Stereotypes of Latin Americans (Culture & Diversity)

I think it would be nice if some people would take some time to learn about other cultures.

Coming from Latin America, I have experienced different attitudes towards me. A lot of people automatically assume I am from Mexico because I look Hispanic. They tell me things like: What part of Mexico are you from? I answer, I am from El Salvador and sometimes they say “What part of Mexico is that? Or they ask: “You speak Mexican?” I do not have anything against Mexico at all, but I am just not from there so I keep telling them that. Also some kids at school would say I didn't look like the people from El Salvador and I would explain to them that I come from a line of Spaniards. I also told her that she probably thought that because the TV mostly showed some very poor parts of El Salvador and certain races, they hardly showed the capital or other certain towns.

I have people in my family who are light skinned and have green eyes and some people get surprised when they tell them they are from El Salvador. When my little cousin was small, he had light blonde hair and green eyes and people would be shocked to hear him speaking Spanish. It’s the same with Alexis Bledel (Rory from Gilmore Girls), some people make some crazy & racist comments when they find out spanish was her first language and that she speaks perfect Spanish (her parents are from Argentina & Mexico).

One time my friend and I were watching a soap opera on TV and our co-worker was with us. The people on the soap opera were light skinned, colored eyes… and our co-worker started laughing and saying how funny it was to see them speak “Mexican”. I said the language is Spanish, not Mexican.

:bookworm: Some people need to check out a book on Latin America from the library so that they could learn about the differences in traditions, culture & people.

Last night my brother and I were at the store buying some plantains to make “platanos fritos” (fried plaintains, a common Salvadoran dish) and the checkout guy asked us how we made them. He then asked his friend if he had heard of it and he answered very condescendingly... “Man, I don’t eat the Mexican #@!&* (insert bad word here) and smirked. It really got me upset and just answered… “Well you don’t know the #@!&* you’re missing and walked out.

:cool2: Anyway, I’m just venting lol… but some stereotypes are sure hard to break… I guess we can deal with it and teach those who want to learn.
I just want to say:
Just because someone looks hispanic doesn't automatically mean that they are from Mexico and yes, there are hispanics who have light skin, colored eyes and speak spanish.. coming from all latin american countries ... :cheers16:

(Steps off soapbox)

I know what you mean. If someone looks Asian they always assume they are all from Asia, or some people think all black people come from Africa. Some black people come from the islands and stuff which is much different. And there are Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Cambodian and the like, which are all very different. You cannot group them all together because they are very different backgrounds and nationalities.

Beckie

Yes...It's a little sad when people mistook you for another or assumes you must be certain way just for you are Latin American.

When I was visiting Europe with an Argentinian tour, I experienced some of the things Carol told above.

For example , in London: we were talking in Spanish just before entering to London Tower, and an English boy, who was there, asked to me if we were Spaniards. "No, we aren't -I said- we are Argentinian". He shook his hean in disbelief: " No, it couldn't be. You are all light skinned, and Argentinians are not". I argued with him for some time, for he didn't want to believe me. Then, I told him how Argentinian colonization was and that we had HUGE groups of German, North Italian, Irish and even English people lived in our country . Now, the children of these immigrants were Argentinian themselves. Thus, most of ancient Argetinians came from Basque people, Galician and Asturians one, who has a lot of light skinned, blonde people. I think I could convince him I was saying the truth.

Other thing that bothers me is to see some American movies were all kind of Latin American countries are showed as eating tacos, enchiladas and such (it seems we are all Mexicans) and dancing Spanish music (I mean, Spanish from Spain. And the fact is that we never danced Paso Doble or Andalusian Music) and much less we play the "castañuelas". And if we are not showed dancing Spanish music, the music is al "Salsa and Merengue" kind, which is only from the Caribbean Area or the "Jarabe Tapatío". Each Latinamerican Country has its own music and very different one from the other, excepting the areas who are a common frontier. For example, the areas of Argentina who are in Chilean borderline would have the same music as well as the part who has its frontier with Uruguay, and such.

Other common idea about us is that we must be jolly, excitable , very demonstrative and..well..sexually hot. There is people who is this way and other that doesn't like it could be in any country. Since we are from different backgrounds we are also different, and the mixing of all these backgrounds it's pretty curious. I knew Argentinians that are as cold as ice, and others who are pretty warm. The answer of this is simple: personnality. Every person in the world has one... :unsure:

But evidently I can also understand that we can't know everything about every country in the world. People is not enciclopedies with feet, and they tends to believe what TV shows to them. And I think it's understable. I blame the television and spectacle people that are always perpetuing ancient mythes and fake things. Common people is not blamable for making mistakes. Why wuld they think that TV is lying to them? But believe me, most of the time is that it does. Not all that you see in "History Channel" is true. :think:

Vanesa.

Good points, Savannah.

And what about ourselves, who have become a nice bunch of friends?

Vanesa.

Savannah wrote:

That's one thing that has impressed me with the internet. People who in real life may not have even given each other the time of day (not necessarily here) have become good friends and gotten to know a lot about one another because they can't see each other........instead they hear one another. I like that.

The internet is the 21st century version of John Lennon & Yoko Ono's "Bagism" back in the '60s. They suggested that, since people tend to be prejudiced against other people because of the way they look, we should all go around inside large canvas bags. It didn't catch on. :unsure:

Ah well, we still have Yoko's singing to keep us warm.

Yeah, some people can be very stupid. I was talking to a friend of mine the other night, about her not wanting to have a yard sale, because ALL of the spanish people would talk her down in prices, etc. I said, you can't say they all will do that, and she said yes they will. I told her to shut up because I happen to like the spanish people I know, and Ihave a nice spanish neighbor. They are certainly ALL not like that.

Needless to say, my friend shut up fast.

That's like saying, hey, that white man stole thousands of dollars, so ALL white men are gonna do it because he did it. STUPID!

Rob wrote:

Savannah wrote:

That's one thing that has impressed me with the internet. People who in real life may not have even given each other the time of day (not necessarily here) have become good friends and gotten to know a lot about one another because they can't see each other........instead they hear one another. I like that.

The internet is the 21st century version of John Lennon & Yoko Ono's "Bagism" back in the '60s. They suggested that, since people tend to be prejudiced against other people because of the way they look, we should all go around inside large canvas bags. It didn't catch on. :unsure:

Haha, yeah I remember hearing about that.
Beckie