« Wild Parrots | Main | El cine »
February 27, 2006
For Those Who Don't Know
Because one never knows who is going to show up at the blog nor how they got there, I thought it might be helpful to give some background on myself and why I now live in Mexico. If you know me already, or if you're just damned tired of hearing me bitch about how the United States sucks now, you can skip it.
I'm a 36-year-old guy from the midwestern United States that does nothing in particular and is married to a guy named Shawn. We lived in the United States our whole lives until 2005, when we decided it was time to leave because we no longer wanted to endure the growing divisiveness, the continuous scapegoating of minorities , the silencing of dissent, the selling out of individual liberties for the empty promise of greater security and the disturbing self-censorship of the media. And that's just the stuff that is going on inside the borders of the country. We also wanted nothing more to do with the never-ending war and the torturing of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and the secret prisons in eastern Europe, where people are being held without charge because the government doesn't have to follow the constitution outside the nation's borders. That is not to say that the government has really bothered to uphold the constitution at home either, given the revelations about the president's domestic spying program.
But we were not only at odds with the government, but also with most of the people there. The fact that a majority of Americans inaccurately believed that there was some connection between Iraq and the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and that Iraq had weapons of mass distruction although none were ever found suggested that most of our fellow citizens would just believed whatever they wanted to believe, despite any evidence to the contrary. The fact that the country is barreling headlong into authoritarianism (the United States now demonstrates all 14 characteristics of fascism) and that Americans seem to be welcoming this change is very sad. There were just too many things going too much against our way of thinking, so we left.
I had been studying Spanish for the previous three years, and while I am far from fluent, I knew enough to be able to get by in a Spanish-speaking country. We decided to give Mexico a try because we had heard many good things about it, and we had always enjoyed our time spent in the border cities. After a 12-year hiatus in the heartland, we both were longing to be back in a large urban area, and Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico, has several great cultural opportunities as well as the second-best climate in the world (after the Canary Islands, according to National Geographic Magazine). Waking up from their "perfect dictatorship" where one political party ruled for 71 years through a relentless program of electoral fraud and voter suppression, it seemed Mexico was just ending their dark period of authoritarianism while it was arguably just beginning in the US.
Many people suggested before we moved that we would face greater prejudice against us in Mexico as gay guys because it's perceived as such a "macho" country. It is important to note that in April of 2003, Mexico passed a federal law prohibiting discrimination based on several factors, including sexual orientation. No such law is even under consideration in the United States, where the popular trend is for politicians to accuse gays and lesbians of causing the collapse of modern society. And although an occasional macho guy might joke about gays as a source of amusement, at least here in the city, we have yet to see anyone demonstrate the level of hatred against minorities that is so visible in the United States. This is not to say that discrimination does not happen in Mexico, because it does. It is especially prevalent against the Indigenous, transsexuals and women. Yet it seems that here there is more widespread understanding that such discrimination is wrong than in the United States, where often people go to great lengths to justify their right to be jerks to other people.
In December of 2005, we arrived in Guadalajara, and it has been great so far. We currently live in the municipality of Zapopan, which is part of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, in Colonia Chapalita Sur. The purpose of this blog is multi-faceted - to provide information about living in Mexico for those who might be considering moving here, to give people a chance to know the real Mexico and not just the stereotypical image of it that one gets in the media, to keep in touch with our friends and family back in the United States, to discuss the application of classroom Spanish to a practical setting, to share the occasional photograph of funny product packaging, and as seems to be occasionally necessary, to defend our values and choices.
Life isn't easy anywhere. But for us, it's a whole lot better in Mexico. You don't have to be wacko left-wing bleeding-heart liberals like us to read this blog, although it might make it easier to understand why we'd much rather walk a mile to pay our electrical bill, go through elaborate steps to avoid crippling diarrhea and occasionally run out of water than live in the land we left behind.
Posted by crispy at February 27, 2006 02:35 AM
Comments
“This is not to say that discrimination does not happen in Mexico, because it does. It is especially prevalent against the indigenous, transsexuals and women.”
Well, you know, if you’re a woman, you deserve discrimination. (No offense.)
“The purpose of this blog is multi-faceted - to provide information about living in Mexico for those who might be considering moving here, to give people a chance to know the real Mexico and not just the stereotypical image of it that one gets in the media ...”
We just visited Urblanda-Shampain over the weekend for some Illinois hockey. (My friend had to explain oral sex to two Asian women who asked about the “East side sucks,” “West side swallows” chant, but that’s not pertinent right now.)
Anyhoo, Josh Houchin’s fiancée, Meredith Blumthal, has some uncle or something who has a house in Guadalajara. They mentioned the butt-ton of Amerikans living there.
But when I mentioned I knew “Chris and Shawn,” the barons of the municipal area, it got quiet. They were in fearful awe of my associated power.
Posted by: Mark Allen at February 27, 2006 08:24 PM
Yes, there are a butt-ton of gringos that live here. And the effect is staggering in this neighboring town here by Lake Chapala (the largest lake in Mexico) called Ajijic. We went there for a few hours and it was kind of like being in Mexico if it were a Disney theme park (well, except for the fact that the sidewalks were dangerously broken and narrow there too, and Disney would never risk that kind of liability), because everything looked like the charming Mexican village it is, but everyone seemed to be speaking English. There's a restaurant there though, called José's Ilusión (why it's not Ilusión de José I don't really understand) that has amazing Greek food, and a cheesecake with baklava on top.
Posted by: Chris Coen at February 27, 2006 11:43 PM
"José's Ilusión", is there a josé's Ilusion 2 with bonus tracks:
http://www.mygnr.com/
Posted by: akira at February 28, 2006 02:00 PM
I know this is huge, but it seemed pertinent, especially the stats on pets and pleading the Fifth.
The Simpsons is the only show I watch besides sports, but come on Amerikans!
2/28/06 1:54 PM
Inches: 14.0 REGULAR BC-IL-FreedomPoll HFR 02-28 0595
BC-IL--Freedom Poll, HFR,580
HOLD FOR RELEASE 12:01 a.m. CST Wednesday.
Study: More people know about ‘‘The Simpsons’’ than First Amendment rights
With BC-IL--Freedom Poll-Glance, HFR
By ANNA JOHNSON
Associated Press WriterCHICAGO (AP) — In a contest between Americans’ knowledge of ‘‘The Simpsons’’ and what they know about the First Amendment — Bart and Homer win hands down.
About one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half of Americans can name at least two members of the fictional cartoon family, according to a survey.
The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms.
Joe Madeira, director of exhibitions at the museum, said he was surprised by the results. ‘‘Part of the survey really shows there are misconceptions, and part of our mission is to clear up these misconceptions,’’ said Madeira, whose museum will be dedicated to helping visitors understand the First Amendment when it opens in April. ‘‘It means we have our job cut out for us.’’
The survey found that while 69 percent of people could name freedom of speech as a First Amendment right, just under one out of four people could name freedom of religion. Only 11 percent knew freedom of the press, one in ten could name freedom of assembly and 1 percent named freedom to petition for redress of grievances, the survey found. The survey found more people could name the three ‘‘American Idol’’ judges than First Amendment rights and were more likely to remember popular advertising slogans. It also found people misidentified First Amendment rights. About one in five people thought the right to own a pet was protected, and 38 percent said they believed the right against self-incrimination — commonly known as ‘‘Taking the Fifth’’ — was a First Amendment right, the survey found.
The telephone survey of 1,000 random adults was conducted Jan. 20-22 by the research firm Synovate and had an error margin of 3 percentage points.
Gene Policinski, executive director of the Nashville, Tenn.-based First Amendment Center, said the results were disconcerting but not surprising.
‘‘It’s disappointing that Americans continue to be ignorant of First Amendment freedoms but even more disappointing is that that these freedoms are more and more in the news,’’ Policinski said, citing the protests at soldiers’ funerals and the controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoons, which have sparked outrage and violence around the Islamic world after newspapers published them.
Madeira said he hopes the museum will help inform people of their rights and why they are important.
‘‘We always knew there was a need for this type of museum, but when we put our understanding up against some of the icons of popular culture, we really knew that there was a need,’’ he said.
The museum, which is funded by the McCormick Tribune Foundation, is to open April 11 and will be at the Tribune Tower, the home of the Chicago Tribune in downtown Chicago. The foundation was established in 1955 as a charitable trust in honor of longtime Chicago Tribune editor and publisher, Col. Robert R. McCormick.
Posted by: Mark Allen at March 1, 2006 05:47 PM
The saddest things, the Fondling Fathers thought the Constitution itself guaranteed our rights to the extreme and saw no need for the Bill of Rights. I'm glad they were forced to be more thorough.
Oh, well. At least we're ever-so secure.
Posted by: Mark Allen at March 2, 2006 05:59 PM