the American people an image of themselves that isn’t necessarily true. And it used to seem dumb to me, but after having visited, it makes sense…heck, for a moment there I almost wished that they were my forefathers and my fallen war Heroes. But then I walk through the security to get into every building and I see the cops on every corner and watch military choppers flying low over the city and I remember why I’m glad I’m not American. It’s a beautiful city- suitable for the capital of an empire- of the world even. It’s just so different in every way. Its so close to Canada but so very foreign. Basically, it’s a nice place to visit but I couldn’t live there…unless I was specifically representing Canada. That’s all I have to say for now.
First off, the city was beautiful. Well laid out, beautiful architecture and the weather made things even better. Having visited Washington its really become very clear to me how so many people can buy into the whole “rah rah USA” stuff. I used to think it was total garbage and that only idiots couldn’t see through it. But when you’re down there and you’re standing inside monuments, that are reminiscent of Greek temples, dedicated to ‘great’ men like Jefferson and Lincoln its really no surprise at all. All the memorials tell the Americans how great they are and where they come from. They preach the ‘founding principles’ of the nation and point to the role of the USA as a city on a hill and a defender of rights. Even the holocaust museum, while being an excellent memorial to the horrors of Hitler, celebrated America as the savior of Europe and sort of spun it to point to the US as ‘needed to defend the weak against evil’. Everything is spun that way. Everything is so BIG, so ornate. You don’t see that in Ottawa. In Ottawa you have an 8 ft statue of a PM but no temple for him to stand in much less a gift shop and washrooms attached. I’m not complaining, I love Ottawa, I just think that the capital of the US really, really designed to sell to the American people an image of themselves that isn’t necessarily true. And it used to seem dumb to me, but after having visited, it makes sense…heck, for a moment there I almost wished that they were my forefathers and my fallen war Heroes. But then I walk through the security to get into every building and I see the cops on every corner and watch military choppers flying low over the city and I remember why I’m glad I’m not American. It’s a beautiful city- suitable for the capital of an empire- of the world even. It’s just so different in every way. Its so close to Canada but so very foreign. Basically, it’s a nice place to visit but I couldn’t live there…unless I was specifically representing Canada. That’s all I have to say for now.
posted by Robyn at
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
4 Comments:
I think we Canadians are sold an image too. We may not have enough money to erect monuments to our heroes (possibly because we don't have (m)any), but we are still given a line. How many times have you been told Canada is the Enlightened nation, the tolerant nation, the peace loving nation, compassionate nation, blah blah blah. Gimmeabreak.
Andrew,
i don't deny that we've been sold an image too i just don't think that our capital is as reflective of this as the American capital is. I would argue that perhaps we spend our money on things on things like health care rather than large temples to dead men. Isn't that actually making an identity rather than just saying that you are something? i don't deny that a lot of the stuff that we tell ourselves that we are is a lie but i think that we don't do as good of a job of 'selling it'. Canadians are constantly critical of their image, and i think thats good.
Partly it reflects on when both cities were built. The American capital was constructed at the height of neo-classical art. Combine that with the fact that Athenian democracy and Roman republicanism were two of the founding ideals and you get a recipe for a conscious attempt to echo Greco-Roman design in all its grandeur. Ottawa was built in another century under the influence of Victorian gothic-revival. Being very much a colony, I think that Canada, at the construction of the parliament probably had a mentality that wanted to keep the whole thing modest. Don't want to supersede the mother country now? It's interesting now, thinking about the Greco-Roman thing, because the trend in American circles is to say the country was founded on the bible, and it clearly wasn't. It had far more to do with Greco-Roman ideals, Deism, and John Locke.
Dan,
Not that I really care that much and I don't want to debate it now, but that last statement is highly contentious.
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