Do Canadians Do Utopia?

Do Canadians Do Utopia?
According to Hythloday the Utopians, not unlike Canadians, find it inappropriate to fight, yet they feel the need to protect themselves and their neighbors from oppression. If another nation decides to try to move up and onto the land of Utopia, Utopians will protect themselves. Any move to oppress the freedoms of the neighbors of Utopia can cause a backlash of support from the society of perfect people. Utopians also seek out and look to prevent, and stop, the progression of unjust rulers. Not unlike the current Canadian culture, the Utopians find themselves compelled, to be prepared and stand up to reach out and fight for the freedom of their neighbors.
Hythloday makes it very clear that a threat to the Utopian island would be attacked immediately. He say’s “If any prince takes up arms and prepares to invade their land. They immediately attack him in full force outside their borders.” Hythloday assumes that the Utopians will always have enough resources to sustain a war without bloodshed of his own people. Since war is the way Utopians use their tradable capital “they promise their resources to help in a war, they send money very freely, but commit their own citizens only sparingly.”(576) Instead of having Utopians fighting their own war Hythloday says “they promise immense rewards to anyone who will kill the enemy’s king. They offer smaller but still very substantial sums for killing any of a list of other individuals whom they name.” (574) Hythloday spells out that the “process of bidding for and buying the life of an enemy is condemned as the cruel villainy of a degenerate mind; but the Utopians consider it good policy, both wise and merciful.”(574) The Utopians are able to protect themselves with such prompt and accurate force because they always seem to be buying everyone out before they can organize a move onto their land.
Canadians even though similar in to the Utopians in that they don’t like to use aggressive force, go about protecting their interests in a different way. Canada does things like supply oil to foreign nations. Canadians use capital produced by the trade of crude oil to turn economy, not protect community. Canadians use community to support big industry. Big industry is then allowed to infiltrate community. In a way Canadians are like what Hythloday would call enemies, and the Utopians are industry lobbyists trying to take down our communities from the inside. Hythloday would find Canadians comparable to the “Zapoltes.” He would, after looking at us, say that “They fight with great courage and incorruptible loyalty for the people who pay them… If someone, even the enemy, offers them more money tomorrow, they will take his side.”(576) Canadians fight to protect different interests then Hythloday’s Utopians.
The Utopians go about protecting the interests of their friends in a more aggressive manner then they go about protecting their own interests. Hytholday say’s “So severely do the Utopians punish wrong done to their friends, even in matters of mere money; but they are not so strict in standing up for their own rights.” Utopians can’t stand to see people outside their community with whom they have good standing with be cheated. Hythloday says the Utopians are so sensitive and
The reason is not that they care more for their allies’ citizens than for their own, but simply this: when the merchants of allies are cheated, it is their own property that is lost, but when the Utopians lose something, it comes from the commons, and is bound to be in plentiful supply at home.(574)
In Utopia they are always ready to help the friends and neighbors that are too weak to protect themselves.
Canadians assume the role of global leaders and help other weaker nations protect themselves form the threat of evil. Canadians are currently residing in Afghanistan. They are currently there because the country was a breeding ground for terrorist assailants and militia groups. These anti social organization posed a threat not only to Canadians themselves but also to many other nations, like the U.S and Britain. Canadians like the Utopians stand up for their neighbors in time of need.
When an unjust ruler decided to take up arms and pillage the world around him, the Utopians Step in. Hythloday tells us that the Utopians fight for “the liberation of an impressed people from tyranny and servitude.” They don’t just rush into war though, they reflect amongst themselves. They don’t go to war unless they “demanded restitution in vain”(574) Unjust rulers don’t have a chance at protecting themselves from the Utopian form of warfare. Utopian soldiers or “secret agents set up overnight” (575) infiltrating not only the boarders but the leading social groups of the society they are attacking. Hythloday explains how soldiers are encouraged to bring their families into battle to heighten their ability to represent themselves. In Utopia “It is a matter of great reproach for either partner to came home without the other, or a son to return after losing his father.” (577) Utopians don’t honor war or rulers that make it. They fight to prevent it.
Canadians stand up for the civil liberties of nations who are being oppressed. Canadians like the Utopians have no problem allowing the female members of their society to join the army. In fact our government encourages it. During the First World War all Canadians alike, rallied together to take on the enemy. Many of the Canadian soldiers in the First World War were underage adolescent boys who lied to be able to fight for their country. Hythloday would agree with those types of military practices
only volunteers are sent to fight abroad; they are picked men from within each city. No one is forced to fight abroad against his will, because they think a man who is naturally a bit fearful will act weakly at best, and may even spread panic among his comrades (577)
Canadians stand up for human rights in the world, just like the Utopians.
No one really ever wants to have to fight, and if we do it’s only to protect ourselves. Canadians and Utopians alike look out for the wellbeing of the world around them. Both the people of the island of Utopian or the country of Canada look out for the survival of those minorities in their world being targeted by other social bullies. Both societies, would quickly prepare themselves to fight if they were under the impression that a force was going to try to take over them geographically. Even though Canadians protect the world to support their economy, their behaviors are almost identical to a nation of perfect people that protect the world for goodness sake.
Work Cited
More, Thomas, Sir. Utopia. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The sixteenth Century The Early Seventeenth Century. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. 8th ed. NewYork: Norton 2006. 521-88. Print.