I am bewildered by the amount of ordinary violence in Argentina. And I am not talking about violent criminals, but ordinary people who think that we are living in a Quentin Tarantino's movie. Verbal disagreement escalate to physical violence in 0 seconds. Are they brought up this way? Fearless of the legal consequences of their action? Don't they have a conscience?
An Argentinian woman on vacation in Uruguay, took a baseball bat from her car after a traffic dispute. White, fake blonde, with money to own a car and vacation in Uruguay. This doesn't sound a hard-core criminal. Yet, to take out a baseball bat over a traffic discussion seems quite OTT.
Every year, there are several incidents with bodyguards or between boys in disco clubs that cause them more than a bruise. A broken jaw, a dead 18 years old,... Teenargers killing other teenagers, usually ex boy/girlfriend (see Jeremías Monzón, Fernando Pastorizzo).
One day, it was just around 1 PM in Almagro and we were in the car at a red light. The line of cars was moving slowly as another car was trying to park in reverse while the light was on red. Another driver in the line thought the person trying to park was not skilled enough and was taking too much time (the light was still red).
Once the parking was complete, the man got out of the car and yelled at the one who was complaining at him while he was manoeuvring to park. He just said something along the line "what the fuck is your problem?!". What he didn't expect was that the yeller would jump out of his car with a knife in hand. My husband wanted to stop to see what was going to happen (!). I urged him to drive away and don't get in trouble.
First, people on a rage can feel pressured to stand by their position and "defend" their image by acting exaggeratedly. Second, people trying to separate two fighting man often get wounded. I can't see a good reason to meddled with two angry Argentinians.
Frankly, I think Argentina is fucked off well beyond because of its politicians or economy.
