Saturday, February 25, 2012

More Dreadful Stereotyping

It's not just Andrew Gilligan - here's the Telegraph's Jeremy Warner on yet another looming Argentinian financial crisis (turns out that, like the Greeks, they've been fiddling the figures) :

Argentina's problem is that it remains mired in a politically and economically corrupt past. Until these things change, it will continue to stagger from one crisis to the next, regardless of the exchange rate regime it adopts. Devaluation is no substitute for structural reform. Given the origins of its immigrant population, it is perhaps no surprise that the Argentine economy actually has quite a lot in common with the troublesome periphery of the eurozone. In terms of its problems, it's Italy, or even Greece, magnified several times over.
I see. One set of wops and dagoes is very much like another, eh ? ... Laban takes him to task as I did Mr Gilligan.

Isn't all this stuff just the worst sort of racist stereotyping? The idea that Latins in Argentina are fiscally irresponsible because Latins in Europe are fiscally irresponsible is ridiculous.

Next thing he'll be saying that Swedes in Minnesota are thrifty and hard-working.

Mr Warner, you're an intelligent man. Surely you must have been taught that we are all exactly the same, and that's why we should celebrate our differences?