Couldn't quite belive this!!!

[brownlove]

Was reading "La Valijita" magazine for young children (Number 91, May 2011). There was a piece about China:

"Los Chinos tienen el pelo lacio y los ojos chiquitos..."

Excuse me? The publishers would probably be closed down for this type of derogatory comment in US or UK. It's a different culture here, yes I know, but....

 

[nativexpat]

Well, what can I say? The anglo world is way tooo PC and the Argies, well - not so much (!). We are not that diverse in Argentina the way it is in UK or US - But I agree, they could have written it differently.

Sort of related:

Last year, my 8 year old daughter and I were at Barrio Chino and she just fell in love with a Chinese baby sitting in a stroller at one of the shops... She said to me "Mom: when I am pregnant, I will have my baby in China so it looks just like this baby" ...

 

[henryb]

The publishers would probably be closed down for this type of derogatory comment in US or UK.

My friend was once invited to a party by chinese coworkers. And they had a kid, who was too young to learn how to be politically correct. Anyway, the kid said: "You people are so ugly. You have round eyes, just like dogs!" So, apparently, canons of beauty are pretty different. May be "ojos chiquitos" is not so offensive after all. (That happened in the USA).

 

[nativexpat]

One more thing ---- I used to bang my head against the wall when I lived outside Arg. and came across things like the "La Valijita" issue you mention, but now I am more worried about the fact that most of my children's classmates watch Bailando por un sueño ... or that they take Coke and Cheetos for a snack every other day...

 

[French jurist]

One more thing ---- I used to bang my head against the wall when I lived outside Arg. and came across things like the "La Valijita" issue you mention, but now I am more worried about the fact that most of my children's classmates watch Bailando por un sueño ... or that they take Coke and Cheetos for a snack every other day...

Or maybe that, by the age of 16, a kid has seen on TV : 25.000 murders, 10.000 robberies, 1.000 rapes, etc etc.

 

[starlucia]

We are not that diverse in Argentina the way it is in UK or US

The other night, we were watching The Bodyguard on cable, and there's a scene where Whitney Houston's character has a bunch of black babydolls on her bed. My Argentine partner could not BELIEVE that black dolls existed, as she'd never seen one and it had never really occurred to her that non-white parents might not want their daughters toting around little Aryan-race Barbies

 

[marksoc]

"Los Chinos tienen el pelo lacio y los ojos chiquitos..."

So? It would be better if they said "Most chinese..."? This is the least racist country I have been, and I have been around.

 

[starlucia]

So? It would be better if they said "Most chinese..."? This is the least racist country I have been, and I have been around.

I don't think it's an issue of racism so much as a homogeneous, somewhat provincial mindset (as nativexpat said, it's just NOT a diverse or multicultural country.) That said, I've heard some very racist and ignorant things come out of the mouths of Argentines, usually directed towards other South American countries, Muslims, or the Chinese (I'm just pointing out that all countries have their contingent of ignorant xenophobes, and Argentina is no exception.)

 

[Amargo]

"Los Chinos tienen el pelo lacio y los ojos chiquitos..."

Oh come one! How is this possibly derogatory???
Give me a break!

 

[PhilipDT]

So? It would be better if they said "Most chinese..."? This is the least racist country I have been, and I have been around.

What Argentina are you living it?