Now, to answer Oso’s and Ethan’s question… I think it is better to not be known at all than to be known negatively. If someone plans to bring a multinational company to Uruguay, no-one will question that decision, it would be weird, but nothing to get feathers ruffled about. HOWEVER try and tell CEOs that you wish to open a franchise in Colombia, and watch them run away. Then again, I think that it is the US that connects Colombia THAT strongly to drugs. In Costa Rica, Colombia’s current image is of a land that has gone through trouble, but has beautiful women and truly hardworking people who open great bakeries. And in India, people heard Colombia and they started singing Hips don´t lie in their best Shakira interpretations.

On the other hand it is impressive for instance to confirm how we in latinamerican know a lot about american culture but little about your politics, laws or system, this is weird if you consider USA is our main commercial partner, while on the other hand it is certainly impressive to see the american university libraries about latinamerican countries laws, politics and system, plus the money they expend to analyse us… (IMPRESSIVE) ofcourse when facing multilateral or bilateral negotiations we go bared naked to meet a misterious and powerful counterpart that we believe we know… it is funny don´t you think so?

I think that one thing we need to make room for in the all of these arguments is the sort of complexity Nicholas hints at in his comment. Japan, for instance, probably registers on the sensibilities of people for a variety of different reasons which may have to do with age (I’d argue that for an American teen Ninjas and anime are probably more persuasive than the fact that the US was at war with Japan), educational level etc.

I think it’s also safe to say that Jamaica has made a stronger impression on the world than other Caribbean nations because of reggae (and, notably, Bob Marley), which would seem to corroborate David W’s argument. Jamaicans, on the other hand, also often make a stronger impression on immigration officers than other Caribbean nations because of the country’s associations with marijuana and crime…

Really looking forward to talking more about this.

To be honest it’s never occurred to me to create a gravatar. Are they that important? Sometimes I like to let my words speak for themselves.

There is also the fact that American men (and recently women) seem to find Japanese women much more attractive than their Nigerian counterparts. Google registers 3,830,000 pages for “japanese girls” and 367,000 for “nigerian girls”. I think this also ties in to what we were talking about in Jamaica a couple weeks ago. Americans ‘know’ much more about Jamaica than Trinidad and Tobago. But then, do Trinidadians and Tobagans think that’s a good or bad thing?

GAP,

As I remember the research (while sipping a beer, mind you), you tend to remember what you read/hear better so long as you’re in the same state as when you read/heard it. This is the reason, of course, that my college buddies and I would grab a pint before taking tests.

Ethan,

I feel like there’s a contradiction between the “ninja as an entry drug” argument and the “cognitive dissonance” argument. If Americans recognize Colombia as a drug country (which they certainly do), then I would believe that they keep reading more articles about drugs in Colombia – but not articles about other aspects of Colombia.

Which leaves us a choice between a misrepresentation of a country (Cocaine Colombia) and a non-representation of a country (Uruguay). I don’t want to speak for Colombians, but I have a feeling that they’d prefer no representation rather than the current misrepresentation.

Cindylu,

Ha! Of course, Entourage. I’m miserable when it comes to pop culture.

How is it that the four of you – all uber bloggers – don’t have Gravatars?

And yes, I did get much more out of this than laughing aloud at your short story idea.

Oh, the show that the Medellín “trailer” is from is Entourage, now Encore. I think Encore is a cable network.

Cuidate, Os’.