Am I the only person in Argentina that finds the term "chinito" offensive?

[Bajo_cero2]

As you mentioned, we are BAexpats, not Brazil expats.
Yes, there is a lot of racism in Brazil. Lots. Happy?
With that out of the way, would you like to continue to justify the use of racial remarks in Argentina?

You posted a picture putting you in ridiculous, I just replied you.

If you learn to learn about racism in Argentina, I can teach you. It is a lot more subtle.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

When an Argentine here posted that it was OK to use racist expressions because "Argentina was not an apartheid state, unlike the US" as a response I posted an article that explained that Argentine blacks were either killed or fled to Brazil and Uruguay.

Again. Slaves fleed from Brazil to Argentina because they were free as soon as they put a feet in Argentina.
The reclamations of the Brazilian Consul are well documentated.

 

[camberiu]

You posted a picture putting you in ridiculous, I just replied you.

If you learn to learn about racism in Argentina, I can teach you. It is a lot more subtle.

"‘In Argentina blacks do not exist, that is a Brazilian problem.’"
-Carlos Menem

Yes, very subtle.

 

[Pensador]

"‘In Argentina blacks do not exist, that is a Brazilian problem.’"
-Carlos Menem

Yes, very subtle.

Surely a politician does not define a culture. If you think so you are sadly mistaken.

 

[garryl]

Carlos Menem is such an ass. Very few in Argentina likes him, neither did his young tall Chilean wife who dumped him.
Once I was sitting in a restaurant in La Recova 10 years ago, he was sitting at the next table, he is a very small short guy in real life.

 

[mmoon]

Do as you please. They are not bothered, you are. They have been living here as immigrants for several decades now, and they get it, you don't. That is the bottom line.

They “get it”? Get what, exactly? And how do you personally know that this term doesn’t bother them?

 

[garryl]

The culture (or racial ) discrimination in Argentina is much less than in Asian countries. People in general know what is politically right and wrong, they
might say things behind the door, but they do not scream racial stuff on the streets. This is not the case in many Asians countries, they do not know what they are supposed to say or not to say.

 

[camberiu]

Yes, if you set the bar that low, indeed, Argentina is leaps and bounds ahead on Myanmar on race relations.
Congrats to Argentina I guess.

 

[semigoodlookin]

They “get it”? Get what, exactly? And how do you personally know that this term doesn’t bother them?

Because Bajo's wife said so, case closed.

...

A normal response here would be for the Argentine people on this board to say something like "yeah it is bad these terms are still used" and then try to debate why they still are, which would include discussing the culture.

Instead, we are getting them doubling down and using the culture as an excuse to still use those terms. Back in the UK during the 70s, 80s and 90s, we would call people from Pakistan "Paki's". It's not particulalry a racist term if you use the excuse it's just shortening the place where they came from. Problem is people would use the word "Paki" to describe everyone from that region, including Indians, Bangladeshi's, etc.while also becoming a word that was used to put them in their place without every being outwardly racist to them. They were just Pakis, over there in their own population, a sort of verbal segregation. I don't use that term any more and for the most part I rarely hear it used in the UK even though it too definately became part of the culture and something to highlight the immigrant movement to the UK. The use of that term should never be defended as a time and place thing, something that was simply part of the culture back then. It was wrong, no excuses.

And no, that's not a "country A is better than country B" argument, so spare me the example of how the UK is worse than Argentina in race. That's not what is being debated here.

I know and understand that negrito and chinito are used here largely has words of endearment. When my sister in law calls her son negrito, she is not racially slurring him I am sure. The problem is a term like chinito is used to describe all people from a certain region in Asia. At the minimum its just plain lazy stereotyping.

There is definately something with black people in this country. It does not seem to come from a point of hate, but more a lack of proximity maybe. I watch a lot of football with friends and family and when watching games from Europe there is always at least one comment about how many black players are on a team (something that is common). Just a passing observation you may think, but the observation would never be made if it was a team of white players.

Also, where is minority representation on TV? Put one of the main channels on today and watch it from 7am to 11pm and how many non-white people will you see?

 

[mmoon]

Because Bajo's wife said so, case closed.

...

A normal response here would be for the Argentine people on this board to say something like "yeah it is bad these terms are still used" and then try to debate why they still are, which would include discussing the culture.

Instead, we are getting them doubling down and using the culture as an excuse to still use those terms.

And no, that's not a "country A is better than country B" argument, so spare me the example of how the UK is worse than Argentina in race. That's not what is being debated here.

Totally agree. To act that what’s being discussed here is promoting censorship is ridiculous. Instead, what we’re talking about is that language does matter, and what you call people does matter. Lumping a whole continent together under Chinese just because of some similarity in features is racist, lazy and offensive. Considering China’s current and past relationship with many of these countries, it’s insensitive to the extreme.

Additionally, to keep repeating the argument that “this is Argentina and you either adapt to how we are or get out because you don’t understand us and you don’t belong here (but those chinitos do, because they get it and don’t complain when we call them chinito) and you’re a politically correct cultural imperialist” frankly has no place on baexpats. This is ultimately a site for expats, so please don’t censor us.