Having grown up in Argentina and knowing the culture (as well as Brazilians)....it does stem from the soccer excitement lol.
Yes it's loud, obnoxious and a pain in the rear, but it's there culture and if anything they do know how to have a good time and loads of fun-even at our ears expense.
In Argentina for example, there is a lot of Italian mixed in the culture, who are LOUD. You sit at a table and you have 40 conversations going on at once, each person speaking louder then the next trying to be "heard". Having now lived back in the US over 12yrs, when I go back to visit it IS hard to adjust to the "noise" levels and it does annoy me, but I have to remember that is who they are. My family still carries some of those loud dinner conversations during holidays but mostly we are all having fun-and it's not to that extent.
You know what they think about us? THat we are a bunch of uptight, unable to have fun, panties in a bunch group of gringos, who don't know how to have fun (yell, sing and be obnoxious hehe) unless they've downed a 6 pack. That our English roots bring in the stiffness, boring and intolerance us LOL
See, that is how stereotypes and being unnacepting of different cultures is.
Another thing I'd like to help others notice-in S. AMerica life is extremely hard, they would love to have 1/8th of the luxury and quality of life we enjoy-even the working class here enjoys so many comforts, life is just easier by far. THey bring hardships, and struggles and many times grow up around opression and dismay. The fact that they keep their joy regardless, and sing loud and chant when having the opportunity of a lifetime to be at WDW, even if we find it innapropiate, I think we should try to find in ourselves to learn to accept their sense of expression-and understand what's behind the yelling/chanting/passion and loudness. Life there is HARD, I know, I lived it and witnessed it first hand for over 15yrs.
I say, avoid the groups but remember how are own teens behave in other countries-as others said it is an embarrasement. And try to just ignore it. The POP warner kids, well same thing.
I"m not saying the yelling isn't annoying-but WDW brings in a huge mix of people from all over the world-and it's a place to put our tolerance and diversity acceptance into practice, even if it hurts our ear drums. There's always something we can carry away from said groups and help incorporate in our own lives. For us Americans-that may mean letting our hair down a bit and being a bit loud every once in a while.
Another thing (boy this is long)....that we as Americans are known for is our intolerance of children and teens.....we constantly criticize them, ban them from restaurants, get annoyed with them on planes, and have very much a "there's a place and time to be seen" mentality still with our kids that carries over from years past. We are an intolerant culture with our kids...we expect and demand certain behavior. Compared to other cultures (including S. America) where kids are always w/their parents-even in their long asados till 2am, running around "wild" as we'd say, teens are up around their parents being loud, etc....people there are just more accepting of kids behaving like kids and tolerate a lot more-maybe they are extreme, and maybe we are too.
Having traveled in other countries-the only other culture that seems so intolerant of children/teens are the Enligsh-aside from the US. Maybe we should learn to be a little more lenient of our own kids and then we can learn to be more lenient and forgiving with kids from other cultures. This is more of a general rant and observation though more then directing it at anyone on this thread-I don't know any of you, but again it is a cultural perception of us.
the ones we tend to remember are the loud, obnoxious and disruptive ones... Perhaps the majority of them are fine...
Knox
