I used to love going to Mexico, because Mexicans are very nice and normal. They’re like small-town Americans except that they speak Spanish and it is a fun place. But I cancelled on an academic conference because of leftist union terrorism after the election of Calderon, and now I simply wouldn’t go there.
Very sad, and if our own US government weren’t such a pack of loony lefties, I’d say the US should be looking into leftist involvement in the drug business. The drug lords are into it for money, but the people who are helping them are the leftists because leftist money has always been a big funding source for Latin American drug gangs and vice versa. The US under Obama, however, steadfastly refuses to admit that the radical left (the drugs come from SA through Venezuela and Cuba) is funding the destruction of Mexico.
At this risk of painting with too broad of brush, what happens when these nice and normal Mexicans come to America? Do they leave those laudable values at the border?
Yes, I certainly do know a handful of Mexicans here in Texas that have fully embraced the ways and culture of the United States. But, in my estimation, the vast majority of them (illegal or otherwise) have a brazen contempt for our country, instead embracing the worldview of La Raza.
I really hope that I'm in the wrong here and that your characterization is closer to reality.
People adapt to disfunctional governments in ways that accentuate both good and bad in people. The place always fascinated me, I had the sense of a machine in which a lot of the moving parts are right there in plain view, that in the US you maybe aren’t aware of anymore.
If you live in a medium sized city it was quite livable (but already it was to the point that everyone I met from DF had been mugged and I mean everyone). Truckers servicing our client were being regularly hijacked, sometimes for the contents of the trailer, sometimes just for parts off the truck, it was already getting dangerous for truckers. People didn’t like to travel between cities at night for fear of the highway patrol.
Members of the federal government, or relatives, were being gunned down in broad daylight for reasons you could surmise but not know. But at least at that time foreigners weren’t targeted, and I still had the sensation of it being as you say a peaceful, but lively, fun place. I always assumed this is where I would retire someday, I always liked the country and the people.
I’ve been re-thinking that plan, though. There are other places where the people are just as nice, the country’s moving parts just as fascinating, the beaches and town squares and music and food, well maybe not the food, but you know what I mean.