Posted on 04/22/2008 8:09:55 AM PDT by kelsiejackson
Earlier this month, the makers of Absolut Vodka issued a public apology for running an ad with an early 1830s map of North America with the words "In an Absolut world" emblazoned across the front. The retraction came as a result of a threatened boycott initiated by conservative talk radio and Web sites. Who was Absolut apologizing to and why?
The ad itself ran in Mexican magazines and was aimed at an international audience. I would never have even come across it had it not been brought to my attention by this controversy. The complaints seem to range from concern the ad legitimizes undocumented immigration to fear Absolut is advocating an invasion of the American Southwest by Mexico.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
In other words, he denies the whole Reconquista thing, while giving reasons why it is not such a bad idea.
Like the Mexicans ever really controlled the southwest. Mexicans were afraid to go into Comanche territory. They never held that territory, and now it’s burned into their memory that they lost it? Please.
So Mexico did not want our help in 1865-66 when we massed 50,000 troops in Texas to help Benito Juarez in his struggle to throw out the French imposed dictator?
In this image released by the Mexican advertising firm of Teran/TBWA on April 7, an advertisement created for Swedish Absolut Vodka, which ran in Mexico, shows a map of the border of Mexico and the United States where it stood before the Mexican-American War of 1848. ASSOCIATED PRESS
So what of the REPUBLIC OF TEXAS from 1836 on? Hello?
Had Santa Anna, a DICTATOR, not gone after the rights of Texans, that whole thing might never have happened.
Incidentally I used to drink Absolute but no longer. Tito's is Texas made and better anyway.
"...a time when traversing this territory didn't mean harassment..."
Apparently this "Professor of History" has never heard of the Apaches, the Utes and the Comanches, none of which, as I recall, were particularly known for tolerance of interlopers.
A couple things come to mind about this:
1. Mexico should be rich. They sit on massive gold, silver, and oil reserves (along with other commodities), have pristine beaches, massive commercial/recreational fishing possibilities, and wonderful potential range and agricultural land. They also have great tourist potential for the same reasons and because of spectacular historical locations. Why are they not rich? Well, because their culture is corrupt and pathetic. Ergo, said culture is nothing to celebrate.
2. The Spanish have no greater claim to the lands of the USA than the anglo-americans. Sure, they had some scattered settlements in the West a little earlier than the anglos — a nothing in time in the scale of history. More over, they lost the lands fair and square, were paid for them, and had failed to develop the lands in any meaningful way. Indeed, Texas became Texas almost by default simply by anglos moving in to the vaccuum.
3. The Indians of Mexico have no claim, at all, to the lands of the USA. They were a more-or-less settled farming people just exactly where they are now.
Tito’s is, by far, a superior vodka.
“In other words, he denies the whole Reconquista thing, while giving reasons why it is not such a bad idea. “
Quite amazing, isn’t it?
So, is Absolut going to use the same gimmick in Germany, using a 1943 map of the Reich?
What an empty-headed, clueless, twit...
“Like the Mexicans ever really controlled the southwest. Mexicans were afraid to go into Comanche territory.”
You are exactly right. Many Cherokees in Texas had been there since 1820 (with Mexico’s blessing, btw) and protected Sam Houston and the ‘republic of Texas’ from invasion and harassment by Mexicans. The Mexicans didn’t want anything to do with that area as far as living there.
We started by taking our country from England. Took part from France. Another part from Russia. Some from Mexico. The Mexicans in Mexico and those in the US who pose as citizens are just sore losers. For a country that has never accomplished anything they certainly whine a lot. I’m including those who, like the professor, can’t support this country.
In Absolut’s obtuse world, the Southwest would be a squalid area, languishing in abject poverty, and doomed under a dysfunctional system of drug lords and corrupt government. Thank goodness the Army of the West liberated this land and its people from incompetent tyranny. America is a great country for having liberated the Southwest. Look how people from the unliberated lands are trying to get here.
Another superb example of why universities can save countless dollars by simply eliminating those departments staffed by fools. Why do we give clowns such as this money? Tenure? I’m serious here. They are not bright and I really really resent the fact that these types carry around the same academic and professorial rank as I and others who have actually encountered intellectual rigor during our professional lives. News for the history marshmallow: we won, get over it. Pretty soon, we’re going to have to do it again. Get over it.
Bit of history -— my family got a land grant from the Queen of Spain -— in the middle of “Comanche Country” on the old maps (near what is now Tom Green County -— all the way to Big Lake).
They said “thanks, but no” until the Mexican Inquisition (they were Jewish), then packed their wagons and never really left.
Great post!
***Fact Bastardization Alert***
“You old white people. It is your duty to die.”
HISPANIC LEADERS SPEAK OUT!
Augustin Cebada, Brown Berets; “Go back to Boston! Go back to Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims! Get out! We are the future. You are old and tired. Go on. We have beaten you. Leave like beaten rats. You old white people. It is your duty to die . . . Through love of having children, we are going to take over.
Richard Alatorre, Los Angeles City Council. “They’re afraid we’re going to take over the governmental institutions and other institutions. They’re right. We will take them over . . . We are here to stay.”
Excelsior, the national newspaper of Mexico, “The American southwest seems to be slowly returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without firing a single shot.”
Professor Jose Angel Gutierrez, University of Texas; “We have an aging white America. They are not making babies. They are dying. The explosion is in our population . . . I love it. They are shitting in their pants with fear. I love it.”
Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party, “Remember 187 — proposition to deny taxpayer funds for services to non-citizens — was the last gasp of white America in California.”
Gloria Molina, Los Angeles County Supervisor, “We are politicizing every single one of these new citizens that are becoming citizens of this country ... I gotta tell you that a lot of people are saying, “I’m going to go out there and vote because I want to pay them back.”
Mario Obledo, California Coalition of Hispanic Organizations and California State Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Governor Jerry Brown, also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton, “California is going to be a Hispanic state. Anyone who doesn’t like it should leave.”
Jose Pescador Osuna, Mexican Consul General , “We are practicing ‘La Reconquista’ in California.”
Professor Fernando Guerra, Loyola Marymount University; “We need to avoid a white backlash by using codes understood by Latinos ...”
Are these just the words of a few extremists? Consider that we could fill up many pages with such quotes. Also, consider that these are mainstream Mexican leaders.
http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/search?q=professor
The Russian River in Sonoma County California was named for the....Russian settlers! They had a fort there (can still go visit). It failed.
At least the Russians have the self-esteem not to continue whining about losing California and Alaska.
I think you’ve nailed the Mexican failure to develop their resources because of their culture.
ABSOLUT Manifest Destiny. In a perfect world.
What cracks up up about the “we were here first” argument is that it conveniently glosses over many details that would be rather awkward for someone like Mr. Ramos. Let’s start with the what a “Mexican” is.
The popular notion of the average Mexican is one of the mestizo, or a mixture of Spanish and local native stock. By definition then, a “conquista” had to take place to create the modern nation of Mexico. Europeans took over the area that is Mexico, and have run it ever since. Family names such as Sanchez can be traced all the way back to the Visigoths, an old Germanic tribe. Hardly La Raza, wouldn’t you agree?
Let me add that the Aztecs, or perhaps more accurately the Mexicas, rulers of the dominant nation of the area when Cortez landed in 1519, were themselves transplanted from “Aztlán” to the north, perhaps from as far as present day Southwestern United States.
When one adds to this the fact that it was the Spanish, not the Mexicans, who established colonies in the areas of Texas, California, Arizona, etc, and that they did so by overrunning other native peoples, such as the Tongva and Acjachemen where I live, one must begin to question anyone from Mexico who claims a “right” to “Aztlán.”
The bottom line is that what is done is done. No one has a right to territory or property based on an ethnic identity. As my brother has said, if you want to cry about lost territory, “go tell the Cartaginians.”
1848 my ass, Raul Ramos, you ignorant d—kweed. Let’s talk about another infamous date, 1825. That’s the first time Mexico became the official nation of record in the territories to become part of the Western United States.
Up until that time 1825, Spain was the nation of record in those territories. Anotherwords, Mexico only had true claim to those lands for 23 years.
Those who talk of reconquista today do it based on the theory that those lands were a part of Mexico or the supposed indiginous indians of the Mexican territories for thousands of years. That is not so.
The Indians that lived in the territories were autonomous from Mexico, had no connection to it whatsoever, and in fact were the true people who Mexico was dislocating, subsequent to Spain having done so prior to that.
Mexico spent 23 year userping the rights of the natural land owners after Spain, the local indians. That’s it’s claim to the western region territory it lost in the war with the United States.
This jackass acts as if Mexico was deprived of ancestral lands going back hundreds or even thousands of years. Bulls—t! That’s the damnable lie that betrays his ignorance on the subject, or worse yet his propaganda in the face of the truth.
This bastard should have his citizenship revoked, and his ass kicked about 250 miles south for good measure.
Yes they did rarely tread on “their territory”, Comanche hated Mex!
Houston PING
The Mexicans in Mexico and those in the US who pose as citizens are just sore losers. For a country that has never accomplished anything they certainly whine a lot. I’m including those who, like the professor, can’t support this country.”
They are as proud of their backwardness as they are certain of their superiority.
And there we have it, summarized neatly without ambiguity. The goals are no borders, a global government, and one currency.
The American model works, most of the rest of the world sucks in comparison, and, because crummy nations are unwilling to make the changes necessary for the rule of law and the expansion of capitalist principles, prosperous nations must be brought down to third-world status in order to reach "global equality".
He’s a bigot who supports the Mexican greivance over this long settled land dispute.
Flush his taxpayer funded job.
In an Absolut World ESPANA would still own that land.
I bet this “professor” never considered how much the land obtained in the Gadsden Purchase is worth today and if the Mexican gubmint has enough money to buy it back!
Another group that feels OWED!
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Mexico needs to thank god that the United States exists.
Without money, guns, troops and support from the United States in the 1800s, Mexicans would be speaking French.
It also means that the border will continue to change.
Really? Such changes are seldom accomplished without a considerable fuss, as the professor cites with the usual tedious cant. Precisely why the descendants of Spanish conquerors have more of a claim to the land than the descendants of English/Dutch/French ones is not one he'd care to expand upon, lest the patina of moral righteousness be scraped off enough to reveal naked greed and aggression, which is all that really underlies the issue.
Nevertheless, if Mexican claims to that territory are to be recognized in any way there is nothing to prevent Austrian claims on Mexican territory to be similarly honored. In an Absolut world the Habsburgs would be sitting sipping tequila sunrises in their Mexico city palaces. If the professor is willing to ignore the intervening wars I'm perfectly willing to as well.
The only thing the Mexicans should resent is that the US didn't stay, They would today have shoes and houses and clean water and an IRA and wouldn't have to run thru desert to get half of that.
This is a conversation I overheard recently by employees in A Burger King;
I buy a brand called Shustoff these days; a Ukrainian product made from wheat.
................waiting quietly.
Ping!
Eventually, the deal-breaker was slavery. It was outlawed in Mexico, and the slaves held in Texas would have been automatically freed by annexation to Mexico. It could be argued that this, perhaps more than other factors, led to the formation of the Texas republic.
Not a polite topic of conversation around the Alamo. Plus, Santa Anna, not an entirely bad military man, BTW, was a tyrannical SOB.
And the dysentery that wiped out the French troops, who were very poorly led.
BTW, I always thought that Maximilian and a constitutional monarchy might have been a good deal for Mexico.
LOL. Many Mexicans at the time felt the exact same way. In fact, they asked General Winfield Scott to stay on as President!
Okay! Let's try a DIFFERENT map!
Absolut said the ad was designed for a Mexican audience and intended to recall "a time which the population of Germany might feel was more ideal."
"As a global company, we recognize that people in different parts of the world may lend different perspectives or interpret our ads in a different way than was intended in that market, and for that we apologize
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