Is it racist to expect all Mexicans to be rude?

Question

I mean, when every single Mexican you encounter is rude or disrespectful, you learn to expect it. Just tonight, I was in a store and 3 Mexican men literally RAN to the checkout to jump in front of me in line, then just a few minutes later at Walmart and AGAIN, a Mexican man jumped in front of me in line. As I waited to check out I tried to think of a time when a Mexican was not rude or disrespectful, and I can't think of one. So is it racist to expect this type of behavior from all Mexicans I encounter? Logically, wouldn't it be insane for me to expect something different?

Just to add, I know there have to be some courteous Mexicans... I just haven't met them yet.

To those who take offense that I assume these people are Mexican, I say YES they are predominantly Mexican. I never realized that calling someone from Mexico a Mexican was offensive! Is there someone wrong with being Mexican? There are many Mexicans (people from Mexico) living in this area, and few (if any!) Nicaraguans.

Answer 1

Although it is by definition "racist" I think that we do come to expect only what we know of people, there is nothing wrong with assuming a guy in priests clothing will be overtly nice and keep his hands off your kids, but thats not passing judgment that just the way it is because "all priests are nice people" so we put them in that bracket, unless you have fallen victim to the exeption and then judge accordingly.
Why is one acceptable but the other not?

Answer 2

I don't think you are being racist. It just wasn't your day with Mexicans. Linda, all over the globe there are opposites: good & bad, lawful & unlawful, beautiful & ugly, respectful & disrepectful, nice & rude; love & hatred, etc. It's not good nor wise to generalize because, along the way, you'll always find people who take to either side.
I am a Latinamerican senior citizen (not living in the U.S.) and can tell you the following without the intention of offending. Why are most of the illegal immigrants the kind of unwelcome people you've encountered? Most are non-qualified (little or no formal education) workers that cannot be placed in a job with a decent salary in their homelands. These are hired in your country to do jobs your fellow citizens are not willing to do, while the well-educated professionals with good salaries seldom migrate if there are no obliging reasons to do so. These are probably the great mayority of nice foreigners that Americans don't ever meet.
I can go on and on and produce a whole dissertation on the topic but I hope this is enough to make myself understood.

Answer 3

When you generalize and stereotype about an entire race or nationality, you're being racist. It is prejudice to expect people to be a certain way without finding out first what that individual is like and racism is just one type of prejudice.

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you only notice the ones who are rude? It's normal to notice more something that sticks out as being unusual or bad. Who do you notice more in general, people who are polite or people who are rude? The norm is to be polite and you don't really pay much attention to the polite people, but when someone is rude you notice that. Just bear in mind that there are polite ones too, you just don't notice them.

Assumptions and generalizations are good for nothing.

Answer 4

There are many ways to consider your question. I address the cultural disconnect that you seem to be experiencing in the best way I can with my limited knowledge.

What you seem to be experiencing is a clash of two very different cultural norms. In many parts of the United States (and I believe in some European and Asian countries), it is generally expected that people watch each other and if somebody arrives at a particular spot before another, then they let that person go through. It is also normally expected that people don't "rush ahead" of somebody just to get ahead in line (although I've seen it happen with those other than Mexican).

In Mexico, it is accepted that people just get as close as possible to the place they want to be. Car drivers tend to ignore lane dividers (I've seen it in Mexico City), and people in some parts of Mexico have a different perspective of what it means to stand in line.

So, it's hard to say if they were being rude since that implies that they are following the same cultural norms as you are. If you have ever travelled out of the country, you may have unitentionally been rude and not know it. (When I was in Greece, a little boy came up to me to sell me candy. I waved my hand saying "no thank you" in my very limited Greek, with my palm open toward him. In the U.S., people wouldn't think twice about that and move on. In Greece, I basically told him to "go to hell" in the rudist possible way. I wasn't trying to be rude, but I ended up cursing the boy unitentionally. He ran off screaming, and then somebody told me what I had done. I was mortified.)

Not sure if I answered your question well, but hopefully helped shed some light on the possibilities of your situation and experience...

Answer 5

the genuine brown mexicans may be those that of finished community american ancestry. And the finished community mexicans are quite a minority in mexico. the genuine mexicans are distinctive in coloration and in beneficial factors, such as you pronounced. on condition that mexicans are in many circumstances mestizos, while mestizos have teenagers with each and each others, considered one of their teenagers could desire to finally end up being honest epidermis, on an identical time as the different could have tan epidermis. or you've gotten greater community beneficial factors on an identical time as the different toddler has much less. yet yeah their is blue and eco-friendly eyed ppl in latin u . s . of america. yet certainly i do no longer think of a white or an entire community, can characterize a mexican, basically a Mestizo can. certainly a Mullato or mestizo latino is what can quite characterize a latino in hollywoond, on condition that maximum are mixed.

Answer 6

Sadly it's true that most Mexicans can be rude sometimes. Especially teenagers. It's mostly the parents fault. This is coming from a teenage Mexican.

Answer 7

It's not racist. Why? Because Mexican is not a race.


It's a stereotype, because you believe that all these men are Mexican, for the sole reason that they are Hispanic. They most likely had black hair, olive or brown skin, brown eyes, and spoke Spanish. Am I wrong?

You can look at me, and I look Italian or white. I barely look Hispanic, yet I am. I speak English with absolutely no accent, have tan {but not olive} skin, dark eyes, and dark hair.

It's also a stereotype because you think all Mexicans, AND all Mexican men are rude.

Answer 8

There seems to be a problem with Mexicans and alot of stereotyping at this time. The Spanish seem to be a more exuberant and emotional people than the Caucasians especially if they are in their own neighborhood. Spanish folks seem to be able to express their emotions much more readily than us reserved white people who have been taught to hold it in. Then again, maybe your experiences are just with rude people. I meet alot of rude people these days, not just Mexicans but folks of all makes and models. We are a country loaded with stress and people are expressing stress and rudeness now more than I have ever experienced before and I am 62. Its a sign of the times.

Answer 9

While I know where you are coming from, it is a racist line of thinking. it is the same way with assuming that everyone of any race or religion or any other social or cultural group held all of the same characteristics. It is racial stereotyping, though it is hard not to go there sometimes.

Answer 10

You are right Sweetie, they all came from DIFFERENT raisings and yes you noticed it, it does not mean you are a Racist, just that you notice as I do the same