Rob and Gerbick...
really guys...
no patronizing from me...
I'm not saying anything is wrong with the US...
it is just different philosophies...
when folks from other places ask what is canada like ...
they usually ask for it in reference to the U.S. as a comparable they already know...
usually posed as a kinda generic... "what is the difference between?"...
Of course I am biased ...I grew up and live here...
can't help that one..
As far as gerbick's belief and understanding that the concept of privilege of white males in canada receive ...and that racism , hate and intolerance and all those ugly things exist here as much as in the US...
I am sure there is intolerance everywhere...
I never denied that..
and that here too in canada ...there can be intolerance ...
As I said I have lived here my whole life...
I cannot say I am privileged anymore than anyone else...
Our society as a whole and our laws are aghast at such a thought of anyone being more privileged than another..
I am sure that there are a minority who feel different...
But they tend to be shunned ...
Proving such points as I am giving is a difficult one ...
Best I can say is...
Tolerance ..compassion... and trying very hard not to emote and take rash and violent reactive responses to situations...
before thinking through a situation...
is one thing Canadians as a norm...as a nation...
do tend to grit their teeth through...

If a good example of the average Canadians tolerance of people "other" than themselves is needed..
If proof is needed..
Especially after a crisis...
and a national one at that..

Here is what happened to us not too long ago...
a very rare incident..
and for the convenience of the American members here...
reported from one of your own media outlets..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...terror-attack/

Not a week later in Ottawa...
A social experiment was conducted by university students and filmed by hidden camera...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-muslim-bigot/

I know I have a zero tolerance for intolerance...
I know that all the people who are friends of mine...
frankly all the people I know ...period...
have a zero tolerance for intolerance...
our justice and law enforcement have zero tolerance...
and frankly gerbick if you found any sign of intolerance while visiting here ...directed at anyone you saw ...knew...or at yourself...
Then you most certainly weren't in the company of any I would call my friend....

they are not only a minority ..
they are a reviled and prosecuted minority...
If they don't get the sense and courtesy and manners and etiquette taught to them properly while growing up...

then they get disciplined by the justice system here...

and / or potentially beaten into them by their fellow canadians.. and are considered and labelled and shunned as social outcasts and pariahs....

Hope I have cleared up some issues here.