I am not Hispanic, but was it really necessary to single out in such specificity and so flippantly an entire ethnic/language group not to be "interested in" ? Geez. Even if this prejudice is welling up inside to the point it is barely containable, a wiser man would say I've never had a particular interest in or need to know about Latin American affairs and let it go at that.But my defence, your honour, is that I'm just not interested in Spanish speaking countries and cultures. It's complicative ignorance. I don't know - I know I don't know - and I don't care. I think you'll find that most 'ignorant' people have a very similar reason.
I am not Hispanic, but was it really necessary to single out in such specificity and so flippantly an entire ethnic/language group not to be "interested in" ? Geez. Even if this prejudice is welling up inside to the point it is barely containable, a wiser man would say I've never had a particular interest in or need to know about Latin American affairs and let it go at that.
You too? It's funny, I have even less interest in Belgium than I did before joining JREF.I had no interest in or knowledge of Belgiumﾂ before being bombarded by posts about Belgium on JREF. Now I have no interest in or knowledge of Belgium.
I passed my history GCSE without learningi anything about Belgium. Or Mexico. And I mean not anything.
Not anything or everything, but at least the basics (e.g. country's capital, flag, type of government and economy, main languages, ethnic composition, basic history...)That's all very well, but following that line, it would mean that we all ought to learn everything about every country.Much as I would like to be able to, and I'm sure it would be extremely interesting, I doubt I have quite the necessary mental capacity.
For once I agree with you.I am not Hispanic, but was it really necessary to single out in such specificity and so flippantly an entire ethnic/language group not to be "interested in" ? Geez. Even if this prejudice is welling up inside to the point it is barely containable, a wiser man would say I've never had a particular interest in or need to know about Latin American affairs and let it go at that.
@Mika:
Same here !It's just that, my interests lie somewhere else.(Japan and Finland atm) I have knowledge of Belgian things, of European things, non-European, etc. though.
That's obvious, Belgium only became known as "Belgium" in 1830. Before it was called Holy Roman Empire, Habsburg Empire, Spain, France, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...Belgium??? I checked the California State World History Standards (http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/hstgrade10.asp) for high school and I don't think there is anything specifically about Belgium, except where it has to do with larger bits of European history.
Talking about Mexico, did you know that the last Empress of Mexico, Charlotte (wife of Maximilian) was a Belgian princess (daughter of the King of Belgium, Leopold I) ? After the execution of Maximilian I of Mexico during Republican revolution, Charlotte went back to Belgium were she lived as a widow in a castle north of Brussels (now part of the National Botanic Garden).
You should see an old movie, "Juarez" with Paul Muni and Bette Davis. It is about Juarez and Maximilian.I did not know that.
Well...I still wonder where they got such an idea...the only thing that looks like raw eggs we eat is called in French "oeuf de cent ans" but it's rarely used in restaurants as far as I know...What strange idea. I have never even seen raw eggs in a Chinese restaurant in Europe !
French people are known for never taking bathesIn what way what your relatives think of you is a national stereotype ?
There are about 10% of people officially looking for a job, but if we include the children, retired, handicapped who can't work and other people not looking for a job (e.g. housewives), then the number is well over 60%.
Your colleague was probably talking about the jobless among the active population (those aged 16 to 64), which is 37% in France (31% in Japan and 29% in the USA => see stats).
As "hispanic" is a specific american expression it is likely that she thought that you came from a country called hispania or something. When japanese think of mexican as someone with poncho eating tacos it might be because of Hollywood of some Tex-Mex food company - what do I know? Actually she might know more about mexico that she revealed. Playing slightly ignorant about a topic is a very commonly used strategy in order to keep a conversation gooing: Aa so desu ka? (Is that so?) is constantly used in japanese conversation.Ok, so i said in email prior to meeting her, "i'm hispanic". And she responded "i never met any hispanic people and i don't know about them or their culture". And when we met she was so austounded by me and my roots, like i was a space monkey or something^^ I also noticed Chinese people also seem to not know about Latin america at all.
Belgium??? I checked the California State World History Standards (http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/hstgrade10.asp) for high school and I don't think there is anything specifically about Belgium, except where it has to do with larger bits of European history. Since California was once a part of Mexico and since we share a border, Mexico comes up a bit more frequently- from pre-Columbian empires to the Revolution during the last century.
I guess the positive thing about that is that we don't really have a set of prejudices and stereotypes about Belgians...
An old friend of my sister, Susana Guzman is an opera singer. In those Mexico Tourism commercials, she can be heard whispering "Mexico" in hushed sexy tones.
Mexico is where the current VW Beetle comes from, at least here in the US... Mexico also produces some cell phones, computers, components and iPods.
Bimbo/Gamesa cookies, Jamaica, Horchata, Bitter Chocolate, Telenovelas, Silver from Taxco, BIG belt buckles, and old American pick up trucks...