Watch out! According to crazy right wing U.S. news anchor Nancy Gunn in this video, the "so-called victims of the Drug War" in Mexico are actually part of a vast conspiracy to smoke crack and kill your children!
Ross:
Of course they are.... Greg. And Mexico is a democracy. Don't you remember? I think it's time you returned to New York City and played some TRI infront of the U.N. Building; because nothing you say or do will change the tide here... That said, I'm just being sarcastic. We live here and expect to live here quite a few years more, or "until death do we part" with our 'beloved' Estados Unidos Mexicanos... But living here in aprehension and repressed fear. Granted, the "government" can send a few municipal police officers to your house or your office and beat you to death on the way to no where and say that it was one of the cartels... and no one will truly care. When I say "no one" I mean CNDH/ONU, the office of Barak Obama... No One, because there's a whole lot of money at stake... And should we blame them for wanting to grow their investments? No. But, that doesn't have to cause the suffering and deaths of so many people (and I'm not talking about the victims of the "war on drugs"...) Or maybe it must... But watcha gonna do? I guess you're doing what you believe you must... And they haven't encarcelated you, blacklisted you or killed you yet. It's a good thing I never learned to write real well, not even in Hampshire. Otherwise, maybe I would find myself in big trouble... Or maybe my intelligence level is greater than that of my ego and I can put things into perspective. Actually, I don't believe I'm as intelligent as I had thought I could have been... Afterall, I'm here, aren't I? Truthfully, who truly gives a damn about what's happening here? The U.S. Department of State plays dumb in their travel warnings ignoring what they suspect or know is truly occurring here. Blame the violence on international crime organizations and don't accuse the Mexican governments of anything. I guess there is much more at stake than the lives of journalists, socio-politically concerned activists and the average Mexican who just wants to get by tranquilly... I lost hope a long while ago. Every day I notice another revealer of the the grand farce... Hopefully they don't come knocking on my door just because I wrote this to you... Sounds paranoid? Maybe it's just realistic. Remember Al in "the Honeymooners"? "I've got a big mouth"... And I just opened it responding to your email...
Greg:
Wasn't it Ralph, the guy from the Honeymooners? I think so...
Ross:
Ralph Kramden, Al Bundy... yes, you've got a point... Right show, wrong name... Where did you say we're living? South East Asia. How did we get here, anyway? Willy Wonka's glass elevator? I think if I click my heels, I'll find myself back in South Hadley, with Roger Rabbit... And I didn't even like Married with Children. Would you believe I've never bought a television in my life? A childhood friend turned me onto "The Honeymooners"... Just a word of advice Mr. Turner, word has it that Señor Diaz has recovered from the Revolucionarios and seeks revenge in a big way; non of this blacklisting in California... By the way, if you see Mr. Steinbeck lending a hand at the loading dock on the southwest side of the Merced, ask him how he managed to pass unscathed by el Señor del San Simeon and the Greater California Fruit Company? Last night I dreamed I was Dorothea Lange with my camera limping through the Dust Bowl and the San Joaquin Valley... But then I realized I'm just the baby breastfeeding in the arms of Florence Owens Thompson...although not her son, just a poor little helpless baby; today almost # 7 billion human inhabitant on this planet. Remember when we were just over 4 billion in the late 70's? What do you do with those numbers Ken? Ted? Greg? Alex? Put on an indian headress, say things your pseudo intelectual fans will enjoy, call yourself a "pinche Gringo" and "Chinga Su Madre a Estados Unidos" and then sing 3 songs by the Rolling Stones in perfect English... And what happened with those mines in Sonora; who leases most of the mines in Mexico? I would call Canadians Gringos also, but here, the Canadians go unscathed. And did you hear the last one about Great Britain being behind the Zapatistas in the 90s, an event created to distract the world away from their discovery of Uranium in Chiapas? Here in Mexico all information is rumour or chisme or... How about those Maras who were tied together, put on an army helicopter and dropped into the Pacific Ocean of the coast of Tapachula...? But if you want the true story, maybe you should just put a bullet in your head before they come to cut you up into little itzy bitzy pieces. At the moment before dying, place your finger on the roulette wheel of life and where it stops on your finger, is where you will born the following life... Or if you are fortunate like Mr. Steinbeck, maybe nothing will happen to you and you'll come across all of the forbidden information and awaken all the people to march on Mr. Duarte's office in Xalapa; a peaceful demonstration. Who knows? Maybe Javier will accompany you and your peaceful entourage to San Lazaro where you can play some more TRI. But, today it may be more effectivo going their with el Tambor cantando, "No Tengas Miedo Porque Soy de Sinaloa"... !Comó me gusta comó imitan balaceras con el tambor! ¿Has escuchado? Si no... vete a Fresnillo o Colima, Zacatecas o Guadalajara o Durango... Tal vez lo disfrutarás en Cordoba, Veracruz donde musica Tropical, Cumbia y Salsa fue desplazada por La Banda Norteño... Go figure! Afortunadamente no estoy aya... Aquí es puro Café Tacuba, Zoe, Radiohead y Massive Attack... Who knows, maybe I'll listen to some Manu Chao before re-reading "La Casa de Los Espiritus" for the 3rd time. I'm still recovering from The Grapes of Wrath in Spanish and Octavio Paz gave me a horrible headache with his hypocracies... leaving me with the question, "what would have become of Chuck Fountainboy had he been born 50 years later? How would he have documented Mexican culture and politics today? Truthfully I've never placed much attention upon his writings. However, when I read about the childish games Mr. Not so Peaceful played with his former friend el Fuente, and heard about how Charlie kept his head in the game, faithful to his values and human rights, well I thought, maybe there is something to be found in his writings... I don't know, afterall, Mexico doesn't let "her" writers write the truth... So maybe I'll just pass on that idea and return to the phantasms of early 20th Century "America", ha ha ha... I think Al Jolson will be performing at the ROXY on Friday. Supposedly there's a Central Park with that exact name here in Guadalajara. I want to see if there's a Strawberry Fields too before crossing to Sheeps Meadow for the Simon and Garfunkel concert... And don't tell me it's not in Sheeps Meadow... AL...
And on nights of the full moon they make love
And in this immenseness their souls are united
To give life to this sad love song
This sad love song...
Cantale Jack! Al, Fred, Ed, Gregory...
History has a way of swallowing it's tale and placing us in a black hole... The one thing that doesn't repeat in history is the human population... It just increases and increases... Mexico is the 10th most populated country next to the 3rd most populated country, the 10th to 15th biggest economy next to the biggest economy. Mexico is almost #1 out of 190+ countries for inequality. Look at the numbers Greg. And there are many more to look at. This isn't just about freedom of speech... false democracy, illusions of party politics etc. It is about #s and economic opportunities... Investments and manipulating human spirit moreso than human minds...
I made a grave mistake as an "intellectual" concerned about justice and truth after leaving Hampshire. I focussed upon immigration and racist movements and then didn't realize there was so much more to investigate. Although I had read "The Grapes of Wrath" early in High School (not because an English teacher said we must) I did not know that one base of understanding political economic movements in countries that base their society upon constitutions, "democracy" and justice systems... is by looking into the roll of banks, the urgency of experimenting with new expensive farm technology (not much different than the urgency of testing out an Atom Bomb on a living human population) and unions upon the destinies of those who lived for generations off a difficult land, although they lived fine by their standards. I bought the book for my wife and brother-laws-to understand that they and their campesino family must never sit back on their laurels. Not because I want them to organize campesinos and be accused of terrorism in Xalapa. But because I want them to be prepared to take care of themselves beyond what their grandparents taught their parents and what their parents taught them, to try and avance in a world that doesn't believe they can avance without selling their ranches and moving to Mexico City, or better yet, to the U.S. in order to buy illusions... No, no one is thinking about moving to the U.S., not I Mr. Jones..., although, if I could subsist economically there with my wife, it would be much safer and much more secure, and I wouldn't be wondering everyday, what if they grab me or my wife...
But the truth is Greg, I always wondered how you manage here ("con permiso") unscathed foreignor meddling in Mexican affairs. No, if you got this far in this letter, I don't believe you will answer the question, certainly not after your trite response/correction of names... Flavio Risech, who connected me with you years ago, once said, "Stories of 'Americans' in Mexico generally bore me, since they tend to be of wealthy Americans or children of wealthy Americans and the Mexican government tends towards serving Mexico on a silver platter; no trials or tribulations; but your story... yes that interests me, because you don't come from money; you aren't protected... you didn't hook up with an upper middle-class Mexican..."
But the truth is Greg. The issue isn't political. It's financial. Slavery wasn't political. It was financial. Nor was it personal, although those geniuses in perfecting systems of exploitment realized that if you make it personal, you encounter much more energy for moving the ignorant masses for protecting your investments...
If you read through world history you will see those horrors repeatedly, every day of our lives from way before the invention of "Christ" until the assassination of journalists or activists or other people supposedly perpetrated by Joaquin Guzmans and Heriberto Lazcanos... In San Luis we were visited by a Southern Italian straight out of a Bruce Willis movie protected by State Police... Crossing the border from Aguascalientes to Zacatecas, a Mexican Soldier approached me and spoke to me in an English from my childhood (not from an English class) without my having spoken one word; my licence plates are from Veracruz. How did he know I was from the U.S? It wasn't a hunch. Mexicans think I'm Mexican until they hear my accent. He hadn't heard my accent.
I'm not an activist. Nor am I a rabbalrowser... (however you spell that). I've always been concerned about the truth. However, what I've learned here in my almost 10 years here in Mexico married to my wife who can't enter the U.S. legally married to me, is that more important than the truth is personal survival. More important than personal glory is personal survival. But, we live in Mexico; a country that clearly disrespects the personal struggles of "her" so-called ciudadanos. But, looking at the numbers and the events, I truly wonder if there is a true country named "Estados Unidos Mexicanos" or Mexico and if this isn't something just a bit much bigger... Like the difference between your privilege and that of the journalists and activists who have been assassinated over the past few years...
It sounds like the same old financial monopoly/chess game... and those in the know gain and those deamed pawns or artilary or peons or share croppers or servants or slaves... Now, I'm just Ralph Kramden. I've gotta big mouth...
You go on with your "project" and just ignore me as you always have... Don't you remember the day you sent this same email a message asking me not to include you on your list of my writings? But, then you continued sending me your videos and other movements... I've never disrespected you. But, I've never taken the time to look at what you send me (ever since we watched your documentaries "Gringo Yo"/Atenco, Pinche Presidente, Presidente Demente blah blah blah... It was an interesting documentary. But, I truly wonder what it is you think you are doing or where it is you think you are truly going... Most likely you feel the pressure to maintain a name for yourself with the Hampshire Alumns...Most likely you are one of THOSE mentioned by Flavio protected by the governments for what reason? Probably because they know you aren't actually going anywhere with your project, otherwise I'm sure you wouldn't still be here. Or, is it that you are safely back in New York City... Lucky you.
I'm here. I live a story you don't know. But, since it is at the grassroots level and isn't mixed with activist idealists without a true clue, you wouldn't be interested in reading about it. That's cool. I just wanted to give you a long winded reason to remove me from your "fan list" or to actually have a true conversation with me. Granted, that conversation would probably have me killed while you remain protected...
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