The Patterson family: Canadian in name only......

As a Canadian, I can't help but notice that the Pattersons might as well live across the street from Les Moore of Tom Batiuk's comic strip Funky Winkerbean; that's because, for reasons I am about to detail, Lynn seems to go out of her way to remove any characteristics that might mark them as being Canadian citizens. By doing so, she does herself and her fans a disservice; the commentary about Monday's strip on the Foobiverse Journal reminded me that most people have a healthy curiosity about life in other parts of the world so it would have cost Lynn nothing at all to simply explain that Canadians have their Thanksgiving Day on the second Monday of October. That way, she could have used the strip to educate people as well as entertain. Sadly, though, she seems to think that inserting too many references to Canadian culture into the strip would confuse and alienate her American readership; this odd desire to not have to explain our hopes, our history, our dreams, our way of life and our collective fears to a world that seems to hunger for enlightenment seems to betray a lack of faith in herself and her audience. Were I writing it, I'd explain why they sell milk in plastic bags, show the special pitcher they sell to go with them, engage in the debate "use an electric kettle or heat water in the microwave", explain French immersion and official bilingualism, inform people that temperatures outside are in Celsius while inside temperatures are in Fahrenheit, allude as to why Western Canadians and Québec separatists still vaguely detest Pierre Trudeau, use Canadian legal terms, try to explain why the RCMP are our national symbol and do all the other things Lynn thinks would bore and puzzle people in Atlanta, Tucson, Albany, Bend, Oregon, Sydney and London, England. That's because when I read American comic strips, I do the same thing I do when I watch or read anything that comes from the States: mentally file away all the things that the characters do that Canadians do not so I can better understand my neighbors; it's a shame she doesn't afford Americans, Englishmen and Australians the same opportunity to learn or herself the plaudits that come from trying to teach the world who we are.