When I first became BellaOnline’s editor for its Mexico site, I started a forum topic entitled “Mexico Stereotypes-True and False.” I was curious what snapshot images or perceptions that the readership of that site had about Mexico. Over time, there were many postings from various respondents, the vast majority being “gringos” who either from personal experience, media coverage, or hearsay stated what their Mexican stereotypes were. Before detailing what those impressions of the country were, stereotypes need to be defined and explained.

Stereotypes may best be defined as a conventional, formulaic, and over simplified conception, opinion, or image. As such, when discussing a large and complex entity such as Mexico those conceptions, opinions, and/or images narrowly perceive that entity to be homogenous rather than heterogenous and consequently tend to overlook its diversity be it of a geographical, environmental, political/governmental, socio-economical, cultural, and/or racial nature. Therefore, although they are a snapshot image that may or may not to a certain limited degree be accurate, they are never totally in focus and provide a somewhat distorted impression of the object being viewed. For good or bad, that is just the nature of the beast!

I have divided the responses, of which some were only one word/phrase while others were more expansive, into three categories as objectively as I could- yet just like stereotypes themselves, some subjectivity on my part may have been factored into my decision making process. Such as is “heat” a good thing or a bad thing- I opted for good as it was mentioned with “sun” and the person responding gave multiple positive comments. There were only a few duplicate remarks. I did not include the stereotypes that I brought up unless someone responded to them either in agreement or disagreement. The three categories are labeled “positive,” “negative,” and “neutral.”

As I had anticipated, the positive responses, especially considering the type of mainstream media attention that Mexico typically receives internationally, were far fewer than the negative ones. That list is comprised of the following: good food; very hard workers; beautiful celebrations of color and unity; sun and heat; vibrant colors; music; and aromas. Interestingly, from my perspective, no one directly mentioned the country’s coastal areas as the beach resorts of Mexico are the extent to which many people primarily associate with Mexico.

The negative stereotypes were many: bad government; corrupt government; unsafe to travel; fatalistic mentality; water unsafe to drink; drug-related problems; bad drivers; culturally different as people do not call in advance and just drop by for hours at a time; everyone desperate to leave to get to US so it must be a bad country; and lack of concern/respect for the environment. Violence and illegal immigration were not mentioned directly which surprised me a little given that they are hyped/sensationalized by the media outside of the country.

Viewed from a contextual perspective with not enough input to place otherwise, the following were assigned as being neutral: Ugly Betty; the talking chihuahua; tacos; short and dark-skinned people; non-confrontational and non-assertive people (this is one that I had broached); siestas; and males with black mustaches wearing broad rimmed sombreros. Now if the man with the mustache and sombrero was said to have been taking a siesta while leaning against a cactus that indeed would have been put in the negative column as from my viewpoint that represents the “old Mexico” which may or may not had actually existed.

Having lived in Mexico for a few years now, what do I conclude from the above stereotypes? Well, like most stereotypes in general, the positive and negative ones were partially true and partially false, some more true while others more false. Take for example the issue of safety while traveling in Mexico; while some areas in Mexico may currently be unsafe to travel in, the vast majority of Mexico is quite safe to travel in as long as the tourist (as they should do while traveling anywhere in the world) is aware of her/his surroundings and demonstrates common sense at all times. Yes, there has been, historically, pervasive corruption in all branches of the Mexican government, especially the country’s myriad types of police, but in some states and in some federal agencies the situation is getting better. Or as far as everyone wanting to leave the country and go to the US, the majority of those people seeking entry into the US are only from a few areas in Mexico, like the states of Michoacan and Zacatecas, which are the most economically depressed and offer very little opportunity for their residents; percentage-wise very few Mexicans from the more affluent states like Queretaro in the center of the country or Sonora and Chihuahua in the northwestern part of the country would desire to leave Mexico. Consequently, these Mexican stereotypes whether positive or negative give a distorted view of the country and are not truly representative of the totality of any aspect of it.

So, if I were to leave my house in Western Central Mexico today and venture off into the streets it is highly unlikely that I would see a short dark-skinned black mustached man wearing a huge sombrero drinking contaminated water walking his talking chihuahua as he dodged the bad drivers while discarding his taco wrapper onto the street who was seeking the advice of passersby on how to illegally enter the US and getting approached by a transit policeman and expected to offer a bribe in order not to have to go to the police station to pay a fine for “speeding” in a vehicle that he wasn’t even driving. However, it is possible that I might see one or perhaps two of those things. Littering for sure!- oops, that is just my own distorted image of the country- or is it?