Mike, so very sad, the death of the 3 young men. Your post brings out so many points on the sadness of loss, the why's and wherefores, and the fact that as you say, survivor families care nothing about statistics. The magnitude of locals dead or gone missing in Mexico is enormous. And yet, when foreigners are dead or missing, they call out the troops. Why, indeed? Mass media north of the border may fuel flames, cycling into a tired news trope that Mexico is a dangerous land. And I'm sure tourism stats necessary for MNTC to promote the locales that are 'safe' plays a hand. Most likely your reasoning is on point--closer to the border, more danger; possibly a call-out to competing cartels; or even as you mention, the robbery gone wrong thing. This was a really great and timely post.
Thanks Jeanine - this tragedy highlights the complexity of crime and punishment in Mexico, but also the asymmetrical media attention on violence around the world. The narrative that Mexico is dangerous is a perpetual motion machine, I'm afraid. I don't think it will go away any time soon.
Seems like it is easier to be scared about a foreign country or place you don't find familiar than your own backyard. Though our own homeland is less safe, that is a hard concept to grasp with a day to day experience of nothing much happening. The reality of US random gun violence, mostly due to people who are not mentally stable having access to guns, is just becoming mind numbing now. I was shocked in March to hear there were already over 300 incidents in the US this year. They are certainly not reported on. So the combination of how our brains work to assume smaller day to day data points are statistically relevant, and the lack of reporting on US violence (perhaps due to the shear number of incidents) makes the fact of Mexico being safer a hard one to grok.
Exactly - the unbalanced reporting warps our perceptions. It is a sad commentary that people being killed by gun violence in the US has become uninteresting to report on. US citizens being killed in foreign countries is of course big news - which is a commentary on how rare (comparatively) it in fact is.
Thank you, Mike, for the update. Very sad, indeed. And I find it interesting that you say the truth of what happened "will almost certainly never be known publicly," as if someone or some agency does know, but wants to keep it under wraps.
It doesn't change my mind about Mexico. Maybe it's because I'm far inland, far from the border, where I agree that things can be dicier. Wherever you go (and I have been by the border many times) , common sense is required. And not just wherever you go in Mexico. In general.
Yes, common sense and diligence and situational awareness. Also awareness of local recommendations (locals there have claimed it is not a safe area to camp out). And indeed, this is true in general. Thanks for the comment, Victor.
Mike, so very sad, the death of the 3 young men. Your post brings out so many points on the sadness of loss, the why's and wherefores, and the fact that as you say, survivor families care nothing about statistics. The magnitude of locals dead or gone missing in Mexico is enormous. And yet, when foreigners are dead or missing, they call out the troops. Why, indeed? Mass media north of the border may fuel flames, cycling into a tired news trope that Mexico is a dangerous land. And I'm sure tourism stats necessary for MNTC to promote the locales that are 'safe' plays a hand. Most likely your reasoning is on point--closer to the border, more danger; possibly a call-out to competing cartels; or even as you mention, the robbery gone wrong thing. This was a really great and timely post.
Thanks Jeanine - this tragedy highlights the complexity of crime and punishment in Mexico, but also the asymmetrical media attention on violence around the world. The narrative that Mexico is dangerous is a perpetual motion machine, I'm afraid. I don't think it will go away any time soon.
Seems like it is easier to be scared about a foreign country or place you don't find familiar than your own backyard. Though our own homeland is less safe, that is a hard concept to grasp with a day to day experience of nothing much happening. The reality of US random gun violence, mostly due to people who are not mentally stable having access to guns, is just becoming mind numbing now. I was shocked in March to hear there were already over 300 incidents in the US this year. They are certainly not reported on. So the combination of how our brains work to assume smaller day to day data points are statistically relevant, and the lack of reporting on US violence (perhaps due to the shear number of incidents) makes the fact of Mexico being safer a hard one to grok.
Exactly - the unbalanced reporting warps our perceptions. It is a sad commentary that people being killed by gun violence in the US has become uninteresting to report on. US citizens being killed in foreign countries is of course big news - which is a commentary on how rare (comparatively) it in fact is.
Thank you, Mike, for the update. Very sad, indeed. And I find it interesting that you say the truth of what happened "will almost certainly never be known publicly," as if someone or some agency does know, but wants to keep it under wraps.
It doesn't change my mind about Mexico. Maybe it's because I'm far inland, far from the border, where I agree that things can be dicier. Wherever you go (and I have been by the border many times) , common sense is required. And not just wherever you go in Mexico. In general.
Yes, common sense and diligence and situational awareness. Also awareness of local recommendations (locals there have claimed it is not a safe area to camp out). And indeed, this is true in general. Thanks for the comment, Victor.