Unicorns and Rainbows
The sky is falling
Even when I’m being unbearably snarky, I generally write mostly positive articles about the culture, politics, and history of Mexico. I am not blind to the non-positive (uh, negative) facets to these things - but I consciously choose not to dwell on them, and - insofar as writing is a form of dwelling - write about them.
Not covering the bad as much as the good might be a character flaw. Certainly it is a violation of journalistic objectivity. But I’m not a journalist, so I’m not really violating anything - except maybe your trust? Well, if you trust me to cover the good parts, then I’m not violating that either.
There are plenty of places to go to get the doom-and-gloom updates on Mexico - all major news outlets, most minor news outlets, your neighbors, your relatives. They all know how awful things are here. Somehow, though, 130 million people manage to live here. Many of them have no choice but to live here. A lot of them are nice, happy, relatively well-adjusted people. How do they manage such a feat? Maybe - and, yeah, this is what I’m talking about - not everything is awful? Yes, maybe democratic norms are being trampled on by the Morena party - but where aren’t they? Did the whole world suddenly decide that everyone in the United States was living a life of abject misery when Donald Trump was president? Now that Donald Trump is campaigning to be president again? No. Do we assume that everyone in China is miserable? What about the criminal organizations though? Organized crime surely is enough of a justification for us to completely discount any form of positivity about Mexico, just like we use it to discount any form of positivity about Italy. Oh, but wait - we don’t do that. Poverty then - there is poverty in Mexico, so we must just focus on the bad things that arise from poverty, just like we expect an unwavering focus on the bad things that arise from poverty when we read about India.
Sorry, I’m being snarky again. Yes, I get that bad things happen in Mexico, I see it. That doesn’t mean I’m going to bathe in it, rub it all over my body and into my hair until it seeps into and becomes a part of me and then sit in front of my laptop and let it spill all over my screen. Not because it is wrong, or morally indefensible to do that - but because I don’t want to do that. I want to celebrate and highlight the facets of Mexico that those 130 million people celebrate and highlight to get through their day. Those facets of Mexico that says to them: yes, you are a member of the human race; and you will live and love and procreate so that the light of your humanity can be carried forward, endlessly, into the future.
In the meantime, today the U.S. suspended avocado and mango inspections in the state of Michoacán due to “security concerns”. Surely this is a sign of the apocalypse. I better go buy some toilet paper.
Hey chicken little! As long as it's unscented toilet paper grab me some! :-) A group of us pay a courier to bring in hauls of Kirkland TP where I am in nowhereville. it feels like a flex. Like THAT's the biggest problem? in our part of "Mexico" (I kinda roll my eyes when anyone says "Mexico" is this or that because Oaxaca ain't Merida ain't Durango ain't Tepoztlan ain't pueblo dust bowl) but getting the good TP is something we can control I guess. Someone must be sacrificed to make a 6 hour round trip to Costco. No one can live on complaining alone, I struggle with it too some days. But I take a cue from neighbors and locals. Look away! Avert your eyes! Disassociate! (they think beer is the answer and for them I think that may be, I don't drink. ) So I get ice cream and I walk a dog on a deserted beach and revel in that because I know I'd NEVER be able to do that on 'the other side'. Funny you call yourself 'snarky'...I took you as an astute and clever relative realist. Like Pollyanna Lite.
I love your writing style, keep it up! Our regular news channels are so tainted against Mexico and so different than what I experience when I go there, then I find your pros refreshing. It’s crazy to worry about the security or poverty when the US has so much random violence (so much more dangerous than targeted), and I can’t lock down any other commercial streets in my home city without walking by homeless people or folks with the unfortunate disease of drug addiction. I have never seen that in Mexico, and I feel a whole different level of safety when I am there. Not to mention, the values of that culture are very kind and community oriented so people are much less likely to turn a blind suspicious eye to a person on the street in need.