[quote name='Don'tMindMe']jazrgz, I get what you are trying to say. Yes, everyone will say they are Argentine first, but the next thing out of their mouth is "We're all Spanish/Italian/European here!!" Subtext (not from everyone, but a lot of people): European and therefore better, unlike those other Latin American countries. I can't tell you how many lecture I've gotten on this subject from taxi drivers. People just blatantly saying that Argentina is better because it's "European." Yes, said just like that. [/quote]
i honestly never heard a taxista or anybody else for that matter that we are better because we are europeans, i guess the kinna conversation you strike with these ppl leads them to say something of the sort, it never happend to me, and im pretty sure neither it has to most ppl reading this post.
About your first statement, we say we are argentinian, period ! we are not argentinian and italian. Not such concept for us. We may imply we have italian, spanish, etc heritage but definately not those nationalities and again, having dealt with many americans-europeans (as im sure your average taxi driver has), the fact about our heritage sometimes needs to be clarified because of ignorant (ignorant as plain ignorance, lack of knowledge over something, not as a derogative noun).
I lived in a smal town in iowa over a year, in this area, absolutaly everyone was either irish or german (heritage i was reminded of quite often btw). It was the first time i had ever gone to the states. Later on, i lived in Houston for a while and i remember saying that at the time, i really thought there was nothing but white ppls in the whole country (being obvoiusly ignorant of the real fact)....ABSOLUTALY everyone i had this conversation with felt the need to correct me right away, they wanted to make sure that i understood that in the states, everyone is not white, that there´s is a huge variaty of races and heritages from all over the world ! if i were to think like you, i woul´ve thought to myself that americans are very touchy and are obsessed with their races and heritages.....i understood though, that this was not a subject normally discussed (if ever) between them, but the minute they learnt i had the wrong impression, they felt the need to correct me.....from my personal perspective, everyone ended talkiing about how vast and various their country was, so it would´ve been normal to bellieve you are all obsessed with this matter
[quote name='Don'tMindMe']
Yeah, there are a lot of white people here. But tell me, if two white Argentine girls with almost identical faces and bodies are walking down the street, who is going to get the most looks and comments from Argentine men? The one with the more olive skin, brown hair and brown eyes? Or the rubia with lighter hair, light eyes and whiter skin? You can replace women with babies in this example, and it's the same. Whiter/blonder/lighter is considered better and more beautiful here, just like the rest of Latin America. [/quote]
the truth, in my experience....the brunette - AKA La morocha !!! i personaly prefer blondes, it just that, a preference, but if you try to imply that a beautiful morocha will not get as much if not more attention than the blonde then you are showing me how ignorante you are of our tastes.
With your second statement you are agian showing ingorance, perhaps in other latin american countries where the local population does not have blonde ppl they would stand out and probably be seen prettier than the locals....here there´s a huge mix and we have redheads, morochas and rubias, a rubia would not stand out for being so or for having blue eyes, you have a huge misconception on this matter, and im guessing that´s why locals you interact with keep bringing the whole heritage matter up over and over, ppls is trhying to correct you ! I understand a foreign blonde might get extra attention but just because is foreign, not because it´s blonde...ppl tend to feel attracted to differnt cultures......using the same reasoning, i guarantee you that an attractive black girl would get much more attention than an atractive blonde girl....same thing when it comes to guys...a black guy comes here and has to pretty much shake the local girls of his back, how many blonde gringos can say the same?????
[quote name='Don'tMindMe']Preconception #1 was dashed when I was 8 years old and met my mom's blonde haired blue eyed friend from Mexico City. Then, once I started traveling, I realized there are people of all different colors damn near everywhere. Honestly, in the age of the internet there's really no excuse for a lot of the ignorance I've heard from the people here. I've never in my life met anyone who believes #2, except for maybe an art history professor in college who was crazy for Europe, and considering his profession, for good reason. [/quote]
conception #1 : that is a very very unique experiencie of yours, please dont try to deny that most ppl in europe and in the states assumes (out of ignorance rather than bad intentio or good
) that all latin americans are brown and to you americans, specially you are convinced of this towards mexicans, again, a mayority, not everyone, clearly, because of your experience, you were one of the few that didnt.
conception# 2 .................come one !! you mean to tell me the average american (same applies for europeans) do not believe they are god´s gift to mankind ?? i lived in the states, lived everyhere, iowa, houston, LA, milwaukee, chicago, new yersey, atltanta, even passed by new york......i have a really good idea about how the average american feels about their country and culture (again, not everyone, most american-european leaving abroad like you folks are exceptions to this rule, tend to be more open minded and for instance you do not believe you are the center of of universe)
[quote name='Don'tMindMe']I know I'm generalizing here, and a lot of people aren't going to like that, but believe me when I say I don't want to feel this way. It's simply my opinion, based on my own personal observations over the past two years, especially after I started dating a darker guy from another Latin American country and began to pick up on how differently he is treated here. The whiter is better thing is culturally ingrained throughout all of Latin America, sitting in the subconscious of damn near everyone, and I just think it sucks. That's all. [/quote]
Not true, we are though a relativaly closed culture, so whenever we interact with someone of a differnet culture we tend to react in many different ways, specially the average arg than never left the country. It has nothing to do with color, another missconception ! The difference of treatment has nothing to do with skin color, it has to do with culture diffence ! (a peer, say, at the office, will not be treated differently because of color or country of origin. In may personal expierence, i went college with a dear friend of mine, she is your average peruvian, not a rich upper class peruvian but average and at not time she ever felt nor was treated differently.incidently same applies a peruvian guy that works on my same area in ibm...no one minds at all that the guy is peruvian or the he is brown, he is treated just the same and are actuall friends with everyone else)
Whether ppl likes to admit it or not, venezuelan culture or peruvian or even more so mexican (the further up north the larger the cultural gap) are way different than ours, the only thing in common is the fact that we all speak spanish and like playing futbol, other than that are way different...again, this is not a bad thing per se, just a fact, the only country we share a similar culture with is Uruguay.
