How does this happen? Chick-fil-A branded as anti-gay?

[Asher]

It's like jerkoff material to know you live in a country so ****ing awesome somebody could sing the praises of raping children, and no one can do **** about it. Freedom.

[Hauldren Collider]

Yes, it really is nice to be truly free.

Shame about campaign finance reform and the FCC

[DaShi]

Politicians have too much freedom!

[Asher]

In other "WTF is wrong with Americans" news, an off-duty American cop wrote a letter to the editor of the biggest paper in Calgary to describe a harrowing situation that could've been avoided if he was packing heat.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Nose+Hill+Park+confrontation+makes+visitors+feel+unsafe/7050028/story.html

Nose Hill Park confrontation makes visitors feel unsafe

I recently visited Calgary from Michigan. As a police officer for 20 years, it feels strange not to carry my off-duty hand-gun. Many would say I have no need to carry one in Canada.

Yet the police cannot protect everyone all the time. A man should be al-lowed to protect himself if the need arises. The need arose in a theatre in Aurora, Colo., as well as a college campus in Canada.

Recently, while out for a walk in Nose Hill Park, in broad daylight on a paved trail, two young men approached my wife and me. The men stepped in front of us, then said in a very aggressive tone: "Been to the Stampede yet?"

We ignored them. The two moved closer, repeating: "Hey, you been to the Stampede yet?"

I quickly moved between these two and my wife, replying, "Gentle-men, I have no need to talk with you, goodbye." They looked bewildered, and we then walked past them.

I speculate they did not have good intentions when they approached in such an aggressive, disrespectful and menacing manner. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ they did not pull a weapon of some sort, but rather concluded it was in their best interest to leave us alone.

Would we not expect a uniformed officer to pull his or her weapon to intercede in a life-or-death encounter to protect self, or another? Why then should the expectation be lower for a citizen of Canada or a visitor? Wait, I know - it's because in Canada, only the criminals and the police carry handguns.

Walt Wawra, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Columnist responds:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/Lakritz+Kalamazoo+police+officer+letter+editor+about/7054368/story.html

Kalamazoo police officer's letter to editor about handguns points to cultural divide

Yes, Walt Wawra is a real person. No, the letter we published from him Tuesday, about the “confrontation” he and his wife had with two Calgarians in Nose Hill Park, was not a hoax. The fact that so many readers have written in, or posted comments online, wondering if it was for real, speaks volumes about the cultural differences between Canadians and Americans. It gives the lie to those who say that Canadians are no different than Americans.

Wawra, who lives in Kalamazoo, Mich., is a police officer. While on a recent visit to Calgary, he and his wife, Debbie, were approached by two young men on a pathway in Nose Hill Park, who asked the Wawras if they had been to the Stampede yet. When they asked the question a second time, Wawra moved between the men and his wife and told them he had no need to talk to them. He said they looked “bewildered.” The parties then went their separate ways.

In his letter, Wawra said it felt strange not to carry his off-duty handgun in Canada and added that he thanked the Lord they didn’t pull a weapon on him. No benefit of the doubt given the young men, no thought that they might have just been trying to be friendly.

He also complained about Canadian gun laws, saying that in Canada, only the police and criminals carry handguns. Yes, that’s true, and it’s probably one of the reasons when there’s a dispute over a parking space in Canada, nobody dies from bullet wounds as a result.

Wawra’s mindset is what America’s gun mania has produced. How paranoid and how very sad.

Wawra wrote that he speculated the men did not have good intentions. He claims the men spoke in an “aggressive, disrespectful and menacing manner.” Menacing? A question about the Stampede is construed as a menace? Or, as someone commented on the Herald’s website: “... for asking if you had been to the Stampede? Since when is that grounds to be dead?” Another commenter wrote: “I can see why they were frightened. If you rearrange the letters in ‘been to Stampede yet?’ you get “a beset potted enemy’.”

Most likely, the men noticed something about the Wawras that indicated they were tourists, and were trying to make conversation. Maybe they themselves were enjoying the Stampede’s centennial celebration and wanted to let these tourists know that their visit to Calgary wouldn’t be complete without a day at the Stampede. The fact that the young men looked bewildered by Wawra’s response indicates that their intentions were indeed friendly ones and that they were quite puzzled at being rebuffed.

Wawra did not return my call requesting an interview Tuesday afternoon. Too bad. I would have liked to ask him why an American visitor to Calgary would treat a friendly encounter in a city park here as if it were a midnight stroll through a drug-dealer infested alley on the south side of Chicago. One can only stand open-mouthed at the knee-jerk mindset of suspicion, fear and loathing on the mean streets — which is so ingrained in Americans that they can’t leave it at home when they visit another country.

Americans argue that they need to carry guns, because having a concealed weapon makes them feel safe. Their thinking seems to be that at any given moment, they could be under attack from the very next person they meet on the street, and they’ll need to shoot in self-defence. Whereas, when you walk down a street in Canada, you don’t assume that you’re at risk of being suddenly assaulted or killed. You just see ordinary people going about their day and you give their motives no further thought.

And so, Americans, unaware of just how sick their handgun mentality is, continue to fight like crazy to prevent any kind of handgun-control legislation from being implemented. A 9 mm handgun, purchased legally, was the weapon of choice in Oak Creek, Wis., on Sunday when six people were killed and three more wounded by a white supremacist at a Sikh temple. One might argue that if the worshippers had carried guns, they could have killed the guy first. But sitting in a temple armed to the teeth while listening to a sermon about brotherhood and peace is ridiculous.

“Many would say I have no need to carry (a handgun) in Canada,” Wawra wrote. “Yet I have a unique perspective based on years of police experience. The perspective (is that) the police cannot protect everyone all the time. A man should be allowed to protect himself if the need arises... My perspective proved true a few days ago for my wife and I.”

It doesn’t seem to have occurred to Wawra that the need didn’t arise in Calgary, and that if he’d been carrying a handgun, two people might now be dead because they asked him if he’d been to the Stampede.

As an American who is also a Canadian citizen, all I can say is, thank God I live in Canada.

Edit: Gawker is carrying this story now, with the headline: American Becomes Laughingstock of Canada After Letter to Editor Lamenting Lack of Handgun During Mild Confrontation

[giblets]

Great, generalize about Americans because of one lunatic who thought he was going to get attacked by Stampede fanatics Way to go Canada

[DaShi]

I've found that Canadians usually make me wish I was carrying a gun.

[Felch]

We're just not accustomed to discourtesy in public places, because all the discourteous people have been shot or driven indoors to troll internet message boards.

[Asher]

We're just not accustomed to discourtesy in public places, because all the discourteous people have been shot or driven indoors to troll internet message boards.

In this case, the Canadians were being friendly with a stranger (things we tend to do), while the American was outright rude and threatening...

It really is exactly the American stereotype outside of your country. It's extra awesome he's actually from a place called Kalamazoo.

[Asher]

Great, generalize about Americans because of one lunatic who thought he was going to get attacked by Stampede fanatics Way to go Canada

Judging by your comrades here, he represents a great number of Americans and their mindsets.

[Kidlicious]

Oh, this is rich. Former commie and complete idiot claims econ fail.

It doesn't suprise me that you still don't know why you failed.

[regexcellent]

In this case, the Canadians were being friendly with a stranger (things we tend to do), while the American was outright rude and threatening...

It really is exactly the American stereotype outside of your country. It's extra awesome he's actually from a place called Kalamazoo.

The foreign students I know at RIT say that Americans are really polite...

Whenever I've been out of the country, nobody says things like "have a nice day" or "how are you today" or things like that at stores, or to strangers.

Besides, the stereotype of the American tourist is to make a (usually pitiful) attempt to speak the local language, then fail to haggle, pay way above market prices, and give big tips. Rudeness doesn't factor.

[Asher]

RIT sounds suspiciously like it's in Rochester, which is in America, no?

I'm shocked that foreigners there are not telling you Americans are rude to your face. Shocked, I tell you.

That stereotype is widely held world-wide. Trust me.

[Kidlicious]

The worst way to be rude is to think everything should work like it does in America, like thinking everyone in the world should say, "have a nice day." I don't care if people tell me to have a nice day. They rarely mean it. But some people require it, even in other countries.

[Felch]

In this case, the Canadians were being friendly with a stranger (things we tend to do), while the American was outright rude and threatening...

It really is exactly the American stereotype outside of your country. It's extra awesome he's actually from a place called Kalamazoo.

It's a difference in culture then. You see, in America it's extremely discourteous to be friendly with a stranger. When someone I don't know greets me with a smile and a handshake, I immediately look around for some weapon to defend myself. ****ing lunatics can't be trusted.

[regexcellent]

It's a difference in culture then. You see, in America it's extremely discourteous to be friendly with a stranger. When someone I don't know greets me with a smile and a handshake, I immediately look around for some weapon to defend myself. ****ing lunatics can't be trusted.

This hasn't been my experience. I try to be friendly with strangers and don't usually get a bad reaction. On the other hand, I generally don't act familiar at all.