You forget that Mexican immigrants yo the US tend to be poorer and less educated than Colombian immigrants. Just the fact that most of us (or your parents) could buy a plane ticket and land legally in the US makes a yuuuuge difference. Some education and even a little capital makes easier to start as independent or gain a better job. If Colombians arriving to the US were in exactly (or closer to) the same conditions as Central American migrants, they’d achieve the same. As anecdotal evidence, our Venezuelan neighbors told us that, back when Venezuela was rich, most of the hand labor would come from Colombia, usually poor peasants looking for a better livelihood, rarely jumping to business ownership.
I think the difference in our argument is that you guys are talking about society and groups of people, which of course is true. That's why there are anthropology careers and people study cultures and how those culture shape us. However I was talking from a personal standpoint and I believe Mezzy as well. Like he said "We all have a choice to let society and even our culture define us. That's ok. That's just not me."
Correct. You are looking at society as a whole and examining the cultural impact in behaviors. We are saying we still have a choice to be individuals and separate ourselves from the norm. Both behaviors are ok. I never tried to fit in with my Colombian culture. I am who I am and I speak I speak and I act how I act. I don't try to talk more Colombian like many do, I dont only listen to grupo niche, I don't only date (when I was single) Colombian women, I don't watch Colombian tv shows, I don't hang out with mainly colombians. I dont even like Colombian restaurants though I love my moms food. Back to where this all started, if I did a DNA test that showed I'm 90% Italian, I wont give 2 shits. I won't all of the sudden take a liking to pasta. My only focus is where I am going and what I need to do to get there.
How does culture and society not shape us? I'd like to be able to speak fluent chinese, but I can't because I wasn't taught to speak it. You think you are making a free choice if you eat pizza instead of Colombian or Japanese food. But the choices are more limited than you think. Eating worms doesn't even cross your mind, but it's normal to many people. And the worm eaters might not even have heard about pizza. What about racism? You don't choose your ancestors and your skin color. In a racist society you will be defined, judged and limited in many ways by your appearance. We are free to choose in a very limited frame.
You are taking that example to the extreme with the worms, and even there I wouldn't mind trying them. Here in NYC I been able to go to many different restaurants and try many dishes, I'm a curious person by nature and love trying new things. And although is very well true that you are defined by your skin color and there is not deniying that us have Institutional racism and something should be done about that. It doesn't change the fact that you can still suceed, I mean we just had the first black president of the US back in 2009
I can learn Chinese if I want to. Or eat worms if I want to. . And there are plenty of black guys that act white and also plenty of Eminems out there. I mean froboy is half Puerto Rican, half Colombian, doesnt speak Spanish, serves in the u.s military, has an afro, and thinks he is German. Case closed
Hey I know this guy. How you doing man. Long time. This guy is eastern European. We finally have a real white person in this thread full of mestizos!@
Ive been doing good bro.Unfortunately i cant post in RM forum..Zidane05 does not wanna unban me [emoji23][emoji23] i am reading everything though...So Arias is a RB? I have no doubt he will take over Juanfran.. and Btw Atletico has some serious squad this season
We have been talking about this for 9 pages with no moderators interruption lol. Gotto love our forum