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

[Stantucker]

But you can't have it both ways, chinito is not ok but negrito is. The few black Argentines will tell you that there are not many of them here because they were sent to the front and killed during the war with Paraguay. I don't know if that is true, but given the historic difficulties of people of people of color, especially those of African descent, and the perception of Afroargentines, i.e., the entire historical context, there's no place for the use of the terms like negrito, even when used as terms of endearment. If you are going to make these arguments, you need to be consistent.

 

[semigoodlookin]

But you can't have it both ways, chinito is not ok but negrito is. The few black Argentines will tell you that there are not many of them here because they were sent to the front and killed during the war with Paraguay. I don't know if that is true, but given the historic difficulties of people of people of color, especially those of African descent, and the perception of Afroargentines, i.e., the entire historical context, there's no place for the use of the terms like negrito, even when used as terms of endearment. If you are going to make these arguments, you need to be consistent.

Who said negrito is ok?

 

[Stantucker]

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.

Ironically, you don't want to be censored, but you are more than willing to do that to others, but that's ok,I guess, because you're in the right.

 

[Stantucker]

Who said negrito is ok?

You seemed to imply that when you were talking about your sister-in-law calling her son that. In all fairness, you did go on to say there is "something about blacks" here. So are you going to tell your sister in law that she can't/shouldn't use that term?

 

[mmoon]

But you can't have it both ways, chinito is not ok but negrito is. The few black Argentines will tell you that there are not many of them here because they were sent to the front and killed during the war with Paraguay. I don't know if that is true, but given the historic difficulties of people of people of color, especially those of African descent, and the perception of Afroargentines, i.e., the entire historical context, there's no place for the use of the terms like negrito, even when used as terms of endearment. If you are going to make these arguments, you need to be consistent.

I totally agree with you about negrito.

I just didn’t mention it because I was trying to stick to the original post.

 

[mmoon]

Ironically, you don't want to be censored, but you are more than willing to do that to others, but that's ok,I guess, because you're in the right.

How am I censoring? I’m asking that people be thoughtful and sensitive in the language they use when referring to others. That’s just being a decent human being. The fact that this post has gotten more defensive replies that anything in the past year is baffling to me. The world, even Argentina, is becoming more multicultural. Deal with it and evolve.

 

[semigoodlookin]

You seemed to imply that when you were talking about your sister-in-law calling her son that. In all fairness, you did go on to say there is "something about blacks" here. So are you going to tell your sister in law that she can't/shouldn't use that term?

I was saying that I understand the reasons why people in Argentina call people by these terms and don't think it always comes from being racist. That does not give it a pass. In other words, my sister in law absolutley should not be saying that word but I don't believe it is a racial slur at her son. Although, without even knowing it she is racially stereotyping her son, which is sort of amusing actually.

As I said earlier in this thread, I call my family out on this crap all the time. I do tell my sister in law why that term is tired in Argentina. She doesn't care, which is her choice at the end of it all. But her son (who is of Turkish/Native South American descent and not actually black) may not enjoy the word when he is older and everyone essentially calls him that name. He may also find as he gets older that there are people who will happily call him that not intending it to be a term of endearment. He may not care, who knows.

 

[nikad]

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

I have several Asian friends of different origin. I know that Korean or Japanese don't like to be told they are Chinese, and the other way around, if you ask them, they will explain you why. This being said, they know that Argentina is a country where people know very little about the differences among these countries and why some don't like the other, but they understand that people here mean no harm, and don't discriminate them, they simply don't understand their culture and especially with Chinese people it gets more challenging because some can't speak Spanish yet. None of my friends ever felt harassed or insulted, because they have a good grasp of the local culture despite the differences.

 

[nikad]

How am I censoring? I’m asking that people be thoughtful and sensitive in the language they use when referring to others. That’s just being a decent human being. The fact that this post has gotten more defensive replies that anything in the past year is baffling to me. The world, even Argentina, is becoming more multicultural. Deal with it and evolve.

Maybe you should stand in a corner and call people out to do this? How about you let a society grow and evolve on its own? You are simply patronizing. And by the way, maybe you should all run a search on this forum, and find out how many times the term Argie has been used. Then come back and explain why you have all been so racist and discriminatory as well as insulting, because, you should know by now especially coming from evolved and politically correct societies that it is very insulting to Argentine people right?

Search results for query: argie

baexpats.org

 

[semigoodlookin]

And by the way, maybe you should all run a search on this forum, and find out how many times the term Argie has been used. Then come back and explain why you have all been so racist and discriminatory as well as insulting, because, you should know by now especially coming from evolved and politically correct societies that it is very insulting to Argentine people right?

Search results for query: argie

baexpats.org

Argentine peope are not a race and I am surprised that has to be pointed out.

That said.

Argie is a word I believe originated in England, although I stand to be corrected on that. It is used in both a derogatory way and an affiacionate way, depending on the intent. It too should not be used and I personally do not use it and bristle when people in the UK do. However, there are some key differences between this and negrito and chinito. The first and most glaring (which is why Argie should never been offered as a counter in the first place) is that Argie is not used to describe all people from the Latin American countries, like Chinito in Argentina means anyone from a certain region, regardless of their affiliation with China. Sure, Argie is offensive to a group of people and I absolutely disagree with its use, but it is not lumping several nationalities into a single term. Similalry negrito, which as I pointed out is also used to describe my nephew who is not even black. But hey, you have dark skin you're a negrito.

Put it like this, whether the word is horrible or not, you are an Argie as that word describes people from Argentina (sadly). A Japanese person, for example, is not a chinito.

Like I said, when people used Paki in the UK, the truly discriminatory thing about it was its use to describe all people from a region because of how they looked and to verbally segregate them. By the way, we are all not discussing the fact that Japenese (for example) people actually don't look like Chinese people, which makes the term chinito even more offensive.