While on vacation in Spain, I met a Mexican man. In broken Spanish, I tried to tell him that it was nice to meet someone who came from the same continent. I apologized a few times and he laughed. I then said, "I'm an American, sorry."
His response was peculiar and it caught me off guard. "So am I," he said, smiling sarcastically.
Since this encounter, I have never been able to get that man's response out of my head. It made me think- probably more than anything else anyone has ever said to me. I decided to do some research on this topic. I was not fully aware of any of the current issues effecting modern Latin America. The last I heard, Cortez had conquered the Mayans.
Recently, this reply has come back to me with full force. In my humanities class, we have taken up a study of modern Latin America. Beforehand, I knew nothing (as stated before). In fact, I was quite reluctant to end my school year with the study of something that obviously going to be boring. I was expecting to have to talk about bananas and sombreros for the rest of the year.
The fact of the matter is, citizens of the United States, on average, know close to nothing on the issues of modern Latin America. I was entirely surprised when we began our studies on the region. I consider myself, for the most part, a knowledgeable person when it comes to politics and world issues. And from the first time I heard the word "Zapatista"- I was hooked.
With huge social and political movements such as the Zapatistas in Chiapas Mexico, and the communist crusaders of Peru I demanded an answer as to why I had never been taught any of this. I highly doubt that seeing an image of Subcomondante Marcos- clad in his ski mask, AK-47, and smooth brown tobacco pipe- for the first time would ever escape my mind. I set out on a quest of sorts. A quest for answers to the question of: Why is Latin America ignored by the United States?
It all began with two words: Banana Republics.
No, I'm not speaking of the trendy Gap Inc. fashion company, I'm speaking of the economically oppressive and dominant embargos and tariffs imposed by the United States on Central American countries such as Guatemala and Jamaica.
Could this be the reason why citizens of the United States have virtually no coverage of Latin American affairs on local news stations?
One complaint that I read over and over again is, "People from the United States think that they own the Americas. That is why they call themselves Americans and us Mexicans, or Guatemalans, or Peruvians. But we are Americans too! Anyone who lives in the Americas is an American!"
I have learned to be more careful with what I call myself. I am a citizen of the United States of America. I am also an American. I respect that all people of North, Central, and South America are all Americans.
I just hope that the United States learns to do the same.
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I took a class on Latin America in high school and was fascinated as well. It's amazing how much we don't know about our neighbors.
And you raise a good point... we're all Americans, so why do we feel entitled to calling only ourselves Americans? The more I think about it, the less sense it makes.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." Aristotle
"No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong." Francois De La Rochefoucauld
Latin America is so regularly ignored. It sort of makes me sick to my stomach. I'm really glad that there are other people out there who recognize how ignored it is. Just the Mexican Revolution alone would be enough to make a 6 hour epic Hollywood Film, but I bet if I asked 100 Americans to name three big names during the Mexican revolution, maybe one could do it.
"The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall."
-Ernesto "Che" Guevara
i thoroughly enjoyed that read. i read both of the Oscar Zeta Acosta novels & i still kind of think he was a real person, deep down inside...
"it's silly, no? when a rocketship explodes and man still wants to fly. some say man ain't happy truly, until man truly dies. o why?"
-Prince
When I first moved to where I am, I was surprised to learn that I was not "An American," I was a "North American." It's a good point linguistically: everyone from Chile to Canada is technically living in the Americas!
Nice post.
(if you can't see the fnords they won't eat you)
You're building a huge building on a bad foundation. That foundation is an Equivocation Fallacy.
Equivocation - The same term is used in an argument in different places but the word has different meanings.
1. Example: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Therefore, a bird is worth more than President Bush.
2. Example: Evolution states that one species can change into another. We see that cars have evolved into different styles. Therefore, since evolution is a fact in cars, it is true in species.
If someone is from Nicaragua they call themselves "Nicaraguan". If they are from Mexico they call themselves "Mexican". If they are from Brazil, "Brazilian", Canada they are "Canadian". You are from the United States of America so you are . . . United-Statsia-Mericans? No, that is awkward and stupid. We are called Americans, and everyone knows what that means and accepts it. It is much more elegant and easier than any of the alternatives.
You mentioned a smirk on that Mexican's face. That was not a sarcastic grin --it was a condescending smirk. The reason why is because "Latinos" only say what that man said when they want to be condescending toward Americans. They are resentful of the wealth and affluence that we have earned for ourselves with our Puritan work ethic. Seriously --Canadians don't get all offended at the use of the term. In fact Canadians get offended if you mistake them for American. The truth of this is compounded by the hypocrisy they practice: they are shrewd when it comes to labels about "America", but only when you use them. Am I the only one who realizes that there is not a single country in "Latin" America that has Latin as a primary or official language? I happen to know some ecclesiastical Latin and when I rattle it off to "Latinos" they haven't the slightest clue what I am saying. Then why is it called "Latin" America? "Because their language is based on Latin, hurrrr". Yeah? So are Italian and French, but I don't see Quebec, Louisiana, and parts of Chicago as being included in "Latin" America. Oh wait --they're all GRINGOS, AND WE CAN'T HAVE THOSE INFERIOR GRINGO WHITEYS IN OUR RANKS, THAT'S WHY!!
If someone is "American" it means they are from the country known as the USA, not the continents. Don't let racist "Latinos" tell you otherwise.
Now say this out loud:
I am American.
I am American.
I am American.
KC, you're making assumptions. The conversation with this man about the United States extended far beyond that. That was just the part of it that stuck in my mind.
I feel like citizens of the United States DO feel that they own the world. We have this sort of egotistical outlook that we deserve better than everyone else, because in our minds, we've worked for it.
In actuality, the average citizen of a developing country puts in MANY more hours of backbreaking labor for wages that we would laugh at. Just because we live in a democratic and capitalist country doesn't mean that we have the right to stomp on the rest of the world at any given moment.
I think that once the United States starts to realize that it doesn't control the rest of the world, we won't be so disliked by every other country.
"The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall."
-Ernesto "Che" Guevara
I do not feel like we own the world. And most Americans do not feel that way either. They are content to live their lives in their homeland and go about their business. And why are you so concerned about what others think of us? It is futile to live your life catering towards others' view of you. And Americans work hard. In fact, the American male has works a fifty hour week, so we're definitely not lazy.
But that is changing the subject. How about this: we will stop calling ourselves Americans when they stop calling themselves La Raza, Latinos, and stop saying they live in Latin America? Or, they include Quebec, Louisianna, and parts of Chicago in Latin America and I myself may be called a 'Latino' or "Latin".
On a side note, why do you quote a dictator who shot children, wanted to drop nuclear bombs on NY and Chicago, and thought it was OK to murder men so long as it furthered your political goals?
Che was not a dictator...geez read stuff once in awhile. The principles he stood for were good, now he didn't do good things but what he stood for is something most countries strive for. Leave self-righteousness at the door please.
Many Latin Americans are taught that this continent is called "America". Not that it is wrong or right... the syntax does just fine in the realm of cultural relativism.
-Justin
We call ourselves Americans and them Mexicans, because we are from the United States of America. We don't have anything else to call ourselves besides "a citizen of the United States." Speaking for myself, it's not because I think that I'm better, it has nothing to do with them. If they want to call themselves americans, then go ahead, I'm not stopping anyone.
This also reveals a troubling problem: Central Americans pin all of their troubles on the U.S. I call this the "victimization mindset." It also applies to blacks.
Sorry to write about something that is not really that important. I realize there are other issues discussed here that should be considered by each of us. I just feel a little puzzled every time I hear the argument from someone, usually from South or Central America or Mexico, saying "Stop calling your country 'America' ". Here is the punchline of what I am about to say: Calling our country America is perfectly correct, the problem is just that the country and the continent received the same names.
The official name of our country is "The United States of America". The name part of this is "America". "United States" refers to the organization of "America".
As an excellent example, to help you see my point, take Mexico. The official name is, prepare yourselves, "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" (or Mexican UNITED STATES, or even UNITED STATES of Mexico). Now, with the argument used by some, people from Mexico should refer to their country as "the United States", and not "Mexico", and they should all refer to themselves as "citizens of the United States", instead of Mexicans (or Mexicanos). This would be really confusing. There are a lot of other countries with names like "The United States of" something. We would have to call a lot of people "United States Citizens".
But that is ridiculous. They will continue to refer to their country as Mexico, and we will continue to refer to our country as America.
Now the real question. Should America have been given the same name as the continent(s). The answer is probably NO. However, there is not much that can be done about that now.
So you see that the way we refer to ourselves is actually correct. The issue is only with why our country was named the way it was.
I`ve always thought that it was an awkward choice of names to call the USA something so generic.
It is united, it is made of states and it is in America, but Mexico is made of united states of America, too, and so is Brazil and so is the Organization of American States, etc. etc.
I guess the founders could have as easily called it the United States of the World. Then its citizens would be saying ``I live in the World`` and someone from India would be saying, `` Well, so do I.``
I`ve been to a lot of countries and I always get what I mean across in context, but it always feels a little odd, like if my name were ``Some Young Guy.``