memes

I'll say that it's more like one political party, not the whole group. I honestly don't think most USA Americans (trying to be specific) think much about South America generally. In general the average person here doesn't know much about South America, they may know about a certain dictator or problem. They might think of certain areas like Buenos Aires, Rio De Janeiro, or Bogato because these places appear in the media (like Fast and the Furious or the Rundown). In general the average person will never go to one of these places but sees it as mysterious, potentially exciting, but also potentially dangerous place (to be fair they also look at places like NYC and Las Angeles the same way).

Disdain for South Americans mostly comes from the idea that you might want to immigrate and

https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.5059047051.8318/st,small,507x507-pad,600x600,f8f8f8.jpg

It's entirely grounded in racism, fear of change and fear of the unknown. The other group really doesn't care too much and would be open to immigration as long as you're not a bad person. Unfortunately our politics have made it so that the smaller group has too much say in these things.