If you want to make whatever point you're trying to make here, you have to write it a lot more carefully than this. Imputing negative traits to entire nations or cultures is explicitly not OK on HN:
I get where you're coming from. But I wonder how familiar you are with Argentina, though.
I was born and raised in Uruguay, a smaller neighboring country that shares a lot of traits with Argentina. I'd bet a lot of people from either country will not only agree with OP's characterization, but embrace it. This kind of behavior even has a name that carries positive connotations: "viveza criolla", loosely translated as "local wit". Behaving this way is considered the smart thing to do. Not behaving this way makes you an idiot.
I hated this mentality growing up. I never felt like I fit. I've now lived in Europe for the last 12 years and it feels a lot more like home.
Maybe he could have worded it better, but what he's saying rings true to me, an Argentinian living in Argentina.
Note I mostly disagree on politics with 99% of all other Argies posting here (let's say the kind of Argies who post on HN are self-selecting for the kind of politics I disagree with), but this bit is true: we are, at least in Buenos Aires, a selfish, cheating people. Nobody ever in Argentina thinks the rules and laws apply to us, we want to take every advantage we want, pull whatever lever from friends in useful positions, but we always, ALWAYS, complain when somebody else bends or breaks the rules.
"The politicians are all corrupt!" -- but never me.
"That guy drives terribly and jumped a red light!" -- but never me.
"He's cheating me on the price of this!" -- but I never do this myself.
"My employer is exploiting me!" -- but I, of course, always legally employ cleaning ladies for my own house.
This defines our national identity and it needs to be said.
This site is full of harsh criticisms of the USA. Not just of the government but of the citizens themselves.
You're correct about what the policy says, but enforcement doesn't seem to back it up in many cases.
Personally I don't see an issue with critiquing the dominant culture in any nation. GP made plenty of caveats about "not everyone" and the like.
I find such caveats to be nauseating, but they tend to be quite effective at preemptively disarming the type of insinuations of national or racial chauvinism that are exemplified by your comment.
Even for those who are not from the U.S.? Europeans in particular frequently vent their frustrations about the U.S., both realistic and unrealistic, in this space.
Would you feel better or worse if I elucidated my criticisms of Argentina en Español on an Argentinian website?
My intuition is that would be seen as aggressive or chauvanistic.
Normally I'd agree, but isn't "culture" basically by definition a common subset? Race and ethnicity are born into and I cannot do anything about it. Culture though is explicitly a descriptor of common traits one can generalize about.
Either way. I hail from a particular (different) country and I will make fairly confidently proclamations about cultural every-day ingrained corruption there. I have explicitly, consciously and purposely changed my culture as I vehemently disagreed with common negative traits of my previous and original culture.
I was born and raised in Uruguay, a smaller neighboring country that shares a lot of traits with Argentina. I'd bet a lot of people from either country will not only agree with OP's characterization, but embrace it. This kind of behavior even has a name that carries positive connotations: "viveza criolla", loosely translated as "local wit". Behaving this way is considered the smart thing to do. Not behaving this way makes you an idiot.
I hated this mentality growing up. I never felt like I fit. I've now lived in Europe for the last 12 years and it feels a lot more like home.