Cultural cliches and personal decision-making

[Cali vet]

... in response to Let me direct you back to the essence of..., posted by Aaron on Apr 22, 2003

Aaron-Si doy papaya se la comen. It just means if I give papaya they'll eat it. I wouldn't call it a cliche because it's not trite or hackneyed. It's just a "dicho" a usefull saying. It's not really positive or negative, it's just "advise". You might be told don't walk down that dark street alone, no dar papaya. There really isn't any more that can be read into it. At least not among Colombians. As to not generalizing, you're quite right. That's never very usefull or instructive.

[Aaron]

... in response to Re: Let me direct you back to the essenc..., posted by Cali vet on Apr 22, 2003

But, some people misinterprete the saying and try to make the claim that it reflects all the ills that plague the Colombian society. That's not true.

Yes, there is allot of corruption and deceitfulness in Colombia, but not all Colombians are that way, and among decent PEOPLE (Colombian or American), such behaviors are not acceptable.

All I'm saying is that statements like "corruption and lying are ingrained in Colombia" or "Colombians think less of telling lies" are dangerous, especially for people that are married to a Colombian.

Aaron

[Cali vet]

... in response to CV...that's all I was trying to say from..., posted by Aaron on Apr 22, 2003

Agreed. "the claim that it reflects all the ills that plague the Colombian society" would be a complete, even hair-brained misinterpretation. It's just simple advise for the unwary.

[Hiker]

... in response to Una Pregunta...., posted by Aaron on Apr 21, 2003

I have no doubt that deceitfulness is more engrained in Latin America, but like I said earlier there are tradeoffs.  For example you mentioned individualism.  In my opinion an American woman being an individual is of a higher priority than the family.  The home can fall apart but if she feels she maintained her individualism then she is a success.  I feel that for many latinas being an individual has a lower priority and being a member of the home carrys more weight.  I do not argue that there are not some excellent and desireable aspects to their culture.  I am not saying that you because a person is from a specific culture they are predestined to be a certain way.  I do strongly believe though that some generalizations do exist.  I would expect a girl there to be much warmer and romantic than a girl here because that is the rule.  The exception to the rule is a cold hearted girl.  I also have grown to expect less in the honesty department.