JONESIE: Booing the American anthem is understandable, but the wrong strategy

Well that wasn’t very Canadian, was it?

In Montreal, they booed the Americans and the American anthem at the Four Nations hockey tournament.

That’s of particularly poor taste to invite guests into your own home and then disrespect them there. What could make them suddenly so rude to these people?

These hockey players did nothing to earn this scorn. They weren’t even playing Canada, they were playing Finland. Plus, you’re giving them bulletin board material for the game! That can only come back to bite us!

This is part of a new trend in Canadian rinks since U.S. President Donald Trump took office. Perhaps it’s because we’re all feeling a little fighty after he threatened our economy and our sovereignty. Canadians will do that.

But I don’t like this strategy. We’re not going to beat the Americans. It has always been the case that if the Americans really wanted Canada, they could come and take it and there’s nothing we could do. Heck, same with many other countries.

Marshall Jones, managing editor

Have we staved that off by being combative and ornery and rude? No, we survive by being the nicest kid and the best friend in the schoolyard. We help everyone if we can. It’s our Teflon.

Nobody seriously bullies that kid and bullies who try, tend to make a lot of enemies.

So while I take Donald Trump at his word and I know that he wants to be the big man on the world stage, I know he can only do what his people agree to.

And that’s who we must appeal to.

There’s a lot of tough talk on social media, lots of Americans stoking this fire. But social media isn’t a real place. It’s where people share ideas about other people without ever looking those people in the face.

You know where they do that all the time? Hockey rinks. Sports venues. Concerts. This is where Americans and Canadians can find common ground. Face to face, we are the same people with the same hopes and dreams. We watch the same shows, listen to the same music, enjoy the same pastimes.

BC Premier David Eby accidentally stumbled upon this realization at the Invictus Games, where injured Canadian and American soldiers compete in various sports. He reminded everyone that soldiers have served with each other for decades. We’ve been able to rely on each other, support each other. We’ve long been friends and allies. We have gone to bat many times for the Americans and we’d do it again.

Most of us don’t care much about politics, we care about values, about people. And the American people are not Donald Trump, whatever you think of him.

Booing them is absolutely the wrong approach. There was a bit of a backlash in Nashville earlier this month when a few boos were heard during the Canadian anthem. It wasn’t much but it’s a start. Force them to pick sides and we’ll lose.

So instead of encouraging Americans to retaliate with boos from this:

We could respond more like this:

Imagine 20,000 people at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee reciprocating, singing O Canada to support the friends who never fail to support them.

That’s a message that might make Donald Trump think twice about bullying their friends.

— Marshall Jones is the Managing Editor of iNFOnews.ca