The country that is feeding you

[igor]

(from "land of the selfish" thread)

... and country that are feeding you and your families nowadays ...

... a country that at least for now is feeding you ...

When you go to the States it becomes "the country that gave you a chance". Somehow Argentina is referred to here as "the country that is feeding you". What is it? A translation of some spanish expression? I think I need to get my feeding tube connected somewhere.

 

[Bill]

Here in Rosario, an Argentine friend made a comment like this about the cargo ships that endlessly go by on the river. He says they're full of "the best" agricultural products which are then exported to countries in North America and China etc...
If the "feeding you" comment is about getting money from Argentines or the government, it's not true in my case. I only spend, spend, spend.

 

[malbec]

oh, come on, don't be that sensitive. Everyone knows that by "the land that's feeding you" is meant "the country that's giving you an opportunity". Don't be foolish and don't play the victim. Very few people in Argentina hate foreigners and even less want you to go back home.
Sure that the country profits having so many foreigners living there. But the country is indeed giving you an opportunity. Very few foreigners are in BA to do Argentina a favour! Let's be honest! (being the exception -maybe - voluntary workers). All of you are expecting to gain something - money, language knowledge, personal experiences. At least you should express some gratitude for that.
One may like or dislike Argentina, but I wish there were so many countries in the World with such a relaxed inmigration policy.

 

[nikad]

It is indeed a very interesting obsevation, I personally use that prhase sometimes. The full phrase - or saying - is ¨Don´t bite the hand that feeds you¨ I guess that even though the concept we try to express, the subtle connotations are more than interesting.

 

[gracielle]

I like to interpret it as "the land that opens the door to you". It is up to you to "enter".... mix, co-habit, contribute, critize, etc. within your limits and experiences. I think Argentina can use a shot of diversity but not "at gun point".

 

[ramon]

Gracielle this country was founded on immigration and Argentina needs a different outlook and way of relating to the world.
This culture of blaming others is a huge downfall of the argentine character and I am all for having a more just and fair society where all citizens here pay their taxes and care about others.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Sure that the country profits having so many foreigners living there. But the country is indeed giving you an opportunity. Very few foreigners are in BA to do Argentina a favour! Let's be honest! (being the exception -maybe - voluntary workers). All of you are expecting to gain something - money, language knowledge, personal experiences. At least you should express some gratitude for that.

Foreigners are in Argentina because it suits their purposes. Argentina has them because it suits its purposes. This is the real world: no-one does anyone any favors . Foreigners choose to live in Argentina; Argentina chooses to have them: a voluntary arrangment on both sides similar to a transaction between shopkeeper and customer.
I would hope that the purpose of this thread and its predecessor would be to seek to understand the country, its culture, and its people a bit better, and not to gripe incessantly nor to make invidious comparisons with the USA. To me it's a source of perplexity that a country so richly endowed and so sparsely populated can have failed so utterly to realise its potential. I keep wondering why.

 

[ramon]

The reasons Argentina has failed in the past lies in the attitude of the citizens. The culture here is one of blame and denial and most foreign writers have noted this characteristic of the argentine.
When Argentines of the upper classes start paying their taxes and also pay better wages so its most vulnerable citizens can have a chance of a better life things will not change in the longer term.
I hope that the new entrepeneurs flooding Buenos Aires follow these principles and hopefully changes will happen .

 

[igor]

It is not even about blaming others.
One of the few things I admire about americans is that they always position themselves so that they are in control over the situation. Or at least it looks so: I'll get more money and my kids will go to a better school/my family will move to a better neighborhood.
Argentine would say instead: government needs to improve quality of education/government needs to take care of safety on the streets. As would if there is a higher caste that is supposed to take care of them. And it is a prevailing mentality.

 

[bigbadwolf]

It is not even about blaming others.
One of the few things I admire about americans is that they always position themselves so that they are in control over the situation. Or at least it looks so: I'll get more money and my kids will go to a better school/my family will move to a better neighborhood.
Argentine would say instead: government needs to improve quality of education/government needs to take care of safety on the streets. As would if there is a higher caste that is supposed to take care of them. And it is a prevailing mentality.

Perhaps it's a case of comparing apples to oranges. In the USA, the idea is that one is responsible for one's own fate, and that upward social mobility can be had by all those willing to work for it (incidentally, this latter is turning increasingly into a chimera as there is now less social mobility in the USA than there is in Europe). In Argentina, on the other hand, there has historically been more of an emphasis on paternalistic state involvement -- maybe analogous to European social democracies, and deriving some of its provenance therefrom.
It also needs to be stressed that both North and South America have been feeling the chill winds of neoliberalism and globalisation the last two decades, as government sectors have been privatised, state functions and social welfare reduced, and global competition intensified. This is, incidentally, the conundrum Argentina finds itself faced with: it missed the boat a long time ago, and catching up with established and emerging industrial powers has become well-nigh impossible.