Hate North Americans?

[citygirl]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I hear a lot more anti-US sentiment from expats than I do from porteños

 

[orwellian]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I hear a lot more anti-US sentiment from expats than I do from porteños

Yeah and I keep telling you that maybe that is because they don't tell you to your face. But I guess you will never get it, don't matter how many times I tell you.

 

[redrum]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I hear a lot more anti-US sentiment from expats than I do from porteños

heres the thing guys....and ive said this before in many of my earlier posts.....it has nothing to do with the United States....it is not an American issue...it is not the american govt that is responsible for their heinous crimes......why?

because our government has long ago been hijacked by the global elite who control both the democratic and republican parties. they are using the face of the US in order to further their own agenda, to fight their own wars, to push their own monetary policies...etc. the global elite have no allegiance to anybody or any country, only to themselves.

capitalism is not at fault....capitalism is being wrongly blamed as the problem in order to bring in a new form of command economy that is ruled by men and not by laws......its nothing more than tyranny and control....

remember to always separate the US people from what the illegitimate govt is currently doing.

 

[citygirl]

Orwellian: You can think whatever you want. It doesn't really matter to me one way or the other. I'm just speaking about my personal experiences.

But I do love the idea of any of my porteño friends or conocidos holding back on saying something because they didn't want to tell me or were afraid to offend me. I'm sure that's the case - because I meet so many Argentines that are afraid to speak their mind.

 

[orwellian]

Orwellian: You can think whatever you want. It doesn't really matter to me one way or the other. I'm just speaking about my personal experiences.

But I do love the idea of any of my porteño friends or conocidos holding back on saying something because they didn't want to tell me or were afraid to offend me. I'm sure that's the case - because I meet so many Argentines that are afraid to speak their mind.

It's not what I think, it's how it is. You really don't get it do you? Me personally do not think that way, but I have met portenos that do.

 

[citygirl]

I'm not sure what it is I'm supposed to be getting.

You keep saying that my Argentine friends and conocidos don't tell me that hate North Americans but that they do. I'm telling you that you're wrong. I don't have any doubt that a) if they hated North Americans, they wouldn't be friends with me in the first place and b) if they did have something to say, believe me, they would say it.

I've heard a lot of people criticize the US gov't. But that's a long way from "hating North Americans" And frankly, criticizing governments is a national occupation - no matter what country

I'm sure there are some people that hate anyone from North America. Xenophobia exists all over the world. But it hasn't been my experience here. Again, in my experience, I hear a lot more sweeping anti-American sentiments from expats than I do from locals. YMMV.

 

[orwellian]

I'm not sure what it is I'm supposed to be getting.

You keep saying that my Argentine friends and conocidos don't tell me that hate North Americans but that they do. I'm telling you that you're wrong. I don't have any doubt that a) if they hated North Americans, they wouldn't be friends with me in the first place and b) if they did have something to say, believe me, they would say it.

I've heard a lot of people criticize the US gov't. But that's a long way from "hating North Americans" And frankly, criticizing governments is a national occupation - no matter what country

I'm sure there are some people that hate anyone from North America. Xenophobia exists all over the world. But it hasn't been my experience here. Again, in my experience, I hear a lot more sweeping anti-American sentiments from expats than I do from locals. YMMV.

Look, I am not talking about your friends, I am referring to Argentines that hate you because you are American, How can you not get that? And this has nothing to do with xenophobia, they do not hate you for being from a foreign country, they specifically hate you from being from the United States. By 'they' I mean a minority of Argentines.

I wished I could find a taxi so I wouldn't have to spend my Christmas Eve debating with a wall.

 

[ElQueso]

Which is true.

Latin America will never advance economically until they quit blaming everyone but themselves for their problems. The US was not an angel, but it is not responsible for the current problems, at least not all by itself. Just look at people like Peron and those who would emulate him, however weakly or poorly in comparison, and all the corruption and lack of concern for the poor of the country.

Like I told my sister in law, there are some truths about the US in that book, but the other half is not told.

 

[citygirl]

Ah Orwellian, always charming with your tone and language...

You continue to tell me there are Argentines that hate me because I'm American. As I've said to you before, several times, I'm quite sure that's true. I'm also sure there are people that hate me because I'm taller than them, shorter than them, thinner than them, fatter than them, or a million other reasons.

What you (and I've never figured out if you don't understand what I've written or are being deliberately obtuse) can't argue is that in my experience (HINT - focus on the key word "my"), I hear much more anti-american sentiment from expats than I do from porteños. Simple fact.

With that, I am going to retire for the evening and get a good night's sleep before celebrating Christmas in the land of Satan

 

[ElQueso]

I don't think that Portenos hate North Americans, btw.

Well, there are some for sure, but it's not like it's an epidemic or soemthing.

I was kicked out of a cafe called Iberia by a very obnoxious asshole and his girlfriend one night. They heard us talking amongst ourselves after an expat dinner (we'd gone there for coffee) and apparently we offended him too much by our very existence. He started telling us, nicely at first with a very fake smile on his face, to leave his home, his country, that we were not welcome there. He ended up yelling at us and the waiter came, horribly embarrassed, and tried to stop it. The guy and his girlfriend were both shouting at us to leave by the end and we finally got up and left. I'm sure he felt very proud of himself.

We did try at first to talk rationally with the guy. To tell the truth, he started off speaking in English and I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me. I honestly thought the guy was trying to be friendly and was practicing his English. It wasn't until I switched to Spanish to ask him to clarify what he was trying to ask me that I realized he was actually being beligerent in a "polite" way. When we ignored him was when he started getting more upset and vehement.

However, that is actually the only time in more than three years in Buenos Aires that I have ever had an incident like that, not even anything else close. I realize that every place has its assholes and I don't take anything away from that incident to stain my feelings about Argentina.

However, many Argentines do hate the US government (NOT the people, in other words). I'm not saying that there isn't some decent reasons to be not so happy with the US government. But I do believe that the US is used as a target way more than it should be, for the express purpose of providing a boogie man and anger target to cause misdirection as to where the people should really focus their anger.

There are many things that the Kircheners, for example, could do to improve the situation in Argentina. What was it La Presidente wanted to do fairly recently? A bullet train to Rosario, was it, that would cost something like $8 billion USD to build? Why couldn't they take that same amount of money and rebuild the rail infrastructure in the country as a whole and allow items to be shipped more efficiently, cheaply, and quickly instead? Does Buenos Aires and Rosario really have enough traffic to justify spending so much? My suspicion is because a nice, big, high-tech rail project has a lot of opportunity for coima, particularly because it's right close to home where it can benefit a set group of people, at least in part.

I could be wrong on that, I don't know, it just sounded suspicious to me. Seems like I remember that the funds were going to involve a loan from the Chinese possibly? It might have had something to do with that was what the Chinese were willing to lend the money for, hell I don't know.

But I have been told by both a local accountant and a local lawyer that as much as 1/3 of many large public works projects are pretty much known to be eaten by coima. If not the rail project, something else. Amazing how much the Kirchener's bank account has grown.

Let's all be open and honest about everything and we'll get closer to the truth. Humans as a whole keep everyone down. It's not the US as the sole boogie man out all alone to take all the little kiddies' candy.