raferguson
Feb 18, 2003, 10:21 PM
Post #3 of 28
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Re: [Tortilla man] Two questions to all posters
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I know basic mexican history, partly due to visiting museums. The most interesting history museum, to me, is the museum of interventions in Mexico City. It is amazing to see how many times various foreign powers (especially the USA and France) invaded Mexico during the period 1810 to 1920 or so. Easy to understand their foreign policy once you know the history. "The respect of the rights of others is peace" is probably Benito Juarez's most famous quote, a natural result of the interventions that took place during his era.
I speak and read Spanish pretty fluently, if not perfectly. I make a habit of looking at a Spanish language newspaper every day, I usually have a couple of Spanish language CDs in the CD changer, etc. I can carry on phone conversations in Spanish, so I do pretty well. I started studying Spanish when I was about 30, so you can learn it also, you just need to put forth the effort. Tutors help also.
It is certainly true that your relationship with someone is different if you speak their language. Even more so, it is hard to have a relationship with someone if language is a barrier to communication.
I know that people often say that ignorance breeds hatred. Sometimes familiarity breeds hatred. I know someone who dislikes American Indians because her exposure to them growing up was that they were drunks and thieves. She would today drive 100 miles to avoid an Indian reservation. All all Indians drunks and thieves? Of course not, but if most of the Indians that you met growing up were drunks and thieves, no pretty idealistic ideas or cultural sensitivity classes are going to change your mind. (Because there were almost no blacks in the town she grew up in, she has no strong feelings about blacks.)
Think about the hatreds in the ex-Yugoslavia. The Serbs, Croats, Muslims and other groups lived in the same towns, spoke the same language, etc. They still hated each other enough to commit genocide and ethnic cleansing. (I understand that the Serbs previously called their language Serbo-Croatian, but now insist that they speak Serbian). Getting to know another culture may not produce peace, and could even aggravate historical conflicts. There is a lot of wishful thinking around the idea that getting to know other groups will prevent conflict.
I like Mexicans, always have. Mexicans have their own worldview and cultural traditions. Some of the aspects of their culture are good, some are bad. But you could say that for Americans as well. Some people would prefer not to mention the bad with the good.
I think that Mexicans have a pretty good reputation in the USA. Most people would agree that they tend to work hard and value family. On the negative side, they may be regarded as not interested in education, and not law-abiding. To some extent, all of these stereotypes are at least partially true.
Stereotypes are often criticized as bad and misleading, but many have some basis in fact, and even statistical support. It is hard to counter a stereotype if it is partially true.
Sorry for getting carried away on discussing ethnic issues.
Richard
http://www.fergusonsculpture.com
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