Why are Argentines so Angry?

[Merlinova]

I totally agree, at the beginning I thought it might have been related to the fact that BsAs is big city, but that's not it. I arrived in June from Chicago(another big city, yet somehow friendly), and since I am latina I was really looking forward to this trip. I though I'd feel "like home" here. I just found myself missing the states already. People don't smile here. And I don't like labeling, but dude there's a lot of people bitter in this town! It is true Soul, people are angry here (mostly aged women!)

 

[Recoleta Carolina]

Buenos Aires is the City of Fury. In no other place have I met so many bitter, unhappy, paranoid, suspicious, on-their-guard people. Their prematurely aged faces, edged by frustration, military coups, daily disappointments, scrambling for coins, years of holding their money up to a light and shaking it because they can never trust its not fake, and belching city buses and shocking street level pollution, both air and noise, speak volumes. If Buenos Aires were a book, Id put it back on the shelf and stop reading.

The travel media has created an image of Argentina and Buenos Aires in particular that is unrealistic. It consists of tango, malbec, great food, and wonderful people.

People who live in Buenos Aires know differently. This is a very stressful city and you can never totally relax.

 

[sergio]

My mother's first observation when she visited BA over a decade ago was that the people don't smile. On a trip back to the US last last month I noticed something interesting: In a few days I had more conversations with strangers than I have had here in a year or more. People in the US are a lot friendlier. Life, even in the midst of a deep recession, is a lot easier. Strangers smile and say hello. There is a tremendous amount of anger in the atmosphere in BA. I think part of the problem is that Porteños are unrealistic about where they live - this is not Europe or the US, it's Latin America. Porteños have a lot of pretensions and just can not accept reality. All this nonsense about being so European is part of the frustration. Maybe they Are European like Romania but they are not European like Britain or Germany. It's the fixation on the fiction of being "European" that causes a lot of grief.

 

[DanielaBsAs]

I think it is easy to sit from an expats point of view and comment on the things that Argentina is or is not. Lets not forget that to even be connected to the internet and able to read this forum, we are the privileged ones. Most of us "expats" here come from places where a home, food, clothing and schooling is taken for granted, and I think sometimes this position is a disadvantage in trying to understand how Argentina is like it is.

I think they are doing pretty well given their history and their daily ordeals. If I was Argentine I would be mad as hell with the seemingly unending string of catastrophes that have been (and are still) allowed to happen and go unaccounted for.

 

[SFMike]

They seem sweet enough to me. Perhaps they are just frowning at the tens of thousands of expats who are living in their city, yet seem to hate it here. As far as I know, none of us were brought here in a cargo hold.

 

[fedecc]

I don't know how much friendlier or aggressive people are in the US. But you have to keep in mind that the expat boom that started after the devaluation happened in a very conflictive and aggressive period for Argentina and for Buenos Aires in particular.

It's not necessarily a poverty issue, poverty today is just as high (or perhaps higher) than it was in the 90s, but the level of aggressiveness is much higher.

For example, the last few days we witnessed a series of blockades in streets and avenues that turned the city into pure chaos. This generates some wide spread feeling of frustration and anger. But it wasn't always like this, sure we always had a lot of protests, but the current situation is the consequence of the "everything goes" policy inaugurated by the K, where no protest however ridiculous or insignificant it is gets prohibited or repressed. So now we have a very small number of people wrecking havoc in the city and the people have no one to turn to. Just to name an example.

i know many of the expats kind of live in a bubble, but even for us argentinians, this is are particularly aggressive times.

 

[jp]

To get anything done takes triple the amount of time that it would take any place else. No wonder they are so angry!!

Whats their point of reference? Are they angry because they are used to efficient customer service and well oiled beauracracy in other countries?

Argentines aren't all angry. If you find that everyone is angry, maybe its just the reaction you provoke. Personally I find everyone to be very friendly and hospitable.

 

[kurtdillard]

JP and SFMike make good points. The widespread and pervasive anger that some of you describe does not match my experience. I'm curious, those of you who think the residents of Bs. As. are a lot angrier and less friendly than the US, what cities in the US are you referring to?

 

[Napoleon]

Question: Why are Argentines so angry?

Answer: Because the light turned green 0.17 seconds ago and YOU HAVEN'T MOVED!!!