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

[semigoodlookin]

It is a possibility, unless you assume all people using the word discriminate or are plain hostile.

Oh sure, and I don't assume that all uses of the words are hostile and have said as much here.

 

[perry]

I said no such thing. I suggest you re-read the message thread.
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.
I then replied to claims made by an Argentine here that blacks in Brazil were segregated. Racial relations in Brazil can and should be criticized in many levels, but segregation was never a practice adopted there. Quite the contrary: What gives many visitors the false impression of racial harmony in Brazil is exactly because there is and never was any segregation.
As a person of color myself who have lived in both places, I do think racism here in Argentina is worse than Brazil. But that is my personal opinion and one is free to disagree.

If you read the ( long ) post carefully you will find that the word chinito has other meanings, not just nationality.

I fully agree with you Nikad and you are a voice of reason in this debate . I remember clearly in Australia the term argy bargy being used continually to devalue and ridicule the argentinian people in their quest to take control of the Malvinas Islands . I find it ironic that the people who are complaining the most about rascism in Argentina are the British whose history has always been one of divide and rule.

Argie and the term argy bargy is insulting but all the english newspapers use this term when mentioning the Malvinas . Where was the outcry then?

 

[semigoodlookin]

Argie and the term argy bargy is insulting but all the english newspapers use this term when mentioning the Malvinas . Where is the outcry then?

They do (in fact wasn't Argy Bargy a headline during the war?). If you head to any comments section on an English newspaper for a story regarding Argentina, you'll find Argie being used left, right, and center.

 

[deadOA]

You went into a great length with a concerted effort to volunteer your destain for "chinito" and I did not ask for your opinion. It has been days.

Yet your selective silence on much worse derogatory terms is remarkable.

 

[nikad]

They do (in fact wasn't Argy Bargy a headline during the war?). If you head to any comments section on an English newspaper for a story regarding Argentina, you'll find Argie being used left, right, and center.

I guess then, these English speaking countries are just as racist and discriminatory as any others?

 

[semigoodlookin]

I guess then, these English speaking countries are just as racist and discriminatory as any others?

"Just as" is hard to quantify, but sure, why not? What does that change in the debate here?

 

[nikad]

"Just as" is hard to quantify, but sure, why not? What does that change in the debate here?

What changes is that unless anyone posting here can prove that they come from a truly non discriminatory and non racist society, I feel they honestly have no authority to judge or criticize others. Moreover, in Argentina we call others negrito, gordito, chinito, etc to name a few, whether the person is actually Asian, overweight or has dark skin, however in some developed countries this friendly name calling does not exist and any name calling is targeted and used in only one way ( discrimination, insulting )

 

[semigoodlookin]

What changes is that unless anyone posting here can prove that they come from a truly non discriminatory and non racist society, I feel they honestly have no authority to judge or criticize others. Moreover, in Argentina we call others negrito, gordito, chinito, etc to name a few, whether the person is actually Asian, overweight or has dark skin, however in some developed countries this friendly name calling does not exist and any name calling is targeted and used in only one way ( discrimination, insulting )

So the authority to critisize only comes from the collective?

What would my objection to those words have to do with the fact racism exists in other parts of the world? I also disagree with it in other countries, including my own but I really don't see what it has to do with the point being discussed. You can't judge or critisize something unless you can prove to be the opposite? Sorry to take it to a childish level but the bread on my sandwich was too hard today, but I can't critisize it because I cannot prove I am myself a soft bread?

I agree, there is a distinction in Argentina where offensive words can also be used in affection. I would also agree this would make it harder to shed the use of those words because it is not just about education but also changing cultural norms.

 

[London2Baires]

So the authority to critisize only comes from the collective?

What would my objection to those words have to do with the fact racism exists in other parts of the world? I also disagree with it in other countries, including my own but I really don't see what it has to do with the point being discussed. You can't judge or critisize something unless you can prove to be the opposite? Sorry to take it to a childish level but the bread on my sandwich was too hard today, but I can't critisize it because I cannot prove I am myself a soft bread?

I agree, there is a distinction in Argentina where offensive words can also be used in affection. I would also agree this would make it harder to shed the use of those words because it is not just about education but also changing cultural norms.

It's just classic whataboutism. Originally a well designed propaganda structure. It's a logical fallacy but effective at persuasion nevertheless.

Originally it was asosiated and best known as a soviet developed methodology, though in contemporary times is most seen with the alt right and current US leader.

"Soviet propagandists during the cold war were trained in a tactic that their western interlocutors nicknamed 'whataboutism'. Any criticism of the Soviet Union (Afghanistan, martial law in Poland, imprisonment of dissidents, censorship) was met with a 'What about...' (apartheid South Africa, jailed trade-unionists, the Contras in Nicaragua, and so forth)."[7][8][9] The technique functions as a diversionary tactic to distract the opponent from their original criticism.[37][38][39] Thus, the technique is used to avoid directly refuting or disproving the opponent's initial argument.[40][41] "

Whataboutism - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[nikad]

So the authority to critisize only comes from the collective?

What would my objection to those words have to do with the fact racism exists in other parts of the world? I also disagree with it in other countries, including my own but I really don't see what it has to do with the point being discussed. You can't judge or critisize something unless you can prove to be the opposite? Sorry to take it to a childish level but the bread on my sandwich was too hard today, but I can't critisize it because I cannot prove I am myself a soft bread?

I agree, there is a distinction in Argentina where offensive words can also be used in affection. I would also agree this would make it harder to shed the use of those words because it is not just about education but also changing cultural norms.

I was not talking about you in particular, but if you go through the post, you will get a sense of how superior some people feel because they come from a certain background, when in reality their countries just enforce political correctness to avoid dealing their own current discrimination problems. We can all talk about anything, but have to acknowledge where we are coming from or it turns into hypocritical nonsense conversation.