Being An Argentine In The Us Is Tough

[argdestiny]

The term 'latino' is something widely used in the US to talk about everyone who is below their south border, and thats why most think everyone here looks like a mexican and eats tacos...

But personally i've never heard an argentinian, a peruvian or an uruguayan saying 'im latino' (despite their race and everything else). An argentinian feels like an argentinian, a peruvian like a peruvian, and so on... I wouldn't say India/Pakistan/China are the same because they're next to each other..

btw, relevant :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXrVUZZ5Ing

 

[ariel81]

Argentina (and Uruguay) had had not exactly the same social structure of the rest of Latin America... till the 90s.
The 90s represented the initial of an era in Argentina. For instance, quitting its rhomboid mobility model of society, with a wide middle class, with what we call MOVILIDAD SOCIAL ASCENDENTE, with inclusion, integration, etc, to a more pyramidal one, with clear barriers between classes, where segregation and exclusion become common. Or, other example, dealing with 30% poverty as almost any Latin American country (Chile claims to have 15% but there are other 15% in the border line, as well as we have 5-10% in the border).

So you have to leave in a parallel world to deny Argentinas belonging to Latin America. Culturally, economically, politically, geographically, everything says we are VERY Latin Americans.

Disagree,this country,still has a wide middle class,unheard in most of the rest of this continent and in cultural and social matters,we have nothing in common with them,except uruguay,of course.
Nothing has changed,since the 90¨s ,except from the discourse,this horrible government changed the discourse,but its the same as menem.

 

[camberiu]

Disagree,this country,still has a wide middle class,unheard in most of the rest of this continent and in cultural and social matters,we have nothing in common with them,except uruguay,of course.

Uruguay, Mexico and Chile have the most numerous middle-class in Latam


Argentina exercising its European (non Latin) culture

http://youtu.be/tUrqcu8WBJI


http://youtu.be/eC9PcsnndpQ

 

[Matiasba]

Disagree,this country,still has a wide middle class,unheard in most of the rest of this continent and in cultural and social matters,we have nothing in common with them,except uruguay,of course.
Nothing has changed,since the 90¨s ,except from the discourse,this horrible government changed the discourse,but its the same as menem.

we had 53% under the poverty line 11 years ago!! that was the end of another Argentina, of XXth century Argentina, and the Latinamericanization began. We are no different than Mexico or Colombia. We are in the same range of poverty, of resources, of education, we are far away from Europe.

 

[ariel81]

Uruguay, Mexico and Chile have the most numerous middle-class in Latam


Argentina exercising its European (non Latin) culture

being con men surprires you?50% of the people here,came from Italy,you are not going to find worse con men that the italians,in there,like the song says,bullshit is in the air

 

[ariel81]

we had 53% under the poverty line 11 years ago!! that was the end of another Argentina, of XXth century Argentina, and the Latinamericanization began. We are no different than Mexico or Colombia. We are in the same range of poverty, of resources, of education, we are far away from Europe.

That was an exceptional economic crisis,and the argentina of today,is the same of the 90,s,no difference,the rest,is k propaganda.
We are indeed,right now,far away from the conditions in Europe,sadly,but that is because peronism,not because of our culture or background,and even despite how bad we are,.we are in many ways,much better than the rest of them,why do you think the rest of latin america comes here?because of the meat?
We gave the world 5 nobel prizes,Brazil gave the world,the carnaval

 

[ariel81]

That was an exceptional economic crisis,and the argentina of today,is the same of the 90,s,no difference,the rest,is k propaganda.
We are indeed,right now,far away from the conditions in Europe,sadly,but that is because peronism,not because of our culture or background,and even despite how bad we are,.we are in many ways,much better than the rest of them,why do you think the rest of latin america comes here?because of the meat?
in one generation,we can be as good ans we where before,if we work hard on it,we can be,at leats,like italy,or spain or portugal in one generation,la base esta,as bambino veira says,we have an educated workforce and in general,an educated people here,
We gave the world 5 nobel prizes,Brazil gave the world,the carnaval

 

[ElQueso]

I have to say, the idea that no one here calls themselves Latino is a pretty bold statement. I can't count the number of women who have mentioned to me "hey, aren't Latinas better than other women?" when talking about themselves. Guys who, when talking about the absolute fanaticism of futbol here, say "hey man, we're Latinos, it's in our blood".

Obviously there are many people who live here that are of European descent, and I would be the first to agree that people who are of European descent are (at least somewhat) not Latinos (EDIT: well, once I went to the RAE, [see my later post], and looked up the definition, I'm not sure that statement is correct either ). But then again, you have to wonder at what point does one's heredity become one group over another? I doubt there are very many people left here who have no Latino blood left in them. And in fact, most of the "Latinos" and "Europeans" here have quite a bit of indigenous blood in them as well - although quite a few people, no matter what, for example, are their facial, skin, etc features, will deny that until they are blue in the face (yeah, an intentional sort-of pun ).

People confuse heredity with nationality an awful lot. Roots of racism and elitism I think.

BTW - I think one of the reasons the US is so race-conscious has a lot to do, obviously with racism against African-Americans, as well as other groups (the Irish, the Germans, the Italians, the Chinese, all were prejudiced against as they came into the country in groups for the first time), and the attempt for a large number of people to separate that from our consciousness. I think it is actually a prime example of why legislating thought and feelings turns into other problems - like Affirmative Action, for example.

In place of saying "everyone's equal and we are going to enforce existing laws to ensure that people aren't discriminated against", we in the US end up pointing out those groups, giving them special benefits to try to take away their special status, which is sort of like an oxymoron. And you can see the results today.

 

[Noruega]

We have plenty of things in common with all mankind, that doesn't mean that we are all the same, we are all different, and it's a good thing.
Italian-Americans didn't come to live here surrounded by what we have here.
We are indeed better than them, in so many ways...

Well, there you said it. First you say we are all different, then you say that you are better than "them." "By what we have here." That is so condescending and racist. (And don't come with the "that is not racism"-thing, because you are basically saying that people in Argentina are superior because they are European/white, while these other countries are Indian or mestizo or whatever. You know, many of them are descendants of Spaniards as well, but I guess that is not good enough for you. Why is that someone whose family has been in Argentina for 100 years is "better" because they "are European" than someone from Bolivia who is mixed with Spaniards who came 200 years ago?)

I can totally understand that it is annoying for an Argentinean in the US to constantly explain that no, tacos are not from Argentina, no, salsa is not in my blood, but that doesn't take away from the fact that, as others have pointed out, there are maaany similarities between Latin American countries.

 

[mc kenna]

The latins are dead, they died with the romans and also there is no spanish language,it is castillian read up!
Latino term was created in the US......