Ah maght be unejuamakaitud

by Marcos 28 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  IslandWoman

  Marcos,

  I was raised in the state of New York. As far as I can remember our teachers and text books spoke of the South in a negative tone. The Southern states were backward, they were prejudice, their justice system was a joke, their politicians and most of the their newspapers were bought by the ruling white male bigots etc. etc., we were told.

  Back in the 1950's this was true, it is to some extent still true. I live in Central Florida where the Northerners have just about taken over. When my family and I visit some North Florida small towns though we feel as if we have returned to the days of the 1950's. We joke that in Florida when you go North you really go South! In these small North Florida towns prejudice and class distinctions are so thick they can be cut with a knife. The blacks still know their place there and so do the whites.

  The North is no paradise to be sure and the plight of minorities is masked there behind an endless wall of inner city projects, but the South is still very much home to bubba and his small mindedness.

  Things are changing though, sadly not fast enough.

  IW
• 

  Prisca

  Stinky Pantz,

  You're not the only one who thought Francois' last comment was distasteful and unnecessary. And I'm white.
• 

  outoftheorg

  Hi Marcos. Como esta usted? Me espanol es poco o menos.

  I noticed what I thought was odd in dealing with the culture in northern Mexico. Baja Calif. My brother married a jw born in Mazatlan Mexico. My grasp of the Mexican language was very poor, but I did want to learn more. When dealing with these Mexican family members I would of course mess up the language. This brought snide remarks and jokes from these Jw Mexicans. They would make a small effort to teach me and get angry if I did not get it right away.

  Later in life, I managed an industrial distributor and we had several customers in Mexico. I would once a month go into Mexico with the pass port,work permit, Mexican insurance etc. and call on customers and look for new customers. When I dealt with these people in Mexico or at our office in Calif. They took my efforts to speak spanish very seriously. They were courtious and displayed a real desire to teach me their language and seemed pleased that I wanted to learn spanish.

  Is this a Jw versus the average person? Or is this a matter of different levels of education?

  What do you think? this has always puzzeled me .

  I learned enough spanish to talk about air brakes, hydraulic hose, bearings and many other industrial items. But I would have trouble with the time of day or small talk. I have always felt that if I could live in Mexico for 6 or more months, I would have a grasp of the language. Many people told me that on the words I did know, I had very little accent.

  Outoftheorg
• 

  Gizmo

  But Gizmo...where will I go, what'll I do?

  Frankly my dear marcos, I don't give a damnnnnn! .
• 

  Aztec

  Okay I meant to post this earlier but I ran out of posts.

  Stinkypantz, I thought Francois' comments were excessive and a bit over the top as well.

  Marcos, I understand your point. (I think)

  Stereotypes can be good and they can be harmful. On a person to person basis they can seperate us and cause us to generalize. I try very hard to keep preconceived ideas of a person based on their nationality/heritage/gender/accent et al from letting me get to know and appreciate their unique perspective. I love people for the most part and I find that superficial things do not really matter as much their life experiences.

  Did that make any sense? I hope it did.

  As far as North vs. South... I am a yankee through and through but I LOVE Southern food and Southern people! Big hugs to all the Southerners with their cute accents!

  ~Aztec
• 

  Robdar

  but I LOVE Southern food and Southern people! Big hugs to all the Southerners with their cute accents!

  Awww, Aztec, that is so sweet of you to say. We love you back.

  Hugs,

  Robyn
• 

  Marcos

  IslandWoman and outoftheorg,

  I went to school for a short time in upstate New York. At the time I couldn't believe the things people thought and believed about the south. You make a good point about the negative image that was taught as fact about the south and southerners.

  outoftheorg,

  I think it is great that you are interested in Spanish. Just use it whenever you can. Coming to Mexico and using it is almost always appreciated.

  My experience with Mexican Witnesses was and is very limited. My background is more Texano. We were witness kids and pretty sheltered. I do remember meeting a Mexican guy and his family from Mexico City at an assembly in Corpus Christy one year. We all thought that he spoke funny. He sounded SOOOO "Mexican". Our Spanish was less accented (by our standards).

  As for how your in-laws treated you, there are vast differences here from family-to-family. Some are warm and open, some are closed and small-minded. Oddly, here in Chiapas there are a lot of really cold people. Not all by any means, but a lot. In a nation where almost all of us are of Native American descent, we say that such people are "too indian". Even tribal people use that term here. It is applied to people who may even be white who, when you say hello, tend to ignore you or to stare right through you. I think the term is not take as a racial slur because "Native Americans" here are referred to as "Indigenas" (neuter: a man is "un indigena" a woman is "una indigena".)

  The witnesses I have run into here seem to be genuinely nice people (except for one particularly nasty woman).

  And yes, class and education is a consideration. People of the middle class will almost always try to speak well. I think it is the same in most countries. We speak o f a person who is polite as being "bien educada".

  Thanks again for your observations.

  Robdar,

  Thanks for your comments.

  Marcos
• 

  LDH

  I vote with Stinky and Prisca.

  But don't worry gals. Francois just wants to get with a black chick but he's afraid to. LOL. She would slap his bitch ass into next week.

  (((Francois))) you know I love you.

  Lisa

  Edited to add: How many of you girls stop after one orgasm?

  PS Marcos, I love Chihuahua. I almost went there to teach English. Instead I ended up in Puerto Rico for a while. Do you have any Castillian ancestry? My daughter does.

  Edited by - LDH on 13 January 2003 2:13:17
• 

  Marcos

  Hi LDH,

  PS Marcos, I love Chihuahua. I almost went there to teach English. Instead I ended up in Puerto Rico for a while. Do you have any Castillian ancestry? My daughter does.

  Chihuahua and the other northern states seem to play a large role in the culture of the Southwest. Interchange of language and culture.

  As far as my ancestors, French, Irish, Italian and Spanish. Where in Spain? Who knows? I'm thinking probably somewhere like Galicia. I think that is the Celtic area of Spain.

  Not much of a geneologist. Sorry.

  Marcos

  P.S. Here where I live there are a lot of people of German descent (I'm not one or I would have some money ). There are also some families of North American (US and Canadian) descent. In the urban areas of Mexico, there are a lot of people of Northern European descent and Jews. So, I'm not a complete anomaly.