Is That All We Are?

A little bit off-topic:  last night I went to see William Shatner at the Shaw Centre.  In general, it was a very good show, highlighting his fascinating life-story and his irrepressible can-do approach to everything.  In short, he is never afraid to try something and very publicly fall on his face.  He is also a very funny man.

What concerns me a little bit is the way he chose to end the show.  He had just concluded a discussion of his spoken word "musical" career, and wound things up with a spoken word rendition of Stompin' Tom Connors' "The Hockey Song," encouraging the audience to sing/speak along.  I guess I saw this as a fairly dismissive sort of pandering:  "Hockey is what these people care the most about, so finish up on a high note."

This show was part of a Canadian tour that will end up eventually in Montréal, and I am assuming he is going to end each show this way (though perhaps not always with an Oilers sweater with "Shatner" written on it).  And maybe it works--a lot of people there did seem to enjoy it.  However, I find myself cringing every time someone feeds the "Canadians are crazy for hockey" stereotype.  To me, it seems facile and vaguely dismissive, even when it originates from well-meaning Canadians.  Another Shatner tie-in:  I found the closing ceremonies for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics painfully embarrassing.

Maybe I'm just over-sensitive, and this is a harmless notion, but to me it seems to infantilize trivialize Canada.